[AU] two worlds, a lot of demons, and a new set of problems

[gavemea_45]

It's still hard to believe it's over; that the yellow-eyed demonic bastard they'd spent their whole lives hunting is finally dead.

Sam figures it'll sink in eventually. Given everything else -- right now he's still pretty numb.

He's also desperately tired, but that doesn't matter. There's something he needs to do, and he can't afford to delay.

He waits until they've settled in for the night, and then waits still longer. Once Dean's been asleep for half an hour, Sam picks up his messenger bag -- already stuffed with books and his computer -- and heads straight for the bar.

He orders black coffee and snags a table with a good view of both doors and the stairs, then pulls out the first of the old texts and starts to search through it.

There's work to do.

Comments

[gavemea_45]

The rat squeaks agreement and turns to Sam. “Coffee, thanks,” he says. “And water, too.”

He looks back at Waverly. “I’ve only heard that name once, as it happens. If you have a sister, that is.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Oh!" she says, surprised. "You met Wynonna?"

A second later and her face crinkles into something like uncertain apology. "Oh, you met Wynonna. Should I say sorry? Did she behave herself?"

[gavemea_45]

The rat scurries off while Sam blinks at her in mild confusion. “She didn’t shoot me, so everything’s fine.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

Her eyebrows rocket up towards her hairline. "She tried to shoot you?"

[gavemea_45]

“We just had a little misunderstanding,” Sam assures her. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Well, I am worried about it!"

She smacks the table, then looks surprised at herself as the skull rattles. "She is getting far too trigger-happy."

[gavemea_45]

“To be fair, she had reason to wonder,” Sam tries. “It’s okay, Waverly, it is. I get it.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"No, it isn't!"

She frowns at the absent Wynonna. "I mean, you seem like a perfectly nice guy. And even if she had reason to wonder, you don't just go around threatening to shoot people. She's been spending too much time with Doc."

[gavemea_45]

Sam glances for a second wryly down at the table, at the books stacked there. “Better suspicious than dead,” he points out.

[totalitarstupetballs]

"I sincerely doubt she was in mortal peril if you met her here," Waverly says, dry, though she gives him a slightly askance look.

"I mean... you're not, right? A... " She waves her hand at him, indicating everything. "Are you?"

[gavemea_45]

“A demon or a revenant? No,” Sam assures her, matter of factly. “I’m not. I’m a hunter.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

She huffs a half amused, half relieved breath and gestures to him. "See? No need to shoot anyone."

Unsure what to make of his other comment, she lifts her eyebrows, nodding the way she does when she's behind the bar and someone just needs her to agree with whatever they said. "Oh? Good for you."

[gavemea_45]

It’s obvious she has no idea what he means. Wynonna hadn’t either, so he can’t say he’s surprised.

Sam leans down to relieve the waitrat of its burden and sets the tea in front of her before taking a sip of his coffee. “A demon hunter,” he clarifies. “Among other things.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Oh," Waverly says, then: "ohhhhhhhh."

Oh, that's... good? Is it good? She reaches for her tea, absently. "So I guess you and Wynonna realized you have something in common."

[gavemea_45]

“Pretty much. She said I had something in common with you, too,” Sam observes. “That you did a lot of the research.”

He nods to her bodiless companion. “So what’s the deal with the skull?”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"To be honest, I'm not sure."

She reaches to pick up the skull, her fingers splaying over the smooth bone, and turns it in her hand. "I found it after I deciphered a code from a poem my Uncle Curtis wrote for me before he died. He'd hidden it at Shorty's – the saloon he owned."

Waverly shrugs and holds it out for Sam's perusal. "There was a note with it that said I am now the keeper of the bones... whatever that means."

[gavemea_45]

“Oh, that’s not ominous at all,” Sam drawls. “Nice code breaking, though.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Well, it was either a really bad poem, or a halfway decent code," she says, laughing.

"The note mentioned the blacksmith. But I only just found it, so I don't know what she might have to do with it yet."

[gavemea_45]

After glancing at her for permission, Sam reaches to take the skull and examine it. “Anything unusual about it?”

[totalitarstupetballs]

Waverly shrugs. "It's a skull that was hidden inside an old piano in a saloon and that I inherited from my dead uncle," she says. "Does it need to get more unusual than that?"

[gavemea_45]

"Hopefully not," Sam drawls. He turns it over in his hands and runs his fingertips lightly over the surface, looking for anything hidden inside, any carved sigils or runes, anything unusual.

"Sounds like your family's as quirky as mine."

[totalitarstupetballs]

There's nothing beneath his fingers aside from old bone, yellow with age. Waverly rests her chin on her hand as she observes his study, then gives him a wry look. "Well, who needs to corner the market on quirkiness, anyway?"

[gavemea_45]

He can't find anything unusual about it, and passes it back to her.

Sam smiles a little, quick and bright. "It's probably not a great market, anyway."

[totalitarstupetballs]

She sets the skull aside and smiles at him, crinkle-eyed and warm. "Not so much," she agrees. "Although it is very cool to have a superhero for a big sister. That part, I don't mind keeping."

[gavemea_45]

“Superhero, huh?” Sam grins. “Now I have to introduce her to my brother. And you, too.”