The Hunt That Never Was

by Jade Dupree

They met when he was twenty-three and she was sixteen. Instantly she had a crush on him, but he couldn't see her as anything but his brother's girlfriend's little sister. It's been three years since he's seen her; a lot has changed since then.

Title: The Hunt That Never Was

Author: Jade Dupree

Rating: PG

Show: Supernatural

Genre: General

Story Type: Short Story

Warnings: None

Pairing: Sort of Sam/OFC (Lily Berkeley)

Complete: Yes

Summary: They met when he was twenty-three and she was sixteen. Instantly she had a crush on him, but he couldn't see her as anything but his brother's girlfriend's little sister. It's been three years since he's seen her; a lot has changed since then.

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the TV show 'Supernatural', any and all characters from TV show belong to the creators of Said TV Show. I do not own, know or have anything to do with Jared Padalecki or Kristen Stewart. I do own the character 'Lily Berkeley', her sister 'Isabel', and the rest of their family. I am not making any money from this fan fiction, it is simple an idea that wouldn't leave me alone.

Author's Note: This is actually set in my fan fiction 'Never Say Alone' timeframe. NSA was set at the end of Season 1, it starts right after the 18-wheeler hits the Impala and this story takes place three years from when Dean and Sam first meet Isabel and her family. I hope you all enjoy it.

"Hey Sammich."

There was something familiar in that voice, though he didn't recognize who it was at first. Actually the strange nickname of his was what gave her away, she was the only one who ever called him that, who insisted on calling him that. He still could remember the first time she called him that, he hadn't known what to say in response to that name. Every time after that when she said it, Dean found it hilarious, while Isabel would always have a knowing smile a crossed her face and he'd tried very hard not to roll his eyes. Maybe he wouldn't mind so much if he'd known her better or the nickname was something else or if she was older. He still had that strange sensation whenever she called him that because of their age difference; it was a little intimate for him.

Of course that wasn't the same for Lily.

"I know you heard me, Sammich," she said, he could hear the cockiness in her voice. "You lifted your head and froze, so yeah, you heard me. Now turn around and say hi."

"Well I wasn't expecting to see anyone that I knew at this library, Lily," he said as he turned in his chair to look where she stood behind him.

That was when he got the shock of his life. Instead of the sweet looking, brunette sixteen year old he used to know, there was a golden blond beauty standing behind him. He'd heard she had a thing for dying her hair when she got bored, but the whole time he was around her three years ago, he'd never once seen her with anything other than her brunette strands. Now, with the way the blond lightened her features and brightened her eyes, she looked so much more grown up.

"Sam?"

"Huh? Oh uh… yeah," he stumbled as he moved to stand up. With an awkward smile, he opened his arms to her, already knowing what was to be demand on this little reunion. Every time he saw either Berkeley sisters, hugs were demanded, so he had pretty much grown used to it. Although, he hadn't hugged Lily in years and he couldn't help but notice how different she felt in his arms.

"So how've you been?" he asked when she finally pulled back.

Lily smiled as she gave a small shrug. "I'm okay. Been busy, but that's life right?"

"Yeah, I think that's supposed to be the definition," he answered. With a motion to the chair beside him, Sam moved to sit back down at the table. He'd been there doing research on some strange disappearances on the college campus when she showed up. He wondered if that was the reason she had shown up here. After Dean and Isabel's wedding, he hadn't heard what happened to Lily, mostly he got that she was fine whenever he remembered to ask or Isabel decided to be forth coming with the information. They were family after all, there was no reason why they all should worry about the others when they could know easily or so Dean had told him, in a mocking tone that earned him a smack in the arm from his wife. Sam assumed his older brother had been mocking Isabel, so he couldn't feel all that bad for the smack. "So what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" she repeated with a half smirk on her face. "This is my territory Sammich. I think the question at hand is what are you doing here?"

"You're territory?"

"Meaning this is my school now," she answered. The surprised look on his face caused her to laugh out before she clamped a hand over her mouth. They were in a library after all. "You mean Isabel never mentioned I was accepted into Stanford?"

Sam slowly shook his head. "Uh, no she didn't. Why'd you decide to come here?"

"Stanford has a great business school," she replied with a small shrug. "Plus it's some place sunny, like where I'm from and they offered me a full scholarship."

"None of the other colleges did?"

A sly smile spread across her lips at that comment before she gave him a nod. He hadn't expected anything less, she'd been a smart girl when he met her and from the way her family spoke, she always had great grades. Still didn't explain why she was at his old school.

"It had nothing to do with you, Sammich."

"What didn't?" he asked innocently.

"Nice try. Me coming to Stanford had nothing to do with you. If it did, don't you think I'd be working towards law school?"

His brow rose when she mentioned his old dream of becoming a lawyer. Either Dean had told her about that or she'd find out on her own, he still couldn't figure out just how the Berkeley family was able to get some of their information. Then again, like Isabel had once said, with the internet, you can't hide much these days.

"Yeah, I guess," he replied with a small shrug. "Still doesn't say why you decided on this school."

"I'm serious that it had nothing to do with you," she said again. "I'd already decided on Stanford when Dean told me this was your school. Actually, he didn't tell me, he picked on me choosing the same school as my crush. I guess the surprised look on my face told him I didn't know you'd gone here as well."

"Crush?" The way the word slipped out, it sounded like something was caught in his throat. Though he'd been sure Lily had liked him, he just never, well… she had been sixteen, he tried not to lead her on or anything. The last thing Sam wanted to do was hurt her, she was a sweet girl and he was sure one of the Berkeley siblings would skin him alive if he hurt their baby sister. That's not even thinking what their dad or granddad would do to him.

Lily's soft laugh wasn't able to echo like usual in a room, she cut if off behind her hand. Still, he could hear the joy in it as she again found something amusing, mostly how he reacted to hearing her call him her crush. Well, at least she laughed about it rather than cried or got upset like that time she had with Isabel. Her sister only wanted to explain that Sam and she couldn't happen, she was sixteen and he was twenty-three, Lily hadn't liked yearning that.

"You mean after three years you haven't figured out that I liked you?" she questioned as a twinkle danced in her eyes.

Sam smirked. "I knew, but I'd just hoped that you'd have gotten over it by now."

"Ouch, Sammich, that one hurt a lot." From the way she smiled he knew that she was far from hurt. If anything she looked… excited. Now he was worried. "For your information Sam, I have gotten over you. It's been three years, I'm at college, and there are plenty of guys here that are interested in me."

"Okay, we're even," he stated as he turned back to the books. "I hurt you, you got me back. Can I go back to my research?"

"It's always so much fun to torture you, Sam," she stated as she leaned over to hug him with her head on his shoulder. "Dean's gotten like my brothers now. It's getting old to continue to torture him."

"How long did that last?" he asked as he looked over at her, noticing that she hadn't lifted her head yet.

Lily shrugged her shoulders while she reached of the note book that held his notes. As she read over the paper, he turned the book page, trying to find anything in Stanford's history about the disappearances. There had to be something, he just hadn't found it yet. Nothing had happened during the time he was here at school, so he assumed there was something to do with time, so many years between disappearances that no one caught the pattern yet. Still, he'd been searching for a few hours no and had nothing to show for it.

"Probably about six months," she finally answered. "It was a lot of fun at first because Dean wasn't for sure what he could get away with because he didn't want Isabel, Chris or Matthew to string him up. Then when he realized he didn't have to worry, he started to get me back. That was great, we even teamed up against Chris and Matthew, and we had them so itchy from the itching powder. I never laughed so hard."

Sam chuckled at that. He remembered hearing about that incident from Isabel and again from Dean when they met up to go after that Wendigo in Minnesota. They'd laugh so hard, Dean had to pull over because he couldn't drive from all the tears that were running down his face. Sam remembered that moment very clearly, it was that moment that he realized that he no longer had Dean as only a big brother. From that moment on, Sam realized he had to share Dean with Isabel and her family, because they were family by marriage. He was happy that his brother had found what he'd always wanted, though he'd still deny it to this day, but a part of Sam also resented him for it. Sure, the whole family made him welcome, Isabel insisted he was one of them and he was her brother-in-law, but to the rest, he felt like he was imposing. That had been one of the reasons he left to hunt on his own shortly after the wedding between Dean and Isabel, which was months before that night he realized the true reason he left.

"Sammich?" Lily's voice broke into his memories. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said with a small smile as he looked her in the eyes. "I guess I just miss them. It's been a few months since I saw everybody."

"Yeah, Isabel mentioned something about that," she said with a nod. "You still haven't seen your niece. From what I've heard, if you wait any longer, she'll never forgive you."

"Isn't that something you threatened me with?" he asked with brows came together. "Something about if I waited to ask you out, you'd never forgive me?"

"I can't believe you remember that," she responded with a laugh. "Yep, I threatened that and you still never asked. I guess that means I'm supposed to be mad at you right now."

"So you don't want to help with this hunt?"

"What hunt?"

Sam blinked and looked at her in confusion. Hadn't she said this was her territory now? Yeah, she'd said that, so as a huntress from a family of hunters, she should know about the disappearances. This wasn't something that was easily over looked by hunters, no, they noticed all the strange little things everyone else had excuses to explain. "The disappearing students don't ring a bell with you?"

"Oh that hunt," she exclaimed before she nodded her head. "It was a vampire nest."

"Was?"

Lily nodded her head as she sat the notebook back down on the table they were at. He watched as her eyes slowly turned back to him before she shifted to lean back in her chair casually. She'd just told him the reason for the disappearances was vampires, which would mean that she… "You went after them by yourself?"

"Not exactly," she replied, "they sort of came to me."

"Why would they come to you?"

"Well not all of them, just their leader, Lenore," she answered. "The humans that were disappearing were being taken by a vampire, someone in her nest, but she and her mate couldn't figure out whom. So we teamed up to set a trap and catch the leech."

"You teamed up with vampires? Lily do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

"No duh," she responded, "but you seemed to forget that I'm a very good judge of character. Plus Lenore said she knew you and Dean."

"That doesn't mean they can't fool you."

"I think it does and I think it has something to do with being like you and Isabel. Anyways, I'm fine now; we got the freak and killed him so no one would mess with Lenore or her family. They left to go somewhere else so no other hunters would be itching to kill them for the murders."

Sam sighed heavily at her explanation. He still didn't like that she had teamed up with Lenore, but she did have a point about her ability. Plus the fact she gave that power to God, like Isabel, it seemed that it helped her rather than freak her out like it had him. Of course, she hadn't fully come into it yet, she still had three more years until she was twenty-two.

"It's still a reckless move."

"Kind of like you hunting alone."

"A lot of hunters do," he replied back.

"You could be hunting with Dean or one of my other brothers."

At that Sam sighed before he shook his head. This wasn't the first time he'd heard that argument, first from Dean and another time from Isabel, plus more between the two of them. They wanted him in their lives, he wanted to be there as well, but he just didn't think he belonged. His eyes shifted to Lily before he said, "That's not my life, its Dean's."

"What do you mean its Dean's? You're a part of this family too." The firmness of her voice wasn't lost on him, she sounded annoyed for what he suggested, but it was how he felt. How could what he felt be wrong?

"I know, but it's just… I don't belong there. You know, I didn't belong in a family setting even if it's within a hunter's world."

"That sounds like an excuse to stay away."

A smirk came to his face before he shook his head to tell her that wasn't the case. No, he'd tried the whole family deal before, like with Dad and Dean, look how well that turned out. Then he went off to Stanford where he met Jessica, fell in love and moved in together, sadly that didn't end well either and he went from them back into a family setting of hunters with his brother. After meeting with Isabel and all of her family, plus watching as his brother fell in love with the huntress while he still dealt with the loss of Jessica, there was some more family there, but he still didn't feel like he belonged. He wasn't sure if he belonged when it was just Dean and himself, but he lived with it.

"It just doesn't feel right to me, Lily," he admitted. "Though he never admits it, Dean's always wanted the life he has, where he can save lives, then come home to a loving wife and kids. I wanted that to, but I lost it when I lost Jessica."

"Well if that's the way you feel I guess I can't change your mind."

Sam glanced at her quickly, shock written over his face. Something he learned quickly about the youngest Berkeley sibling was that she didn't just give up on things she was passionate about. Family was one of those things, so he never thought she'd let him off the hook with his feelings so easily. Man, in three years she had really grown up, not just in looks, but personality wise and everything. Even he had to admit that it made her attractive to him, but that knot in his stomach returned like when she was sixteen.

"You guess you can't change my mind?" he repeated. "Are you saying that to get me to lower my guard or something?"

"If it was that easy I'm sure I would have had you wrapped around my finger a long time ago, Sammich," she replied with a grin.

The sudden beep that rang out in the silence startled them both before their eyes strayed to her wrist watch. A slight laugh slipped from Sam's lips as she shook her head and cut off the alarm. With a shrug, she looked up at him and said, "Looks like I need to get to my next class."

"And I need to find a new hunt."

"Or you could go see your niece," she hinted. "It's been four months Sam. Don't you want her to get to know her Unckie Sammich?"

A groan slide from him as he rose to his full height of 6'4". The very last thing he wanted was for Dean's daughter to get in the habit of calling him Unckie Sammich, because he knew Dean would insist on it once he heard about the name from Lily. Plus he knew it would annoy Sam way more the Sammy ever did. "Please don't call me," he said as she stood up beside him. "It's bad enough you call my Sammich, I'd rather have my niece just call me Uncle Sammy."

Lily pressed her lips before she glanced away, a shy smile on her lips. "Oh, well that might be a problem, Sam."

"Why would it be a prob… You've already mentioned the name to Dean haven't you?"

"Not on purpose, I swear," she exclaimed as her eyes connected with his. "Izzy had me on speaker phone so I could talk to the baby and I was saying it in a joking manner when Dean must have walked in. The next thing I know, I can hear him double over with laughter and telling her how he can't wait to introduce her to her Unckie Sammich."

No wonder Dean was being even more insistent on getting him to visit, his big brother just wanted to torture him some more. Well, he'd have to get it over with sooner or later, he figured. "There's no point in putting it off anymore is there?"

"Not really," she said with a shake of her head.

Sam nodded with a sigh. This he should have expected, whenever he ran into a Berkeley his world was switched about. Maybe that was another reason he stayed away, he'd kind of grown used to a certain way of thinking, but with them around it was always changing. Man, he hadn't spent this much time analyzing himself in years. He'd blame this one on Lily though.

"So when you heading out?"

"I planned on leaving now, why?"

"Well I was going to suggest us grabbing something to eat after my class," she said with a slight smile. "But if you're in a rush to see them, I'll understand."

"This was all just a slow set up so I'll dinner with you, wasn't it?"

Lily's hands came up as she gave an innocent expression that was ten times better than his. With a sweet smile, she glanced away and then back at him, again something danced in her eyes. "Hey, we all have to eat something for supper. I just figured you might want to join me tonight for a meal before you were being called Unckie Sammich."

"Somehow I get the feeling I'm going to regret this, Lily," Sam said as he gathered his things. With a smile on his face, he turned and headed for the door.

A laugh followed after him before he heard her say, "That may be, but you're still coming. I'll meet you at the front entrance at five. Don't be late, Sammich, I really don't like to be kept waiting."