** A/N** ~ New story! This one takes place before my other fic 'Of Heaven and Hell', and I DO NOT own any Supernatural characters or plot line, I only own Daina and some of the plot.**
Chapter 1- " In the beginning"
Just because you live under the same roof, doesn't make you family. They made that loud and clear to Daina.
Daina never felt welcome in that house. She was always afraid of putting a foot out of line.
But as for this day, things seemed to be going smoothly. So far.
Daina felt reasonably rested, maybe got about 5 hours of sleep. The aches in her muscles were not as painful as usual.
She was even able to get a bite to eat before anyone saw her.
There was something different about this day. She just didn't know what yet.
She sat on the moth-eaten chesterfield and wrote on a crinkled piece of paper.
August 13th,
Today is different. I don't know why. It's better. No one has said anything to me so far, I ate something this morning, and I'm not too tired. I think maybe God has stepped up to give me a hand. Maybe...
"What do you think you're doing?" Josie asked.
Josie was Daina's foster sister. The girl was a year older than her and seemed to always be out to get her in trouble.
"Nothing," Daina said, quickly, shoving the peice of paper between the cushions of the chesterfield.
"Don't lie to me Daina!"
Daina got up to leave. Josie grabbed her arm harshly. "And don't walk away from me!"
"Back off," Daina said calmly, shaking Josie off her arm and walking away.
"You're just going to walk away? Just like you're dad?"
Daina stopped and turned. "Don't bring my dad into this."
"Well, why not? You can't care all too much. You haven't tried to find him."
"Because I don't know where to start looking.." Daina said.
"Call him? Try the phone book maybe? But then again, maybe it wouldn't change anything, if he cared the slightest bit about you, would he have left you?"
Daina thought hard for a minute. Maybe Josie had a point there.
Her dad couldn't have loved her too much if he left her in this shithole.
Daina finally responded. "Just don't talk about my dad,"and she turned to walk away.
"Where are you going, Winchester? Where are you going to hide?"
There was no where to hide. Josie and her little brother, Conner, knew all the hiding places and they would tell their parents if Daina avoided doing any work.
Daina went into the kitchen and cleared all the filthy dishes out of the sink on to the already cluttered counter and ran the hot water.
Debra, Daina's foster mother, came into the room with a loud shriek. " How could you let this kitchen get this dirty!"
Daina sighed, "I'm working on it."
"Dishes all over the place, when will you learn to clean up after yourself?"
Daina rolled her eyes. Isn't that funny, Daina thought.
She has never been allowed to eat off of a plate. None of the dishes were her's.
"I'm cleaning them."
"You better be!" She yelled.
Daina bit her lip to stop herself from yelling back. Sticking up for herself had never panned out good.
Once the dishes were clean, Daina began to put them in the cupboards.
She opened the door of one cupboard and it fell off it's hinges and to the floor with a thud. Convieniently, when her foster dad entered the room.
"Your uh' guest in tis home! And dis how you tweat it?" Roger's words were slurred. He'd been drinking.
Roger grabbed Daina by her shirt collar, twisting the fabric around his fingers.
"You 'ucking bitch," He growled. " You wuthless piece uh' shit!" He pushed her back harshly into the counter.
Daina struggled to get away, without any luck.
"where y'uh think you goin'?" He said. "You ain't goin' no where."
"Let go of me." She pleaded. "Please, I'll fix it, Ok?"
"You wunt' do shit as usual."
"I promise!"
He grabbed her collar again, pulling her to him and pushed her on to the floor.
She covered her head as he began kicking her.
"Roger, take a break." Debra said, entering the kitchen. "Sit down and eat something."
"Eat whut? She dint' make nothin'," He said, kicking her agian.
Debra looked down at Daina, who peeked through the protection of her bruised arms.
"What have you been doing all morning?" Debra asked her.
Daina didn't answer. What was the point? No matter what she did, it was done wrong.
"Shes been breakin' our home, hon, thats all this bitch' does."
Debra glared at Daina for a moment and left the room.
"Git up and make sum food." Roger said, yanking her up by her elbow and pushing towards the empty fridge.
Daina wiped the few stray tears that fell down her cheeks, and started back to work.
Her head was spinning, making her feel dizzy.
She opened the fridge, and pretending to look in it, she let the cold air cool her.
"Dad, Dain's takin' too long." Connor whined.
"She is, is'unt she?" Roger stood.
Daina snatched the jug of milk from the shelf in the fridge and hurried to the cupboard for bowls.
She grabbed the box of Corn Flakes from the drawer and poured them in the bowls.
She served the cereal to Roger first, then to Connor and Josie.
"I don't like Corn Flakes!" Conner said.
Too freakin' bad, Daina thought angrily.
Daina returned to the cupboard to get a bowl for Debra.
She delivered the cereral to Debra who never even acknowledged that she was there.
Daina once again returned to the kitchen, and grabbed a cup from the cupboard to pour herself a bit of milk.
There certainly couldn't be a problem with that, could there?
Who was she kidding?
"Oh, so now y'uh think you can just get y'uh self whateva you want, wheneva' y'uh want?" Roger said, standing up making his chair hit the wall.
Daina froze, knowing something bad was coming.
Roger walked up towards her, his balance off. His eyes juiced up.
The thought of pushing him over and making a break for it and never looking back, had crossed her mind several times.
Daina backed up as much as she could until the counter got in her way.
Her breath hitched as Roger got within a couple of steps of her. She pushed the cup of milk away from her.
Roger stared at her long and hard, then he swung his arm out, purposely knocking the milk on to the floor.
Her eyes returned to Roger's face, and within seconds, his other hand connected with her cheek.
Before she could react, his hand came back, knocking her against the counter, then again, until she fell to the floor.
While holding her sore cheek, scared and stunned, she grabbed the towel that was hanging on the cupboard handle and began to clean up the spilled milk.
Roger began to kick her again, hard to her side.
Daina could hear Josie and Connor snickering from the table.
She took several kicks until she cried out in pain.
The repitition had taken it's toll, and she was certain some of her ribs were damaged.
Roger had finally stopped and sauntered into the living room.
Relieved, Daina cleaned the milk up and set the cup on the counter.
She then limped over to the table and collected the dirty dishes.
Debra came back into the kitchen, and set her full bowl of soggy cereal on the counter.
"Get out of the house, Daina." She said.
Daina kind of wished that was a 'get out and never come back,' but it was actually a 'get out of here so I don't have to look at you, until I need your service.'
Daina nodded to her, and went out to sit on the porch.
She hated this neighbourhood. All the people were the same, all miserable, and all alcoholics. There was nothing beautiful about it. Very few trees, no wild animals, no flowers.
Just run-down houses, broken beer bottles, and souped-up vehicles.
She sat staring at the sky. The only thing worth looking at around here.
Daina could hear a engine of a car coming up the road.
She waited until it came into sight.
Unexpectedly, the vehicle was in very good condition, black, and shiny.
It seemed familiar.
It parked infront of house. Daina watched as two young men got out and walked up the dirt driveway.
They approached the porch and stopped.
"Hey, is this the Russell's home?" The taller one asked.
"Um, yeah." Daina answered.
"Are you Daina?" Asked the other one.
"Maybe. Who are you?"
The taller one sighed. " Um, I'm Sam Winchester. He's Dean. We're Daina's brothers."
Daina stood and stared wide-eyed at them.
Dean looked at her a moment. "Daina?"
"What are you doing here?"
"We came to check up on you." Dean said.
"Now? After all these years?"
Sam took a step towards her. "Dai, we would have come sooner, if we knew where you were."
"You guys can't be here," she stammered. "You have to leave."
"Why?" Dean asked, looking around.
"Just please. Go."
"Alright, but will you tell us why?" Sam asked.
"Because-"
The door swung open and Roger grabbed Daina, and pulled her harshly through the doorway. "You ucking' bitch, talkin' to stranguh's now?"
She cracked her head on the door frame.
She cried out.
"Hey!" Dean yelled.
Roger dropped Daina, and she fell to the floor.
He turned and Dean's fist connected with his jaw. Roger fell backwards and Dean was soon on top of him, punching.
Sam ran over to Daina, and pulled her up from the floor.
"Hey, you Ok?" He asked, tilting her chin up so he could see the mark on her head.
"I'm fine." She said, trying to pull his hands off of her.
Dean finally got off of a now unconscious Roger. "The bastard didn't see it comin'," Dean said.
Debra entered the room and gasped. "Who the hell are you?"
Sam and Dean looked over to her. Daina looked away.
"Roger?" She yelped.
"He's out cold," Dean said.
Debra bent down next to him. "Josie, call the police!"
"Time to go," Sam said, pulling Daina along.
She shook him off.
Sam stopped. "Come on, Dai. You don't want to stay here do you?"
She looked of at Debra who glared at her.
Daina looked back at Sam, "Okay."
Sam grabbed her hand and lead her to the car.
"We got a motel not far from here." Sam said. "Once we get there, we're taking a look at your head."
Daina pulled her seat belt on.
Dean got in the car, and turned around to look at her.
"You Ok?" He asked, gruffly.
"Yeah."
He nodded once and turned the ignition.
The drive to the motel was silent.
In the motel, Sam had Daina sit down on a chair. Dean came over and inspected her head.
"Dammit." He muttered.
"What?" Sam asked.
"It's pretty deep. It'll need stitches."
Daina jumped. "Please..no."
Sam and Dean exchanged looks.
"It will heal by itself.." Daina said.
"No it won't," Dean said. "It will scar badly and get infected."
"Dai, it's Ok. We'll do whatever we can to make it as painless as possible." Sam said.
She bit her lower lip, "Ok." She said.
She tried to relax in her seat as she watched Dean sterilize the needle in alcohol.
Dean made his way to her. Daina began to shake badly.
Dean looked to Sam. "Get some ice."
Sam nodded and grabbed some ice from the freezer above the fridge.
He came back and tilted her head back and held the ice to her forehead.
"That will numb the area for a while," Dean said.
After a while, Sam removed the ice.
"Ok," Dean said. "Close your eyes, so you don't have to look at it."
She did so.
"Sam, just hold her still."
Sam placed his hands on her shoulders, and held them back to the seat.
Dean pierced the skin for the first stitch.
Daina squirmed.
"Shh," Sam said, softly. "Just a few more."
Dean continued to stitch her head up and after a while she got use to the pain.
"All done." Dean said, cutting the thread.
Sam let go to of her shoulders.
"Thanks," Daina said.
"Not a problem." Dean said, watching her sit up, clenching her side.
Dean looked up at Sam, who was too watching.
"Daina, stand up for a minute." Dean said.
She looked at him, confused, but stood.
Dean probbed at her sides, and watched her expression.
She flinched and gasped at a few spots.
Dean's hands dropped.
He lifted her chin so she was looking at him. "What happened?" He asked.
"I..I fell." She lied.
"No, you didn't. Tell me what happened."
"I..uhh."
Sam stepped up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Dai, it's Ok. You can talk to us."
"I spilled milk.." She whispered.
"You spilled milk?" Dean asked.
She nodded.
Sam walked around her to face her. He belt down, pulling her down with him until she sat down on the chair.
"Daina, did he hurt you?"
She looked at him. "What?"
"Did Roger hurt you?"
She looked at him and up at Dean. Then she nodded.
"Cause' you spilled milk?" Dean asked.
She nodded again, looking down. "But it was my fault."
"How was it your fault?" Sam asked.
"I wasn't allowed to have milk."
Sam sighed and Dean ran a hand through his hair.
"That son-of-a-bitch beated you because you wanted milk?" He asked, loudly.
Daina flinched at his tone.
"Dean, take it easy." Sam said.
"They broke her ribs, Sam!"
"Dean, I know."
Dean shook in anger, trying to calm himself. "Let's go get something to eat."
Sam nodded, standing up and leading Daina along by her elbow gently.
They went to a restaurant and ordered their meals.
Not knowing what she wanted, Dean picked a meal out for Daina.
Their meals were served, and Daina stared at her plate.
Dean looked at her. "Uh, you can eat it, you know."
"All of this is mine?"
"Yes."
She picked up a fork and began mowing into it.
Sam and Dean watched in shock.
"Dai, take it easy." Sam said, "You're going to make yourself sick."
She tried to slow down.
Dean stared at her from across the table.
"Dai, when's the last time you've eaten?"
"Anything?" She asked.
He nodded.
"Hmm, I think this morning. I had a bit of bread."
"And before that?"
"About three days ago." She answered.
Sam and Dean froze, exchanging looks.
"What?" She asked.
"Nothing," Sam said. "Keep eating."
"This is my first time in a restaurant." Daina said.
"Seriously?" Dean asked.
"Yep."
"That is just sad." Dean said, looking at Sam briefly.
They sat in silence, and Daina continued to eat her meal.
She set her fork down, "Um, Sam. Can get out to use the bathroom?"
"Sure." Sam got out of the booth to let her out, than sat back down.
Once she was out of their sight, Sam said, "Jesus, three days without eating?"
"They starved and beat her." Dean said.
"And did you have a look at her clothes? They're all torn-up and dirty."
"Yeah, and if her clothes haven't been cleaned, when's the last time she has?" Dean asked.
"She was a slave. Dean, dad couldn't have known about this, right? I mean, what's worse? Being beaten and starving in a foster home, or being fed and kept protected by her family?"
"He didn't know, Sam. He couldn't have." Dean said.
Sam stared at the table and nodded once.
Dean watched his expression. "What is it?"
Sam looked up. "Dean, how can you just drop your daughter off somewhere, without knowing if she was Ok?"
"Well, I don't know, Sam. Maybe he thought she was-,"
"If it was you, Dean. If you were in dad's position, you would have made sure, right?" Sam asked.
"Of course I would have." Dean said.
"So then be honest with yourself, Dean. You know dad couldn't have-"
"You don't know that, Sam. Don't go all anti-daddy on me again," Dean said pointing a finger at him.
"Dean, I'm not.." Sam started.
"No, you're just pissed at the state she's in and you want someone to blame."
"There is someone to blame, Dean. The family she was housed with."
"So then why are trying to twist this whole thing on dad?" Dean asked.
"Dean, I just want to know what was going through that screwy mind of his when he hooked her up in foster care," Sam said. " Don't you find it odd that he rarely spoke of her over the years? If he did, it was very brief."
"It hurt him, Sam."
They hushed as Daina made her way back to the table.
"Not as much as her." Sam said, quietly.
Daina returned.
"We done here?" Dean asked.
Sam and Daina nodded.
"Alright," he laid a couple of bills on the table and lead the way back to the car.
They got back to the motel and settled down to get some rest.
"Dai, you and Sam take the beds, I'll take the couch." Dean said.
"Oh, no it's Ok. I'll sleep on the floor." Daina said.
Sam exited the bathroom, and said, "Dai, you're not sleeping on the floor."
She stared at him for a moment. "Why not?"
"Because you need a good sleep. It's easier to do that in a bed."
Dean stood watching their conversation.
"Dai, did you have your own bed at the Russels'?" He asked.
She shook her head.
"Did you sleep on a couch?" Sam asked.
"No, I slept on the tiled floor in the kitchen."
Dean looked away, not knowing what to say at the moment.
Sam looked to the floor, then back up to her face.
Sam wrapped a arm around her shoulders and gently guided her to one of the beds.
"As long as you're with us, you will never be sleeping on a tiled floor." He told her, pulling the covers back and letting her slide under them.
He gently pushed her back against the pillow behind her head. "Get some sleep. You need it."
She smiled a little and closed her eyes. He pulled the covers up to her chin and walked back to where Dean stood.
"Man, it's like she's never seen a bed before," Sam said.
"Probably hasn't slept in one for years." Dean replied.
"What the hell was wrong with those people? How can you do that to a kid?" Sam asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"She's wasn't their blood."
"It's still not right!"
"Sammy, man, I know," Dean said. " But she's with us now, and something tells me she's thankful for that." He said, glancing over at her sleeping form in the bed.
"I'm thankful for that." Sam replied, staring at the floor for a minute before meeting Dean's eyes.
Dean nodded once. He took a step towards Sam and slapping him on the shoulder, he said, "Get some sleep, Sammy."
Sam sighed and made his way to his bed.
Dean took a seat on the couch and sipped on a beer thinking.
Since he did not have any legal documents stating that he had permission to remove Daina from the Russels' home, what he and Sam did was considered kidnapping.
Surely they were on someone's wanted list.
Dean heard some of the blankets russle around. He saw that Daina had kicked almost all of her sheets off, and was whining and whispering "Get off me."
Dean set his beer on the table and made his way over to her. He pulled the sheets back on to the bed and covered her up again. He patted her shoulder gently.
She screamed and began thrashing. "Stop! Please! I'm Sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Whoa, whoa, easy Dai," Dean said, pinning her arms down to the bed.
"Please leave me alone!" She screamed.
"Dai, babe, wake up. You're Ok." Dean said softly, shaking her.
Her eyes shot open,and she sat panting, tears streaming down her face.
Sam woke and rolled out of bed. He got up and took a seat next to Dean on her bed.
"Dai, 're Ok. No one is going to hurt you." Sam said, brushing her hair out of her face.
Sam lifted his hand up to brush her hair again and she winced, her body tensing, anticipating a hit.
Sam lowered his hand and glanced at Dean.
He positioned himself a bit behind her and held her close to him.
Her breath hitched and she shook violently against him.
"Daina, just breathe, honey. You're Ok. You're safe." Sam said, gently. Wrapping a arm around her, holding her to him.
Dean kept quiet, letting Sam work his magic. He grabbed one of Daina's hand's and queezed it, rubbing it with his thumb.
Sam was able to settle her down enough that her breathing was at a regular pace.
Dean squeezed her hand once more, "Dai, can you tell what that was about?"
She looked at him and shook her head.
"Honey, you can tell us anything, alright?" Sam said, softly. He rubbed her back in a soothing motion.
She pressed her lips together into a tight line.
"I had a dream about, uh-"
Sam and Dean waited for her to continue.
"About Roger." She whispered.
"Dai," Dean said. "Roger won't hurt you ever again."
"He's right, Dai." Sam said, still rubbing her back. "We won't let anyone hurt you."
She nodded, choking back on a sob, hiding her face in Sam's shirt.
Sam looked to Dean. "Get some rest, Dean. I'll take care of this."
"Sam, you sure?"
"Yeah, I got it."
Dean watched as Sam laid her back down and settled down next to her.
His arm rested under her head, and his other hand stroked her hair.
Dean sat and watched quietly.
Once Daina breathing was soft and regular, and her tears stopped, Dean asked, "She asleep?"
"Yeah." Sam said.
"Dude, where did you learn to do that?" Dean asked.
"What?"
"Get someone to calm down like that?"
"I..I don't know. But you're going to have to learn, Dean."
"Come again?"
"Have to get back to Stanford by Monday, Dean. You're going to have to learn to do this, because it isn't going to stop overnight."
Dean sighed. "Well, ain't that grand." He laid down in the other bed.
The next morning, Dean woke to the sound of ACDC coming from his cell phone.
He sat up and answered it.
"Hello."
"Dean, did you get her?" Bobby Singer asked loudly.
"Yeah, we got her."
"She Ok?"
"Define Ok, Bobby. They kid has been beaten to a pulp, starved, been over worked."
"Where the hell was she?"
"A Foster home."
"And now?" Bobby asked.
"Asleep."
"Are you sure about this, Dean?"
"Sure about what?" Dean asked.
"This, taking in your kid sister. You know what this means."
"Bobby.." Dean started.
"It means you have to train her, Dean. She has to be a hunter."
"Bobby, I know. But right now we just need to get her healthy again."
"Dean, I would start training as soon as possible." Bobby said.
"Alright, I'll get on it."
"Take care, Dean."
Bobby hung up, and Dean set the phone down on the night stand.
Dean looked over at Sam, who laid awake.
"Hey, how did the rest of the night go?" Dean asked.
"Fine, she slept soundly the rest of the night."
"Good," Dean said, looking down at the floor.
"Dean," Sam said. "What's wrong?"
"Sam, you know what we have to do."
"What?"
"We have to train her, Sam." Dean said.
"Yeah, Dean, I know."
"And you're Ok with that?" Dean asked looking up at him.
"Yeah, Dean. It's a hell of a lot better than what she had before. Dean, we can do this. We can protect her."
Dean looked at her sleeping a form for a moment.
"Alright, so where do we start?" Dean asked.
"Well, what's the first thing you remember dad teaching you?"
"How to aim and shoot a gun."
"Alright, so we'll start there." Sam said, looking down at her.
Dean buried his face in his hands. "Sam, I don't want this for her."
Sam looked up at him and sighed.
He carefully removed his arm from under her head, and sat up.
"Dean, believe it or not, this is best for her."
"Is it, Sam?" Dean asked. "Is travelling around and hunting things a good way to live? She's grown up being scared and now we're going to stick a few monsters in front of her and tell her to have a blast?"
"Dean, you and I will be there. She won't be alone in this."
"And what if she doesn't want to do it? What then?"
"Then," Sam said, pausing. "We'll find an alternative."
Dean looked at him for a long moment, then he stood.
"I'm gonna go find us something to eat. I'll be back, let her sleep and wake up on her own. Don't wake her." He said.
"Alright," Sam said.
Dean left the motel and got in the Impala.
He could not come to terms with the idea of his little sister becoming a hunter. Putting her in danger, and giving her few choices of her future. He wanted her to have a different life, not a repeat of his own.
** What do ya think? Rate & Review pls!**