Chapter Seven, The Phantom Traveller

(December 2nd- December 5th)

The Winchesters had headed to Bobby's after the events of the lake so Amélie could recover from her cold, but she often had nightmares about what happened and woke up screaming causing her Daddy and Grandpa Bobby to charge into her bedroom at his house, thinking she was being attacked. Dean often spent the rest of the night curled on the edge of Amélie's small bed keeping his Princess company and making sure she was safe even if he was stiff afterwards. Dean suddenly woke up when he heard someone walking around downstairs, praying that it was only Sam or Bobby he pressed a kiss to the top of his daughter's forehead smiling as she mumbled in her sleep before drifting back off.
"Love you baby." Dean whispered, reaching under the bed to grab his gun he'd stashed there last night and quietly left the room and made his way downstairs avoiding the creaky steps and almost bumping into Bobby.

Just as they were about to swing into the kitchen with their guns raised, Sam appeared in the doorway holding a cup holder with three coffees and a bottle of orange juice for Amélie.
"Morning sunshines." Sam joked, not bothered by the guns pointing at him.
"You idjit!" Bobby snapped, snatching the coffee Sam held out to him. "We could've killed you! And why do you have to go make such a racket!"
"What time is it?" Dean yawned, snatching the other coffee and following Bobby to the kitchen table where breakfast for the four of them was laid out from a local diner.
"You're welcome. It's about 5:45." Sam replied sarcastically. "Yes, I made sure there were no nuts of any kind." He added, when Dean opened his mouth.

"Just checking." Dean said, shrugging his shoulders. "Gosh where does the day go?" He asked sarcastically, taking a bite of his full English breakfast, Bobby had the same as him, Sam had an omelette and there was a box of coco pops cereal and a bowl on the table for Amélie when she got up.
"Did you get any sleep?" Bobby asked Sam.
"Yeah, I grabbed a couple of hours." Sam replied, tucking into his breakfast.
"Liar, cause I was up at three to get Amélie some water after her nightmare and you were watching a George Foreman infomercial." Dean glared, pointing a sausage at his brother.
"She's still having nightmares?" Sam asked, Bobby and Dean nodded.
"What do you expect after what's happened to her! She's three! And I couldn't protect her!" Dean hissed, trying not to raise his voice and wake up his daughter.

"It ain't your fault Dean none of it." Bobby said firmly, daring him to just argue with him, but he didn't no matter how much he wanted to.
"Anyway, what can I say, it's riveting TV." Sam said, shrugging his shoulders and changing the subject.
"When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?" Dean asked firmly.
"I don't know, a little while, I guess, it's not a big deal."
"Yeah it is." Dean argued hotly.
"I appreciate your concern." Sam tried to argue but Dean cut him off.
"I'm not concerned, it's your job to keep Amie safe and my ass alive so I can keep both of you safe, but mainly my daughter safe. So I need you sharp, seriously are you still having nightmares about Jess?"

Sam sighed as he dug into his breakfast.  "Yeah, but it's not just her, it's everything, I just forgot you know, this job, man, it gets to you." Sam admitted.
"You can't let it, you can't bring it home like that." Bobby said, stating some facts.
"So what, all this, it never keeps you guys up at night." Bobby and Dean shook their heads 'no'. "Really, never, you guys are never afraid?"
"No, not really."
"Nope." Dean and Bobby said simultaneously, Dean was scared of Amélie and Sam and Bobby getting hurt and Bobby was scared of all three of the Winchesters getting hurt, but they weren't about themselves.

Sam scoffed and raised his eyebrows at them.
"So you didn't come in here with guns then?" He asked.
"That's not fear." Dean argued.
"That's precaution." Bobby concluded. "In case you forgot we have a three year old upstairs asleep who has been through hell because of your Daddy leaving you to pick up his slack and lead you on a wild goose chase."
"All right, whatever, I'm too tired to argue."  Suddenly Dean's phone started ringing. Raising his eyebrows at Bobby and Sam as only a select few had his number and this caller ID wasn't one of them. Not wanting to wake up his daughter he flipped it open and answered it.
"Hello?" Dean asked, confused.

"Dean, it's-a- it's Jerry Panowski." Dean looked at Bobby shocked wondering how he'd got his number. In the very last case he worked with his Dad before they had a big fight and he'd had Amélie, Dean and Simone had helped him with a poltergeist case as no one else would help his father. So he wondered what had happened? Dean tuned back in as Jerry continued talking.
"You, and your dad, and your girlfriend helped me out a couple years back." Dean sucked in a breath that was the one and only case Simone had worked with his father and a few months before they found out she was carrying his Princess.
"Oh right, yeah up in Kittanning Pennsylvania, the poltergeist thing, it's not back is it?" Dean asked, his voice cracking a little.

"No, no, thank god no, but it's something else, and, well, I think it could be a lot worse." Jerry replied, sounding troubled.
"What is it?" Dean asked.
"Can we talk in person?" Jerry asked urgently.
"Err yeah. Give us a few hours, day tops, my daughter is still asleep and I need to give her breakfast, and we're in South Dakota at the moment." Dean stated, not compromising on his daughter.
"Of course, of course." Jerry agreed. "How's your girlfriend? Or is she your fiancée or-"
"Fiancée." Dean said quickly, his voice breaking as tears filled his eyes. "Sorry don't mean to cut you off but... she passed away the night my daughter was born."
"Oh God! Dean, I'm so sorry. Me and my big mouth, I'm sorry." Jerry apologised quickly, his wife said he talked too much sometimes.
"It's alright, we'll see you soon." Dean replied before hanging up quickly.

"You all right, son?" Bobby asked, resting a hand on Dean's shoulder.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine." Dean said, clearing his throat and wiping his eyes as he went upstairs to wake Amélie knowing Bobby had a case in Minnesota with Rufus. He'd stopped by the day before to see Amélie and to inform Bobby of his case. He'd played with Amélie all morning wearing him and her out and when Amélie went down for her nap he'd asked Bobby for his help as he thinks it's a Wendigo. Something none of them wanted near Amélie again so she had to come with Dean and Sam. Not that Dean wanted to be separated from his daughter anyway. After gently waking up Amélie, dressing her in a blue floral dress, green trainers and matching jacket and her hair in two braids; Dean carried her downstairs for some breakfast after brushing her teeth.

***

"Thanks for making the trip so quick, I ought to be doing you guys a favor, not the other way around." Jerry said, as they entered the airplane hanger. Dean carrying Amélie on his hip. He pulled a funny face at the shy little girl making her giggle before he looked over at Sam and continued.
"Dean, Simone and your Dad really helped me out."
"Mummy and Daddy did?" Amélie asked.
"They sure did." Jerry smiled at Amélie making her beam back at him but still held tightly to Dean and Coco. "She's adorable." He said to Dean.
"Thanks and yeah she is." Dean agreed, kissing her forehead.
"Yeah, Dean told me. It was a poltergeist, right?" Sam asked.

"Poltergeist, man I love that movie." A random worker claimed.
"Hey, nobody's talking to you, keep walking!" He ordered. "Damn right it was a poltergeist, practically tore our house apart, my wife was terrified, tell you something, if it wasn't for Dean, Simone and your Dad, I probably wouldn't be alive." Jerry admitted. "Your Dad said you were off at college, is that right?"
"Yeah I was, I'm taking some time off." Sam lied.
"Well, he was really proud of you, I could tell, he talked about you all the time." Amélie held her Daddy tighter. She didn't understand what had happened but she knew that her uncle Sammy wasn't there before and now he is. Dean pulled his daughter closer to him and kissed her head.

"I love you baby." Dean whispered.
"Love you too, Daddy." Amélie said, kissing his cheek and resting her head on his shoulder.
"He did?" Sam questioned, looking quite shocked.
"Yeah, you bet he did, oh hey, I tried to get ahold of him but I couldn't, how's he doing anyway?" Jerry asked, looking up at Dean.
"He's, um, wrapped up in a job right now."  Dean replied quickly.
"Well we're missing the old man, we get Sam and this cutie, even trade, huh?" Jerry remarked, turning towards the three Winchesters.
"No, not by a long shot." Sam commented, getting a glare from Dean.
"I got something I want you guys to hear." Jerry stated. "But you might not want little Amie to hear." Dean nodded.

Once they were all up in his office and Amélie was sitting on the sofa in the corner and distracted by watching the Little Mermaid on the iPad, Sam and Dean gathered around Jerry's desk where he started playing a CD.
"I listened to this, well, it sounded like it was up your alley, normally, I wouldn't have access to this, it's the cockpit voice recorder for United Britannia flight 2485, it was one of ours." The CD started playing the voice of the pilot. It was hard to make out whatever was going on, but whatever it was, made that plane crash. Suddenly a low moaning came from the recording, it sounded like screeching. Sam and Dean looked at each other with eyebrows raised, trying to figure out what the possible monsters were.

"Took off from here, crashed about 200 miles south, now they're saying mechanical failure, the cabin depressurized somehow, nobody knows why, over 100 people on board, only seven got out alive, the pilot was one, his name is Chuck Lambert, he's a good friend of mine, Chuck is, well, he's pretty broken up about it, like it was his fault." Jerry explained.
"You don't think it was?" Dean questioned.
"No I don't." Jerry replied, shaking his head.
"Jerry, we're gonna need passenger manifests, a list of survivors-"  Dean cut Sam off.
"Right, and any way we can take a look at the wreckage? When we do, is there any way you know of nurseries that will take Amélie for a day?"

"The other stuff is no problem, but the wreckage, fellas, the NTSB has it locked down in an evidence warehouse, no way I've got that kind of clearance. As for nurseries I'm not sure I can ask around for you or at the very least watch over her while you guys work. Take her to the park etc, it's the least I can do." Jerry assured Dean. "She'll be safe with me I promise." He added, when Dean looked unsure.
"No problem and thanks Jerry." Dean stated, looking over at Sam and then over to his daughter who was giggling at what she was watching.

***

Sam was leaning up against the Impala for hours before Dean and Amélie finally walked out of the Copy Jack store.
"Dean, you were in there forever, what the hell?" He held up a few pictures of him and Amélie pulling faces and two real looking Homeland Security IDs.
"You can't rush perfection, Sam. And I was spending time with my Princess."
"Homeland Security, that's pretty illegal, even for us." Sam sighed, as they piled into the Impala.
"Yeah well, it's something new, you know, people haven't seen it a thousand times, alright so what do you got?"
"Well there's definitely E.V.P. on the cockpit voice recorder."
"Yeah?" Dean questioned, strapping Amélie in as she was falling asleep. He kissed her forehead and handed her Coco.

"Listen." The sound erupted from Sam's laptop, playing through the headphones both brothers were listening through so Amélie didn't hear. An eerie voice sounded saying, 'No Survivors.'
"No Survivors, what's that supposed to mean, there were seven survivors." Dean asked.
"Got me." Sam uttered, leaning against the seat.
"So what are you thinking, a haunted flight?" Dean asked.
"There's a long history of spirits and death omens on planes and ships, like phantom travelers, or remember flight 401?" Sam asked, looking over at Dean.
"Right, the one that crashed, the airline salvaged its parts, put it in other planes, then the spirit of the pilot and copilot haunted those flights." Dean remarked, sparing a glance at Amélie who was fast asleep.

"Right." Sam nodded. "Maybe we got a similar deal."
"So survivors, which one do you want to talk to first?"
"Third on the list, Max Jaffey." Sam replied, pointing at his name.
"Why him?" Dean questioned.
"Well, for one, he's from around here-"  Sam said, "And two, if anyone saw anything weird, he did."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well I spoke to his mother, and she told me where to find him."
"Right, you do that and I'll take Amélie to the park." Dean decided, following Sam's directions and dropping him off before heading to the park for some father-daughter quality time.

***

Dean and Amélie had taken a break from running around the park for something to eat and drink when Sam called and filled him in on what had happened to Mr Jaffey on the plane and how he was going to speak to George Phelps's widow as he was the man who had black eyes, opened the emergency door during flight and was sat in front of Mr Jaffey. To Dean it was sounding more and more like demonic possession and he wanted to keep his Princess as far away from it as he could. They decided to meet up in a few hours before heading to the NTSB warehouse, so it gave Dean plenty of time to play some more with his daughter before dropping her off with Jerry.
"Daddy, push me on the swings pwease?" Amélie asked, bouncing in her seat.
"Come on then baby." Dean said, swinging up into his arms after he'd cleaned her hands and face and ran to the swings, the pair of them laughing.

***

After dropping Amélie off with Jerry and making sure at least five times she would be alright and she had everything she needed; Dean pressed a sweet kiss to her forehead promising he'd see her soon and that he loved her before going to meet up with Sam.
Sam and Dean exit the shop in black suits, white shirts, black ties and black dress shoes.
"Man, I look like one of the blues brothers." Dean complained.
"No you don't, you look more like a seventh-grader at his first dance." Sam said, making fun of Dean.
"I hate this thing." Dean murmured.
"Hey, do you want to go into that warehouse or not?" Sam asked, as they got into the Impala. "Amélie is going to be fine." He assured his nervous brother.
"You don't know that." Dean grumbled, starting the engine and heading off to the warehouse.

Arriving at the warehouse  Sam and Dean flashed their badges and the security let them in without a second glance. They walked into the room that held the wreckage. It was huge. There were parts everywhere. Dean took out his E.M.F meter and started putting in his headphones.
"What is that?" Sam asked, looking at the device in Dean's hands.
"It's an E.M.F meter, it reads electromagnetic frequencies."
"Yeah, I know what an E.M.F. meter is, but why does that one look like a busted-up walkman?"
"Cause that's what I made it out of, it's homemade."

"Yeah I can see that." Dean punched Sam in the shoulder and gave him an aggravated look. Sighing, Sam followed Dean around as he stuck his E.M.F. meter closer and further from certain objects. Eventually Dean got to the handle of the emergency exit, where the device went haywire.
"Check out the emergency door handle." Dean commanded, putting away the meter. Dean lifted his hand and touched the handle. He rubbed his finger over the black stuff to see if it would rub off. Only to end up with it on his fingers, he sniffed and immediately gagged.
"What is this stuff?" Dean asked as he wiped his fingers on Sam's new suit, getting a bitch face from his brother.

"One way to find out."  Sam took out his knife and a small container, then started scraping off some of the black stuff. After Sam got his sample the brothers walked out the back door. They walked outside like they had belonged, until an alarm started blaring. Sam and Dean glanced at each other as they started sprinting. Only to pause in front of a fence with barbed wire at the top. Dean tossed his jacket over, before they both jumped over the fence protected by Dean's jacket.
"These monkey suits do come in handy." Dean said, as he grabbed his jacket and sped back to the Impala where he swung it in reverse as soon as they were inside.

***

"Daddy!" Amélie exclaimed happily, running into Dean's open arms as soon as he stepped into Jerry's office. "I missed you Daddy." Amélie mumbled into Dean's neck.
"I missed you too baby." Dean said, standing up with Amélie on his hip. "Were you good for Jerry?" He asked.
"Yep."
"Good as gold." Jerry answered, glancing up quickly to smile at Dean before looking back through the microscope.
"Good girl." Dean praised, kissing her head as Amélie smiled at him and snuggled closer.
"Huh, this stuff is covered in sulphur." Jerry concluded.

"You sure?" Sam asked, just trying to be positive. While someone was banging and yelling in the hanger.
"Take a look for yourself, if you fellas will excuse me I have an idiot to fire." Jerry walked out of the room and towards the yelling worker as Sam walked behind the desk and looked into the microscope.
"Hmm, not too many things leave behind a sulphuric residue." Dean muttered.
"Demonic possession?" Sam questioned.
"It would explain how a mortal man would have the strength to open up an emergency hatch." Dean announced.
"If the guy was possessed, it's possible." Sam agreed.
"This goes way beyond floating over a bed or barfing pea soup, I mean it's one thing to possess a person, but to use them to take down an entire airplane." Dean sighed.
"Have you ever heard of something like this before?" Sam asked Dean.
"Never." Dean replied, holding his daughter closer in hopes to protect her.

The Winchesters were staying in a motel and while Amélie was absorbed in Scooby-Doo her Daddy and uncle Sammy had everything they'd found taped to their walls.
"So every religion, in every world culture has the concept of demon and demonic possession, right, I mean, Christian, Native American, Hindu, you name it." Sam observed.
"Yeah but none of them describe anything like this." Dean replied looking up from his book, sparing a glance at his daughter who was absorbed in the show, giggling away. It brought a smile upon his lips.

"Well that's not exactly true, you see according to Japanese beliefs certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural, and man-made, one causes earthquakes, another causes disease." Sam informed him.
"And this one causes plane crashes?" Dean questioned sardonically, an eyebrow raised.  Sam stayed silent which gave Dean his answer.  "Alright so what, we have a demon that's evolved with the times and found a way to ratchet up the body count?" Dean asked, standing up from his side of the bed. He paused by Amélie and pressed a kiss to the top of her head as he got her some juice and himself a coffee.

"Yeah, you know, who knows how many planes it's brought down before this one?" Both brothers stayed silent at that as Dean started pacing the floor and scratching the back of his head.
"What?" Sam asked.
"I don't know Sam, this isn't our normal gig, I mean demons, they don't want anything just death and destruction for its own sake, this is big, I wish Dad was here. No matter how I hate him right now, least then my daughter would be away from all this."
"Yeah me too." Sam sighed. Dean's phone suddenly rang, cutting off all silence and their thoughts.
"Hello?"
"Dean, it's Jerry."
"Oh, hey, Jerry."
"My pilot friend, Chuck Lambert, is dead."  "Wha- Jerry, I'm sorry what happened?"

"He and his buddy went up in a small twin, about an hour ago, the plane went down."  "Where'd this happen?"
"About 60 miles west of here, near Nazareth."
"I'll try to ignore the irony in that."
"I'm sorry?"
"Nothing, Jerry, hang in there all right, we'll catch up with you soon." Dean hung up the phone and looked at Sam.
"Another crash?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah, let's go."
"Where?"
"Nazareth." Dean concluded. "Come on baby." Dean said, picking up his Princess and settling her on his hip after making sure she still had Coco.

***

They were in Jerry's office yet again where they were examining the second sample we got from the second plane crash.
"Sulphur?" Dean asked, peering over Jerry's shoulder. He nodded. "Well that's great." Dean added sarcastically glancing worriedly at Amélie who was doing some school work the nursery had emailed him. "Alright so that's two plane crashes involving Chuck Lambert, this demon sounds like it was after him." Dean stated, looking back at Sam.
"With all respect to Chuck, if that's the case that would be the good news." Sam claimed.

"What's that bad news?" Dean questioned.
"Chuck's plane went down exactly forty minutes into flight, and, get this, so did flight 2485." Sam explained.
"Forty minutes, what does that mean?" Jerry asked, confused, as to what Sam and Dean were getting at.
"It's biblical numerology, you know Noah's Ark, it rained for forty days, the number means death." Sam cleared up for Jerry. "I went back, and there have been six plane crashes over the last decade that all went down exactly forty minutes in."
"Any survivors?" Dean asked.

"No, or not until now at least, not until flight 2485, for some reason, and the cockpit voice recorder, remember what the E.V.P. said?"
"'No survivors.'" Dean quoted. Sam nodded as Dean spoke again. "It's going after all the survivors, it's trying to finish the job. Jerry, can you watch Amélie while we try to stop this thing? It means we may have to get on a... plane and I don't want to risk my daughter's life. If you don't hear from us in a few hours, call one of these numbers, it's her grandparents." Dean said, quickly writing down Bobby's, Charles and Claudette's numbers.
"Of course. I'll take good care of her, Dean. Just make sure you come back for her sake." He whispered, Dean turned and looked at his daughter taking in every little feature as if it was his last even though he prayed it wouldn't be.
"Don't worry, I fully intend to come back." Dean swore, heading over to talk to his baby girl and hugged her for dear life.

***

As Amanda was mouthing, 'thank you' to the two brothers Dean was eager to get back to Jerry's and never let Amélie out of his arms ever, ever again. Sam and Dean nodded to her and started walking out.
"Let's get out of here, I want my daughter. Are you okay?" Dean asked Sam, as they walked out.
"Dean, it-it knew about Jessica." Sam whispered heartbroken, causing him and Dean to stop in their tracks.
"Sam these things , they read minds, they lie, all right." Dean said firmly. Sam slowly nodded up at his big brother.
"Yeah." He whispered.
"Come on." Dean said, eager to get to his daughter.

***

They picked up Amélie late that night before returning to their motel for some much needed sleep, Dean keeping his promise and not letting Amélie go once.
The next day, after checking out of the motel the three Winchesters were standing next to the Impala, talking to Jerry.
"Nobody knows what you guys did, but I do, a lot of people could have been killed, your Dad's gonna be real proud."
"We'll see you around Jerry." Sam said, as he and Dean each shook his hand and Amélie waved goodbye to him. They got to the doors of the Impala when Dean shouted.
"You know Jerry, I meant to ask you, how did you get my number anyway, I've only had it for like six months."

"Your Dad gave it to me." Sam and Dean straightened up at that.
"What?" Sam asked, shocked. "When did you talk to him?"
"I mean, I didn't exactly talk to him but I called his number, his voice message said to give you a call, thanks again guys." Sam looked back at Dean and Amélie, although she looked confused. Dean pulled the car over onto the side of the road.
"This doesn't make any sense, man, I've called Dad's number like fifty times, it's been out of service." Sam complained, as Dean dialled then put the phone on speaker.
"This is John Winchester, I can't be reached, if this is an emergency call my son, Dean, 785-555-0179, he can help." 

"Was that your Daddy, Daddy?" Amélie asked, causing Sam and Dean to turn around to face her.
"Yeah, Princess, that was your Grandpa John's voice." Dean replied softly, brushing her loose blonde hair away from her eyes.
"He sound grumpy." Amélie pouted, making both Sam and Dean burst out laughing.
"He does, doesn't he baby?" Dean laughed. "Don't worry Daddy will protect his Witchy Princess from everyone including his own grumpy Daddy." Dean promised, smiling when Amélie beamed back at him giggling.