Something had felt different in town over the last few weeks.

I had yet to see anything out of the ordinary or any evidence of it at all, but I could feel something in the air. I was naturally curious, or as my brother Dean often said, naturally suspicious on account of my upbringing. We all were. The uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach was enough to convince me to start poking around, not that I needed much convincing. After almost 11 months off in the same place, I was eager for a little excitement. And for the first time in a very long time, I took what I thought was the easy route and I didn't tell Dean about what I was doing. Sure, he was my big brother, my legal guardian and at times, my best friend, but ever since Sam went down in the pit, things had changed for us. He was weird about all things hunting and supernatural. Dean became annoyed with me talking about it, especially when Ben and Lisa were around. So, I didn't tell him. I avoided the lecture.

During lunch, I skipped the food line and headed straight out to the courtyard, aiming for the wooded area just beyond. Something had been calling me there for weeks. Call it a hunter's instinct, call it a girl's intuition, whatever it was – I knew I was being led to those woods. I had done some research, but there was very little to go on once Dean had snatched our father's journal back. I was left with google and the school library which had led me to Sasquatch, the Jersey Devil and wendigos - three options that I quickly eliminated.

"Where do you think you're going?" Madeline's voice entered my ears and I felt my body tense up, my fists balled at my sides.

I groaned out loud as I turned to face her. From the moment I met the girl, I knew I wanted nothing to do with her, but Madeline Miller had somehow managed to be in the vast majority of my classes, she lived next door and babysat Ben from time to time. I had put a stop to her babysitting on a regular basis within a few weeks of settling in at Lisa's house. I earned my first ever grounding from the stunt I pulled, but I figured that if it got her out of at least one corner of my life, it was well worth it. Almost a year later and I still didn't understand how things got to this point between us. More than anything, I just wanted to be left alone. I stayed to myself. I talked in classes when I needed to and I had joined the school's community service club, but I hadn't any connections that weren't necessary. I hadn't stolen Maddie's boyfriend, I wasn't in the running for prom queen. At this point, my actions didn't affect Madeline Miller. That didn't stop her from reporting each and every infraction regardless of severity.

"Just taking a walk. I need a little one on one time with nature. Get lost, Maddie."

"Those woods are out of bounds," she answered pragmatically.

"You're kidding, right? What is this some Harry Potter and the Forbidden Forest shit?" I rolled my eyes and Madeline looked like she didn't appreciate the reference.

"It's off grounds, Eleanora. And you are up to something. You are always up to something and you are such a poor role model for Ben. It's a shame that you had nowhere else to go so Dean had to drag you here with him. I'm sure he would prefer not to have to deal with you for the rest of his life."

Maddie Miller knew far too much about my personal life, something which bothered me to no end. She was friendly with Lisa, Dean and Ben. I had endured several forced dinners and barbecues with her family because Dean was friends with her dad, been a part of too many discussions that left me feeling exposed to the girl I considered an adversary in my pathetic high school life.

"You know what? Fuck you," I answered as my body moved naturally into a fighting stance. I only got two punches in before I felt a teacher pull me away from her and hand deliver me to the Principal's office.

"Eleanora Winchester."

It was the third time that my name had been called by the school receptionist, but I hadn't been listening. I had been staring down at my hands in my lap, none too keen to meet the receptionist's eyes. She would lead me to Principal Keenan, which would lead to me getting out of school early, which would lead to a phone call home to Dean and Lisa. When I didn't appear in his office after being called, Mr. Keenan arrived at my side and removed the earbud by pulling gently on the cord so it fell onto my shoulder.

"Let's go, Miss Winchester," he said flatly.

At times Mr. Keenan found me witty and charming. We were friendly when we saw each other around school or around town. He and Dean were poker buddies, but I didn't see that being particularly helpful right now. I pulled my bag over my shoulder and took my seat across from him, trying to look like as innocent as I could muster considering that I was entirely guilty.

"You know, I don't think I have ever had a student that has managed to be a bigger pain in my ass than you have been in the last year," he offered without the slightest hint of a smirk or a smile.

"I find that very hard to believe, Mr. K. I do pretty much all of my homework. I'm an A student. I'm even in the service club."

He rolled his eyes at me and opened the file on his desk.

"Fighting again, Eleanora?" he asked, bored with my behavior.

"It's Nora," I answered, finally feeling fed up with hearing my full name. At this rate, I figured I would be hearing it a lot, "And that b-, I mean, Madeline started it, not me."

"Well, that's not how the three eye witnesses relayed the story and that's the same excuse you used last time," he answered.

"Are you serious? Those are her best friends, Mr. Keenan. They weren't even out there when it all started."

"Those three friends are on the Honor Roll and have never caused any trouble at this school. You're serving detention for the rest of the week and I will take an essay on my desk tomorrow morning," he said before I could get another word in.

I felt my jaw drop, "A whole week?"

"You're lucky it's not more than that," he answered.

"Fine," I grumbled, "Just call Lisa instead of Dean. Dean's on-site working today."

"Sorry, nice try kid, but Dean's your primary contact. You can go wait out in the office. I'm sure he'll be here to collect you soon."

I scowled, but headed back out to the waiting room of the main office where I dozed off, listening to the music through my headphones. A hand snaked under my arm and pulled me upwards, snapping me back into consciousness. I stood up quickly with the aid of my brother's forceful hand and once settled on my feet, I tried to pry his fingers off of me to no avail. He towed me over to the receptionist's desk in his wake.

"I'm taking this one with me," he said gruffly before releasing his grip.

"Not a problem, Mr. Winchester, just sign right here," the receptionist answered with a smile as she pointed to the next vacant spot sign out sheet. She stared hungrily at Dean as he scratched out my name and signed beside it. Dean was oblivious to the cute receptionist's unrelenting attempts to garner his attention and I gathered that meant he was pissed at me.

"Have a nice day," Dean offered, oblivious.

I started for the door, but he grabbed my arm and led me through it. I pushed him away, but he just held me tighter.

"Dean, I can walk just fine on my own. It's quite a bit more comfortable that way, actually."

"Yeah, and if I was smart, you wouldn't be able to sit comfortably for the next week, so I would watch the attitude if I were you."

I cringed and fell in line, allowing him to lead me to the parking lot. I wasn't eager to test my brother's limits. It was a threat I hadn't heard in a while and one I had rarely ever heard from Dean. I chanced a glance up at him, but he had his eyes focused on the truck. I climbed in the passenger seat of Dean's pickup and immediately turned the music up when he turned the key. Dean turned it down before pivoting his body to face me.

"First rule, do not touch my tunes. Second rule, you do not under any circumstances get into fights at school."

"I know, I know, we've been over this," I answered with a flip of my hand.

"Exactly. We have been over this how many times over the last-," he started.

"over the last entirety of my life?" I finished with a chuckle.

"Quit interrupting me, Nora. It's not cute," Dean answered sternly, "You're going to take this seriously or I will make you wish you had taken it seriously, understand?"

I shut my mouth and looked straight ahead in the truck. All three of them, meaning my father and my brothers, had always had a tendency to ask for my understanding when they were angry. I figured that they just wanted to hear me say 'yes sir,' and if they were upset enough to require that, I was intimidated enough to oblige.

"I asked if you understand me," Dean said.

"Yes, sir, I understand just fine," I said quietly, not looking at my brother for the rest of the ride home. He pulled into the driveway and I gathered my bag in my lap, preparing to run up to my room the second we were below 5 mph.

"And before you try and run off, you will wait for the vehicle to come to a complete stop. You will go straight up to your room. You will start that essay for Mr. Keenan. When you are finished with that, you can start translations and then I will be up and we can finish this. I don't want to hear a sound or see you leave that room until I say so, understood?"

"Yes, sir," I mumbled, waiting for him to put the truck in park before getting out. I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could manage without pissing him off and shut the door quietly behind me. Without Dean having to say it, I unplugged my main electronic devices and placed them on the end of the bed, including my tablet, laptop and cell phone. I knew he would be up to confiscate them eventually.

I started the essay for Mr. Keenan, paraphrasing my last essay and quoting a random famous person on the value of non-violence. By the time I finished, it was only 1:45 and I was a little surprised that Dean had yet to come up. He usually liked to take care of things like this privately, when Ben and Lisa weren't home. Usually, things were all settled and everyone was on their best behavior by the time everyone got home.

I looked out the window to see Dean in the front driveway, working on his truck. i backed away from the window when he stood u, taking a sip of his beer and making direct eye contact with me. I sat back down on my bed, and pulled out Sam's old book of exorcisms. It had always been Sam's go-to consequence when I fell out of line, but Dean had adopted it over the years as well.

"Nora," he said, standing just inside my doorway.

I hadn't heard Dean enter, but hunting had made him stealthy considering his size. I knew better than to keep him waiting long for a response and he sounded calmer than he had earlier which was comforting.

"Yes, sir?" I asked quietly, looking up from my notebook.

"You have some explaining to do."

I closed the books and set them on the bed beside me as my brother waited for me to talk.

"Dean, I'm trying here. I really am, but she just won't leave me alone. It's like any time I do anything even slightly close to breaking a rule she-" I was rambling, talking with my hands and I let them fall to my side when Dean interrupted me.

"And what rule were you close to breaking today?" he asked.

"Nothing, Dean. I was just talking a walk during lunch. I needed some air. You know how stifling high school can be."

I had hoped that my statement would garner a little sympathy from my brother. School had never been something he had been interested in, unlike me and Sammy. I had always liked learning and I had always liked when I was enrolled in a school for a few months. I had always had issues with the other kids, but I reveled in talking with the adults. Dean sighed and pushed his hand through his short hair and it was abundantly clear that he didn't believe me.

"So what you really mean is that you were going in those damn woods again. What the hell is it with you and not letting things go when I tell you to? I checked it out, Nora. There was nothing there," Dean said. He had humored me when I first brought him the idea of something supernatural lurking around town. He had done his due diligence and checked it out.

"It's not like I'm doing it because I like when you freak out at me. I'm trying-," I was stopped mid-sentence.

"Your version of trying is not going to cut it anymore. We are trying to live a normal life, Nora. You getting into fights once a week isn't normal."

"It's normal for me. That girl is evil and we fight evil."

Dean was now holding an unyielding scowl. He had that disappointed look in his eye and in a moment of weakness, I allowed myself look away.

"She is not evil; she's just a girl that you don't like. Fighting is not your normal anymore. You're going to fall in line starting right now, Eleanora Winchester. You are going to behave yourself, no talking back, no sneaking out, straight A's, being good to Ben and Lisa."

I interrupted, "I am good to-."

"I said no talking back!" he snapped, "All of this crap ends now. I can't be leaving work early to deal with you fighting at school. I won't give Sid any more excuses as to why there seems to be so many issues between the two of you, especially when you've been the one to start it every time. If it doesn't stop now, you will seriously regret it, got it?"

I looked away from him, fiddling with the stitch in my comforter. Living in this house was the first time I had ever really had a room to myself. Of course I considered the guest room at Bobby's mine, but this was different. This was the first bedding set I ever got to pick out and the first walls I got to paint and adorn with pictures. Lisa had insisted that we redecorate the room when Dean and I moved in, seeing as it was mine now. Dean scoffed when I chose a coral, white and turquoise colored bedding set and coral paint, a color which he described as pink. Dean placed his hand over mine, stopping me from fidgeting.

"I asked you a question, young lady," he said, his voice raised in annoyance, but only slightly.

"Yes, fine, whatever, I understand," I answered, pulling my hand away and standing up to go occupy myself with something else. He reached around and smacked my butt.

"Ow, Jesus, Dean!" I said, moving away from him to the other side of the room, putting my back against the dresser.

"Do you need a reminder of what it means to show respect?" he asked.

"No," I muttered, feeling pretty annoyed with him for hitting me. It was nothing really in the scheme of things. There was still a sting, but it had been harmless. If anything, I felt embarrassed and Dean knew that. He had never intentionally hurt me before, neither of my brothers were like that.

"No what?" he said moving towards me.

"No, sir," I corrected, raising my hands slightly in surrender.

"Good. Then, as I said before, you cut the shit right now. I want you to be an absolute perfect angel. And you're grounded, 2 weeks," he said.

I felt him staring, but didn't look up.

"You will wake up early, we'll go for a run. You will go to school. You will come straight home. You will do your homework. You will do chores. You will write translations. You will go to bed early. No electronics. No damn hunting or whatever it is you think you are doing. Are we understood?"

"Yes, sir."

I had become very familiar with the situation known as 'grounding' since living with Ben and Lisa. While on the road, punishments like this didn't exist. He wasn't going to take away the laptop. He needed me to do research. He wasn't going to take away hunting. Sometimes I was needed to gather information or act as a watch. A few times they had even let me take part in the actual hunt, but now it was all too easy for him to restrict just about every freedom I had. We weren't in life threatening situations on a daily basis. We were in the suburbs.

"And if you step out of line, you know what the consequences will be, correct?"

"Yes, correct," I answered.

He stared at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Correct, sir," I rectified myself.

"You know this isn't how I want to be with you, right kiddo?"

I couldn't help but let a smile pull across my face as he said the words.

"But I can't just let you go unchecked. There have to be consequences, okay?"

I nodded.

"Alright, go start dinner. Lisa left some chicken defrosting in the fridge."

As I started the chicken parmesan recipe that Lisa left on the counter, I found my thoughts wandering to how much things had changed since Sam sacrificed himself to stop the apocalypse. The very same day that Sam went to the cage Dean brought me to Lisa's and she welcomed us with open arms. It was nice having a woman around, having a little brother in Ben, having a room, a home, but it had its drawbacks. Dean's expectations were different now. The rules had drastically changed from those employed on the road. Dean had different ideas of how I should be now that we lived the apple pie life. He had never allowed for disobedience or talking back, but now grades and school and chores mattered too. I got restless from time to time, staying in the same place for so long. Sometimes, Dean let me visit Bobby on the stipulation that whatever happened while I was there stayed there. And other times, Dean sent me to Bobby's when I was driving him too crazy. That was never as enjoyable seeing as Bobby was not too pleased if I was being a pain in Dean's butt. My brother was more Dad-like than ever which made me grateful for Ben because at least I wasn't the only one requiring his attention. Still, Lisa disciplined Ben and stayed out of disciplining me. Dean was the same with Ben, though who knows what they discussed when the two of us weren't around.

I took my time preparing dinner knowing that it was probably the most exciting thing that I would get to do all evening. By the time that I slid the pan in the oven, Lisa and Ben were just arriving home. I offered a quiet hello when they stepped into the kitchen and Lisa turned around, surprised to see me.

"Hey Nora, you're home early," she said eyeing me curiously, "And you started dinner? You really didn't have to do that."

Dean came in the room with a grim expression on his face as he looked at me though he quickly transferred it to a smile as he wrapped his arms around Lisa and kissed her on the cheek. I did love to see him so happy.

"I'm sure that this will surprise you to hear that our very own Eleanora Winchester decided to get herself sent home early from school today, so she's grounded for the next two weeks."

I felt my face getting hot with embarrassment as I turned my back to them, focusing my attention on the dishes in the sink. I had hoped to ride out the conversation in silence, making an exit from the kitchen once they moved on to something else.

"Isn't that right, Nora?" Dean prompted.

"Yes, sir," I answered with a false chipper quality to my voice as I continued with the dishes.

"How was your day?" he asked Lisa after a pause.

"It was good. Mr. Ben here got a 100% on that science test Nora helped him study for."

"Hey dude, great job, man," Dean said and clapped Ben on the shoulder. I smiled watching from the sink. Sure, I was currently the bad child, the black sheep between Ben and I; I usually was. Still, I had helped Ben with that test big time.

"Guess all that hard work paid off," I said with a smile, offering Ben a high five.

"It did. Thanks Nor. We can celebrate tonight. Maybe we can get ice cream after the movies tonight?"

Ben looked so excited that even though I knew Dean would never let me go, I couldn't squash the small light of hope I held. Even Lisa had a hint of hopefulness in her eyes.

"No, you know the rules, Nora. I'm sorry, Ben, Nora's not going anywhere for the next two weeks."

"But it's not for me. It's celebrating Ben," I tried, a desperate effort.

"The only thing you should be celebrating is that you didn't some sense beat into you the minute we got home," he said quiet enough that I wasn't certain who out of the four of us heard it. An awkward silence fell over the room, making it clear that at least Lisa heard it. She suggested that Ben go upstairs to start his homework and she headed upstairs too.

"Your actions have consequences, for other people too," Dean said.

"Ugh. You're being ridiculous," I scoffed and threw the towel at the counter, "I need some air."

I walked towards the door and Dean stopped me with a hand on my arm.

"Go for a run. Five miles and I want you back in time for dinner."

"You're joking right? Dinner will be ready in less than 40 minutes."

"Better get going then," he answered with a shrug of his shoulder.

"Whatever."

"I think you meant to say 'yes, sir' and you'd better lose that attitude somewhere along the way, understood?"

"Yes, sir," I answered as I pulled on my running shoes and headed out the door, letting it slam behind me as I left.