i'm leaving you my last curse

[bravebartender]

Comments

[acdc_rules]

[Ben doesn't leave a voice memo, because he's working, so he squeaks out a quick text message around lunch when his hands are clean:]

Mom, did I suppress us joining a cult or something?

[He's wracking his brain for a guy named Dean, but all he can come up with is:]

You got a picture?

1/2

[enate]

( Dickerson takes time to sift through his next leads, which leaves the door open for Lisa to listen to all of this behind closed doors inside her office. )

If you suppressed joining a cult, then so did I, kid.

There's no cult.

There was Dr. Mike, but that was after we moved away and we were only together a few months. Not years and not at the old neighborhood. Those harpies probably have nothing better to do than stir the pot.

It was your birthday weekend and yeah, the neighborhood realtor was a psychopath.

( Among other, incredibly unexplainable things, like how she knew Ben wasn't her. And the disturbing things about Katie. But that had nothing to do with maybe his dad. )

I really don't know what to say, we were on our own for a long time before I dated Dr. Mike.

Please provide a picture.

[camber]

( The blood is easiest to follow, but the facts in each of the Winchester's files aren't. Nor why the eldest Winchester dropped off the face of the earth in the early nineties before dying. It's a bizarre twist in a bizarre story made even more bizarre that neither of them remember him...

So, armed with facts, he just goes for it )

Alright, brace yourselves...

There are two matches to Adam Milligan, also paternal and matched paternally. Adam Milligan, Sam Winchester, and Dean Winchester all shared a father: John Winchester. He was a veteran of Vietnam, his wife died in a fire in the early nineties and he dropped off the face of the earth not long after that. Sam Winchester was a baby and Dean Winchester was four, according to records, birth certificates and inactive social security.

Sam and Dean attended a record number of schools over the course of their childhoods. I linked Sam to Stanford University, but he never graduated. Dean never went to college.

Brace yourself, because it gets weirder. Both Sam and Dean Winchester have records and they're both legally dead. Except, Sam and Dean were declared legally dead more than once. Dean was a suspect in several murder investigations, but he was cleared of the first and second. And Sam and Dean both were suspects a few years after that, neither cleared. Dean and Sam were arrested a few times, but charges never stuck if they ever could in the first place. Their files are long, but a lot of unsubstantiated. There are two members of law enforcement who have spoken in their favor, both are dead now. One died in Monument, Colorado in some sort of explosion and the other officer died of old age.

The three Winchesters, Dean, Sam, and their dad were all connected to a 67' Chevy Impala that's still registered to this day, but hasn't ever been sold. Except, the current title's under Richie Sambora and I know that Richie Sambora isn't living at a PO Box in Lebanon, Kansas.

I know this is a lot, I didn't expect one DNA hit to blow everything wide open and still not give us any real answers. I'm still doing some research and I have a few calls into a few stations that claim they held them or that Sam and Dean passed through. I don't have clearance for one part of a shared file which implies something high up in the government that, honestly, I can't even wrap my head around.

Their only paper trail is their police record, so it's likely he may not have even given you his real name, except, everyone's account of Dean in your life and this guy's name being Dean.

Anyway, here are Sam and Dean's outdated mugshot. Dean does look like a douche, sorry, but maybe don't judge a book by its' cover.

[acdc_rules]

[Ben takes one look at the mug sot and blinks.]

That's the guy that hit us.

[Ben remembers him standing in the doorway of the hospital room, looking real upset about the accident. Something about him never added up, but Ben couldn't quite put his finger on why.]

When did he "die"?

1/?

[camber]

Sam or Dean? Guessing Dean.

Dean died the first time in 2005. He was arrested in 2006, and even went to jail in 2007, along with his brother, Sam. He died again in 2009. He was wanted again for murder in 2011. That sealed file I was talking about is from 2016 but something tells me he's craftier than being held at Blackwater.

They might be working for the country. Or, someone else. Something deep cover. The MO's for these murders are all over the place and Dean got himself arrested in 2006, and again, Sam and Dean were easily tracked down in 2007.

It's a really weird trail.

[enate]

He came to the room after our accident. He seemed remorseful. Left us alone. Took care of our hospital bill, too.

DONE

[camber]

Dean Winchester hit you with a car? Or your car with his car?

The same Dean Winchester the suburban harpies said played house with you for over a year?

[acdc_rules]

I don't know, man, I don't remember him playing house with us. But the accident was in 2011. The details are hazy but Mom got hurt pretty bad and he came to see us in the hospital to apologize. He said his name was Dean.

[This is ... so weird. Like what the fuck dude.]

I think Matt was driving. He didn't make it.

[Because rereading the wiki I just remembered that Lisa's boyfriend got ganked.]

1/2

[enate]

He didn't. That was the only time we saw him. Ever. He introduced himself and apologized.

( Right, Dr. Matt, not Dr. Mike. Her memories of that time aren't her best, but that wasn't an easy time. They recovered. Her and Ben did, together. )

I don't know if he knew about Matt, he seemed to... feel bad enough.

None of this makes any sense.

[camber]

So, October 2007, you turn eight, you're kidnapped and your neighbors say this guy Dean turned up.

Does any of this help? Almost three years later, suddenly, he's living with you guys. They spoke highly of him, said he was great to both of you. Taught Ben the ins and outs of his classic car. Worked in construction. Word was, he didn't talk about anything before, but his brother had recently died and people thought he might've been just discharged from the army. He was nice, just... going through it.

Any of that ring a bell?

[acdc_rules]

None of it. How the fuck did we lose two years of our lives?

[There's a pause.]

Except I remember those two years. Just this guy wasn't in them. I know this sounds crazy dude, but I swear I'm not.

1/2

[camber]

Your possible biodad weaves in and out of jurisdictions and legal trouble and then drops off the face of the earth, there's nowhere to go but weird.

Sealed file could also mean... WitSec.

But it wouldn't explain why you don't remember the guy. Last I checked, Men In Black's SciFi.

[enate]

He wasn't in those two years. Or, there in 2007. And I don't know why everyone is saying he was.

Rudy, are you home? I have an old photo album in the closet from when Ben was younger. Mostly his birthdays. Some of the moms took pictures at his eighth birthday. Left behind a polaroid camera.

I really don't remember any of this. It... didn't happen, Dick.

1/3

[nextproject]

On it! BRB.

[He'll go digging through some photo albums in search of gold.

... There may be momentary distractions when he finds a picture he particularly likes, yes Ben was a cute child, we get it Rudy.]

[acdc_rules]

Not unless we've been brainwashed or something.

[But why would they brainwash them? It doesn't make any sense.]

I feel like I'm losing my fucking mind.

[A beat when he realizes that his parents are also on this chat.]

Sorry, Mom.

actually i lied one more.

[nextproject]

I hate to contradict you, sweetheart, but I think it may have happened. The party at least.

[Attached is a picture of a picture from the album, of little Ben, standing next to a man with a very similar bearing and face to the mug shots outside a bounce house, plates with cake in hand.]

Still digging.

done

[acdc_rules]

WHAT THE FUCK.

[Negates that whole apology whoops.]

1/?

[enate]

Honey, you're in your thirties and none of this makes any fucking sense, so I can't possibly blame you for the same reaction I'm having.

Are we actually using the word brainwash?

done

[camber]

If one of you didn't remember, I'd suggest you blocked it out, but both of you not remembering. We're back to weird.

That's him. Is that little you? Dude.

( Adorable. )

You kind of look alike.

[acdc_rules]

[That last bit is not helping. He's never been more grateful that he grew into Lisa's coloring. At least until Rudy starts pulling up other pictures, Ben a couple years older, and even some with Lisa as well.]

This is messed up.

[And with that, his lunch is over.]

Shit I have to go back to work. We'll talk about this later?

[It'll maybe give him some time to get his thoughts in order.]

1/2

[camber]

I'll keep digging.

2/2

[enate]

Those are all in our photo albums.

What the hell is going on?

I promise we're not trying to gaslight you, Rudy.

[nextproject]

I believe you.

[Because if Lisa had the answer to Ben's questions, he's certain she would have answered them. So something must have happened. Perhaps a linked trauma of some kind.

But that isn't what needs to be dissected right now.]

We'll get to the bottom of this. I'll make dinner and we'll go over what Dickerson's found together.

[If that works for everyone here.]

[enate]

( No one objects to dinner. Dickerson can always eat. It's a free meal and a mystery.

While Rudy is in a session, Lisa lets herself into the house and stomps upstairs. She has too many questions and she can't concentrate so her advisor and her assistant cancels the rest of her day.

By the time dinner rolls around, Lisa has dove deep into her physical records on hand. Not only does she have pictures, but she has an employment contract and employee handbook, both assigned to Dean Winchester. And a bag of other -- what can only be described as, identities. Hers, Ben's, and Dean's, but not under their names. And an insurance policy not under any of their names, but -- Axel Rose.

Barefoot on the floor of her closet, she searches harder through her files - and then tries locating her tax return that year and the year before.

By the time everyone gathers, the kitchen island has ... a lot of evidence she can't explain.

As Rudy cooks, Dickerson sips on a glass of wine and peruses everything she found.

"You lived with Dean Winchester," he confirms.

Lisa just shakes her head. )

All I can think ... did -- what if we left him. And he came after us, what if he targeted us with his car. You said he might've been struggling with something, clearly PTSD, what if he snapped, what if we tried to escape and we started over again? Or, the accident... could the accident have just -- erased him from our memories?

( Give Dickerson a second, because, there's a lot to sift through. And it's pretty damning. )

[nextproject]

Not in the way you're thinking. A physical trauma like that would be more likely to result in you losing time not erasing a specific person from a specific set of memories.

[He places a lid over the pan to let the ground turkey simmer, before turning back to his wife.]

It's possible that another trauma could have caused you to repress his presence in your life but from what you described, it does feel a bit ... clean. Usually suppressing these kinds of memories result in things like flashbacks or other kinds of trauma responses.

[A beat.]

Granted, I should not be diagnosing either of you.