Dean - 20
Sam - 16
Adam - 14
Scarlet - 12
"Daddy, what's wrong?" I asked as dad hung up his phone. His face was a strange mix of emotions that I had no hope of reading. I saw sadness, some anger, regret, and apprehension. It was strange, I had never seen dad look like that. He was strong, the strongest man I knew, but right now he looked lost. My first instinct was to wrap him in a hug and tell him everything was going to be ok, but I didn't even know what was going in.
"Dad, are you ok?" My brother Dean asked. He seemed on edge too, none of us had seen dad like this.
"Pack your bags, we're leaving," Dad ordered. None of us moved to follow the order. Yeah, it was pretty dumb, but this was a strange situation.
"Dad, what's going on, if you just got a hunt, it can wait until after the one your on, can't it?" Sammy asked. He tried for calm and reasonable.
"Pack your bags." It was an order. That tone of voice never meant anything else.
"No. If its just another hunt, tell us and we'll pack our bags. If its more than that, tell us, we have the right to know." I told him. I waited, not breathing. Either he would lie to us and say it was just another hunt, tell us what was bothering him, or turn me over his knee and spank me for telling him no. Dad seemed like he was calculating the same options I was because he took a few minutes to respond.
"All right, sit down," dad said, indicating one of the beds while he sat on the other one right across a small isle. "I will not apologize to you, I thought I was doing the best I could. I was keeping him out of this lifestyle."
"Who dad?" Dean asked. He looked like he was almost hyperventilating.
"Your brother," Dad replied. The three of us just looked at him. Nobody said a word as we processed the information that had just been dropped on us.
"Our Brother!?" Sam exclaimed. Dad nodded.
"What happened?" I asked dad.
"What do you mean?" Dad asked back.
"Well, I assume that you wouldn't have told us about him unless the situation changed," I told him. I didn't know how I felt about him. I didn't know anything about him.
"His mother just died. It was a random act of violence." Dad told us. Just like mine had died. Mom had been mugged on her way home from the night shift at the hospital. She had been a nurse and the night shift paid more than the day shift. She was a single mom, we needed all of the money.
"How long have you known about him?" Sam asked. That was a good question. Dad didn't seem to be taking the news like a man who didn't know he had a kid. He was taking the news like a man who didn't want to tell his three other children that he had another kid.
"I have known about him since he was twelve, two years now," dad told us. We accepted that in silence.
"What's going to happen now?" Dean asked.
"My name is in Kate's will. I will get custody of my son," Dad stated. Great, I was getting another brother to boss me around. This should be fun. "His name is Adam Milligan, and he knows nothing of our life." So that was why dad kept him a secret. He was trying to protect him from our life. I can understand why. We moved around constantly, we hunted monsters, we ran credit card scams to keep us alive, we lied, cheated, stole, we picked pockets, we scrounged for food every once in a while and we risked our lives every day so other people could live normal lives. Sam hated it. All he wanted was a normal existence. He wished he was ignorant of what was out there in the dark, waiting. He wanted a home, he wanted to go to a school for more than two weeks, and he wanted to go to college more than anything. Dean seemed to love our life. He was an amazing hunter and he loved saving people. I was more on Dean's side. While I knew the everyday life with my mom, I really didn't crave it like Sam did. It was boring and you did the same thing every day of your life. I liked the danger of hunting, the adrenalin rush you got when you were hunting something that could kill you any second. It felt good to help people too. I didn't know how our new brother would take the change in lifestyle. I had been pretty young when I had come to live with dad and my brothers. He was three times my age.
"Pack your bags, I'm going to call Bobby and see if he can work stuff out for us." Dad told us. This time we listened. There was no point in not listening. We knew what the problem was and Winchesters didn't turn their backs on family. Even if it was family we didn't know existed. We were ready to go in ten minutes and dad was still outside talking to Uncle Bobby. We just sat on the bed in silence, lost in our own thoughts until dad opened the door and walked back inside.
"I have news; we will be staying in Windom Minnesota." Dad told us.
"Which means what?" Sammy asked.
"We will be staying in Windom. Bobby has a hunter friend who lives there who is on vacation for the next year or so. He agreed to let us stay in his house. I think that we should give Adam time to adjust to our unique family so we will stay in the house for the rest of the year. I will go on hunts, Dean you will be in charge. Sam, Scarlet, you will be going to school with Adam." I groaned at the implication that I would have to go to school for almost a whole year. Who did that? I almost laughed out loud at the irony. Most kids did that. I was the weird one. Sam seemed like he was about to jump for joy.
"Dad, it's only February," Dean protested. If we did stay for the rest of the year, this would be by far the longest place we have ever stayed at.
"I know, but it is not up for discussion," dad said and with that, the conversation was closed. We followed dad outside and packed our stuff into the trunks. "Scarlet is going to ride with Dean, Sammy, you ride with me." Good, I loved riding with Dean. We shared so many of the same interests. I think when I moved in with the three of them I attached to Dean the most. After that, I clung to him and admired him so much that I adopted all of his likes to myself. I now only listened to classic rock, I loved pie, I love hamburgers and think anything vegetarian is the most disgusting thing ever, I like to sing at the top of my lungs, off key, and in the most random places of the song, my clothes are less show-off than his but I still like the leather and jeans look and I always wear the necklace he gave me when I moved in with them. It is a protection symbol so I can never get possessed by a demon. We got into the car and we drove north towards Windom Minnesota where our lives were going to change forever. I dozed off about four hours into the trip despite the blaring rock music that Dean played over and over again. I already knew every single song by heart. That wasn't too impressive though, he played the same five albums over and over again.
"Wake up Scar, its breakfast time," Dean said softly as he shook me awake. I groaned but opened my eyes into the bright sunlight.
"How much longer do we have until we get there?" I asked my older brother.
"Only about an hour and a half," Dean told me. I nodded my head in acknowledgement. I had no idea what would happen once we got there but there was still time. We met dad and Sammy inside. Sammy looked like he had been sleeping too. Dean looked tired but just fine and dad looked like he always did. The first part of the meal passed in silence, none of us too keen on speaking our mind with dad sitting right there.
"Ok, this house has three bedrooms and there is going to be four kids. In the past I would have Sam and Dean share a room and Scarlet gets her own, but this is going to be a little different. If we put all of the boys together it may get a little cramped but on the other hand, having you boys share a room with your sister may get a little strange and I'm sure that Adam is going to get very uncomfortable sharing a room with Scarlet." dad laid out our options. Tricky.
"I think that Scarlet should get the room to herself, we can deal with cramped, we do it all the time," Dean proposed.
"But Dean's the oldest, it's not fair that he should have to share a room with two other people. He needs his space too. Plus, it won't be fair to the older ones that the youngest got her own room." I pointed out.
"What if we split the room and Scar and Dean shared the room. They both get along great with each other and if we hang a sheet up between them or something, they will still have the privacy," Sammy suggested. We all considered it and then started nodding in agreement.
"That would work, what do you two think?" Dad asked. We both looked at each other and smiled then started nodding.
"That would be cool," Dean stated. I agreed.
"Good, now that we got that worked out, I have to go to the courthouse in Windom and get some papers signed so we can take custody of Adam. Dean, I would like you to cosign to be Adam's other guardian should I die," Dad said.
"Yes sir," Dean replied.
"After that, we should be able to get Adam from the home he's in and then we can go move into the house," dad planned. We all nodded in agreement, sounded good to us. I still didn't know how I felt about another member of our family. It would be awkward. After we ate we all piled back into the cars and traveled the rest of the way to Windom Minnesota. We followed dad's truck. We were only half an hour away when I voiced my worries.
"Dean, what do you think he'll be like?" I asked, finally getting up the courage to ask.
"I have no idea sweetie, I just found out about him too," Dean replied in a joking voice. Dean wasn't the best person in the world to ask a serious question to. He liked to joke and to avoid serious conversations.
"Dean, this is serious, what if he doesn't like me?" I asked. He looked over at me and seemed to register the worry I felt.
"It doesn't matter if he doesn't like you," Dean stated. I looked at him with a confused expression. Of course it mattered! I was just about to open my mouth and tell him that when he continued talking. "I understand the fear, of course I do, but you have nothing to be afraid of. He's the outsider. No matter what, you'll always be a part of this family. He's the one who's going to feel left out. We have to make him feel welcome but if he doesn't want to be included that's his problem. Not much is going to change for us but his entire world is going to be uprooted. Think about it. He's a single child, living with a single mother in one house his entire life and he knows nothing about the monsters in the dark. I know you don't remember much about your life before living with us, but you did go through it. Do you remember the scared feeling you had when you first came to us?" Dean asked.
"Kind of, I remember not talking for weeks and being really unsure of what was going on," I recalled. Dean nodded.
"Remember that feeling so you can help him get through it. You're the only one who's gonna know what he's going through Sweetie. You can either help him or leave him out on his own." I pondered that for a little while. Dean was right, I was the only one who knew what he was going through. Dean had been four when his mom died and dad had pushed him into this life, but he still had a dad that he knew. Adam would have nothing. Sam knew nothing other than this life. When his mom died he was only six months old. To the day.
"What helped you finally come out of your shell?" Dean asked.
"You," I replied. It was true. The only reason I started talking was because of Dean and his persistence. He wouldn't take no for an answer.
"What did I tell you?" He prompted. I thought back all of those years.
"You told me that you were my older brother and that you wouldn't let anything touch me as long as you lived, that you would protect me with your life," I smiled at him.
"And meant it, and I will do the same for Adam. We're blood Scar, and family never gives up on each other," Dean reminded me. He told me that often, it was Dean's code. No matter what you did, where you went, who or what you killed, if you were family, Dean would welcome you back with open arms. That's what I loved about my brother. He was loyal to the end. We traveled the last ten minutes in silence. I thought about what he said. I was the only one who knew what Adam would be going through. I decided that I would try and help if he was willing. If Adam didn't want anything to do with me, I wouldn't want anything to do with him. With that sorted out in my mind, I followed Dean as he got out of the Impala and walked up the steps to the courthouse. Dad walked around for a while trying to find the place like a typical guy so I asked the nearest person where it was and they pointed us in the right direction. There was an office which dad told us to wait outside for. Dad was in the room for almost an hour and a half before he finally came back out to get Dean to sign the papers. That entire time I just sat there and people watched. It was a fun pass time and I was getting pretty good at seeing things with fleeting glances. I could tell the height, weight, and approximate age of everybody who walked by. For some of the people, I was able to pinpoint their job, social class, what stores they frequented and even what perfume they wore in a few cases. I could also tell if people were nervous, confident, strong, broken, even if they were having problems at home. While I did that, Sammy read a book and Dean did something on his phone. Knowing Dean, I didn't really want to see what he was doing on his phone. Dean and dad walked out a few minutes later with a folder filled with signed papers. After we got into the cars it was a ten minute drive to the boy's home where Adam had been staying for the few weeks it took to locate dad. He was a hard man to find apparently, Adam had been in the home for almost a month. Dad went into the main office with Dean this time and left Sammy and I waiting in the hallway. While we were sitting there, a mean looking lady stalked by us and unceremoniously deposited a boy on the chair beside me. The woman was pissed but the boy seemed pleased with himself. As soon as the woman was gone into the office, the boy let out a loud laugh that he had been suppressing just moments before.
"She looked about ready to tear your head off, what the hell did you do?" I asked incredulously. The boy's laughter seemed almost infectious as I felt a smile come across my features.
"She told me to clean the bathroom because I got into a fight this morning and I told her to shove it where the sun don't shine," The boy laughed. I found myself smiling.
"That's all you did? Why was she so upset?" Sammy asked. That made the boy laugh even harder.
"So what are you here for?" He asked us. He seemed to be looking us up and down.
"We're here to pick up our brother," I told him.
"Did you loose him?" He teased.
"No, his mother died," I said sadly. A wave of emotions came crashing down on his face before he could compose himself. "Are you ok?" I asked.
"I'm sorry, I know the feeling," He told me sadly.
"Me too," I told him.
"Really?" He asked.
"Yeah, she was killed by a mugger when she was walking home from work one night. Our car was in the shop," I remembered.
"At least you have a dad though," He prodded me with his elbow.
"Not back then I didn't," I smiled.
"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.
"Mom never talked about him, I mean never. He wasn't in my life. I didn't know a name, number, anything until he showed up at the home I was staying at, kind of like now, its strange. His name was on my birth certificate though so," I shrugged. "What about you, no dad?" I asked.
"I've met the guy a few times, nothing overly special. He showed up one day on my twelfth birthday and dropped by on my thirteenth to take me to a baseball game. Other than that, I never see him," the boy told me. Something rung a bell in the back of my mind. Didn't dad say he met our brother when he was twelve. Apparently Sam caught it too.
"How old are you now?" Sammy asked in a casual voice.
"Fourteen," The boy answered. He seemed unconcerned.
"If you don't mind me asking, what was your father's name?" Sam asked. That seemed to make the boy a little cautious. He cocked his head to the side like he was trying to think why Sam would care. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision because he shrugged his shoulders a little.
"John Winchester," He finally told us. Sam smiled and held out his hand for the younger boy to shake. The boy took the hand with confusion written all over his face.
"Sam Winchester," Sammy introduced himself. "And you're Adam Milligan." He stated the fact. Adam just nodded looking dumbfounded.
"I didn't know that John had any kids. Other than me, that is," He amended the last statement.
"We didn't know about you until yesterday when dad got the call that your mother had been killed. I am very sorry, my mother really did die too," I told him. "I'm Scarlet Winchester, the youngest." I groaned the last part. He laughed.
"Any more surprises?" Adam laughed cautiously.
"There's a big harry brute that's in there with dad," Sam said with a mischievous smile on his face.
"Sammy," I admonished playfully while slapping his stomach lightly.
"What's he talking about?" Adam asked looking very confused.
"We have an older brother. His name is Dean and he is not hairy," I told Adam, the last part was directed towards Sam.
"Have you seen his cheek?" Sam demanded of me. "Fucking hairiest things I've ever seen," Sammy exclaimed.
"You're just jealous," I told my brother matter-of-factly. "He's been trying to grow a facial hair since he became a teenager. You should see the faces he makes in the bathroom mirror, like willing it to grow will make it suddenly appear," I teased.
"Girls just don't understand the dilemma," Sammy laughed as he slung his arm around Adam's shoulder. Adam laughed. He was relaxed and comfortable around us and I honestly liked him a lot. I was glad that he wasn't one of those up-tight prissy snots that occupied most sports teams. He seemed chill. The door to the office opened.
"Hey, you two, we need to find..." He trailed off as he saw Adam. "Nevermind, dad we found him," Dean said turning around into the office. "Hey dude, Dean," Dean told his new brother offering a hand shake. Adam took it. Dean motioned us all into the small office. It was very cramped. Adam shook hands with dad a little awkwardly.
"Adam Milligan, is this your father?" The man stern man behind the desk asked. I didn't like him.
"What a creep," I whispered very softly into Sammy's ear. He nodded ever so slightly. The man was chubby, in his mid forties to early fifties. He wore a blue striped shirt with red suspenders. I couldn't see the lower half of him but I guessed it was just as ugly. His face was unpleasant and his eyes were beady. Just looking at him gave me the creeps. He was nervously twisting a wedding ring around his finger. His eyes flicked once to his desk. It was very quick and very subtle but I caught it. Following where his eyes went, I saw the corner of a flier for strippers. That was the reason this man was nervous. I almost rolled my eyes.
"Yes, this is my father," Adam answered the man's question. The man nodded.
"I place you in his custody until you turn eighteen, do you have any objections?" The man asked.
"No," Adam replied. The man nodded and signed the paper to grant custody of Adam to dad.
"Social services will be around to check up on how you are getting along," The man informed dad.
"Thank you," Dad shook hands with the man then ushered us out of the office.
"Sir?" I asked as I started to shut the door behind me. The disgusting man looked up at me. "If you are worried about your wife finding out, I suggest you stop going to the strip clubs so often." With that I smiled and shut the door behind me as I walked out the door. Dad didn't say anything about my comment to the man.
"So, what now?" Adam asked. We were standing awkwardly in the hallway.
"Do you have any belongings to grab?" Dad asked him.
"Yeah, one second." Adam ran up the stairs and came down a minute later with two duffle bags and a pillow.
"Dad, what's for lunch?" I grumbled. My stomach had started to make noises.
"How do burgers sound?" He asked. We all agreed and headed to the cars.
"Adam, you could ride with me and Sammy or you could ride with Dean and Scar, your choice," Dad told him. Adam thought about it for a few seconds.
"I think I would like to ride with Dean and Scarlet. I got a chance to meet and talk to Scarlet and Sam but not Dean," He explained. Dad nodded in understanding. Dad and Sam piled in the truck and pulled out saying they would see us in a few minutes.
"All right, rule number one, you fuck with my baby, I kill you," Dean told Adam seriously. Then he smiled.
"He's only kidding a little," I put in. "He's seriously hard assed about it. Sometimes I think he loves the car more than he loves me," The last part I put in some drama and even a sniffle for effect. Adam laughed.
"Damn strait I do, she never back talks me," Dean told me. "Show a little respect and I'll show you some love sweetheart."
"Funny," I snorted. "You gonna tell him rule number two?" I asked.
"I'm getting there," Dean said impatiently. "Rule number two, driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole," Dean told Adam as he got into the driver's seat and I got in the back. Normally I would take the front but I promised myself that I would make Adam feel comfortable. Adam climbed in beside Dean.
"You better get used to the music too, he plays the same five albums on non-stop repeat." I complained.
"You love them," Dean shot back. I didn't argue, they were pretty good. Adam laughed again.
"Is this how it is all of the time?" Adam asked.
"The best part is when dad joins in. He only does it sometimes but it's freaking hilarious when he does," I laughed. We bantered back and forth for the five minutes it took to go to the diner where dad's truck was already parked. Adam seemed pretty comfortable with us by that point. He had obviously figured out that we weren't the usual family but he seemed to adjust well. All of my worries went away. He was going to fit in perfectly around here. Now I just had to make it through an entire year of school. Ugh. I wonder if dad meant we would stay until the end of the school year or until the end of December. If he meant the end of December, we would have to start another year of school before we could leave. That would suck, but that was probably what he meant. Lunch was good, Dean raved about how good the burgers were. After that, we all piled into the cars and went to see the house we would be staying at for the rest of the year. The moment I saw it I almost laughed. It was definitely a hunter's house. The house was in the middle of a ten acre plot of land. The wooded land surrounded the house with a big grass area surrounding every side of the house. If anything was hiding out in the woods, it wouldn't get remotely close to the house without being seen. The grass area was that big and the house had huge windows. There was millions of security cameras that were hidden just inside the tree line and some that were less discrete which were hanging off the house itself.
"Dang, this guy was paranoid," Adam whistled as we pulled up and he caught a glimpse of the security cameras. We had told him that this wasn't our house but that we were going to stay here so he could finish the year at his high school. He had been very appreciative. He had thought we were going to come into his life and rip away everything he knew. Dad didn't tell him about hunting so he had no idea why this man was so paranoid.
"Grab your stuff, we're moving in," dad instructed. We all complied. We grabbed our duffle bags and hoisted them up the porch stairs and through the front door. As I walked through the door something told me to look down so I did. I saw that the boards on either side of the threshold were a lighter color than all of the other boards. Dean hit me from behind and I walked on promising myself that I would check it out later. Heading up the stairs we found the two smaller bedrooms and Dean and I claimed the larger of the two. Sammy just sighed and led Adam to the smaller of the two, the one with the bunk beds. Our room had two separate beds. We set to work hanging up the sheet in between the two halves of the room so we could have our privacy. Dad's room was downstairs directly underneath the two that belonged to us kids now. The second floor was only half of a floor with a railing overlooking the front room and the entryway. It was a nice little house. In our room we had two windows. which was perfect because we each had a window on our side. I looked out the window to see the beautiful lawn and the forest beyond that. Looking down at the window sill I saw something peculiar. Most houses I had been in had a drop strait down between the window sill and the wooden frame of the window. This house had sealant in between them. I looked at it closer and realized that there was white crystals that were trapped underneath a clear sealant.
"Dude, Dean, you got to see this!" I exclaimed.
"What?" He sounded worried and hurried to my side and looked out the window.
"No, not there, her, on the window sill," I pointed.
"Salt that can never be wiped away, this dude's a genius!" Dean exclaimed.
"Under the front door, the boards looked lighter than the other ones, I bet he found a way to saturate the boards in salt before putting the finish on them!" I exclaimed.
"This guy's amazing!" Dean laughed.
"What if he poured this cement over a devil's trap so no demon could ever leave the house even if they got in?" I asked excitedly.
"I wouldn't put it past him, this guy's a friggin genius," Dean reiterated. There was a knock on the door and Sam came in followed by Adam.
"Did you guys see it?!" Sam exclaimed. He looked like a kid in a candy shop.
"Dude's a friggin genius!" Dean laughed for the third time.
"Ok, ok, we get it, he's a genius!" I laughed.
"I don't get it," Adam said looking very confused.
"Dad hasn't explained things yet, it's ok, he will explain later," Dean said sobering up a little.
"Explain what?" Adam asked.
"Dad told us we couldn't tell you, its ok though, now, time to talk," I told my brothers. We all sat down on the floor in a circle so we could all see each other.
"What are we talking about?" Dean asked, confused.
"Us. I know guys don't like to talk about stuff but if we're going to live together, we need to know things about each other, trust me, it took a long time for me to figure these things out," I told them. Dean and Sam both groaned. "Humor me, please," I asked giving them my best puppy-dog face. They caved like I knew they would.
"All right, oldest to youngest, we'll start off simple, full names," I said.
"Dean Winchester," Dean started.
"Samuel Winchester," Sammy went next.
"Adam Milligan," Adam told us.
"Scarlet-May Roselyn Alexia Hollis-Winchester," I recited my entire name. Dean and Sam started laughing. They were the ones who had heard my name before. At least Adam was trying to reign in his giggles. "Jerks," I laughed at them.
"Your name is so freaking girly," Dean laughed.
"Ok, next question," I said forcefully. They quieted down. "What is your favorite food?"
"Pie... Or bacon burgers," Dean answered.
"Ummm, salad," Sam shrugged.
"Hmm... I would have to say Pizza, you can never go wrong with pizza," Adam smiled.
"I like meat, doesn't matter what it is, but I prefer either beef or bacon. And yeah, bacon is it's own classification of meat," Dean nodded in agreement with my statement. "All right, what is your favorite activity?" We went at it for hours. We laughed until we almost cried and by the time dinner rolled around we knew almost everything there is to know about Adam and he knew almost everything about us. Almost everything, there was still a huge chunk of our lives he knew nothing about. There was a knock on our door but we were all rolling around in a fit of laughter.
"Come in," I managed to gasp between huge gulps of air that I was drawing into my lungs.
"Dinner's here, I ordered pizza," dad told us. "What's going on here?" He asked.
"We're just getting to know each other dad," I said wiping the tears from my eyes. My brothers were awesome. All three of them.