AN: This was previously submitted (back when I first began writing!) to be a multi-chaptered fiction story; but after reading it and correcting so many errors in both spelling and grammar (which there are probably some that got past me! I decided to do this at 2AM on no sleep and after having a drink or two! – so please don't be too judgmental!) I've decided to post as individual one shots and delete the original story. Hope everyone can follow this as each section is following a scene from the episode, so being the first, some may not remember all the episode's characters. Please let me know if you have any trouble following this. Thank you!
The People You Leave Behind #1
The woman in White
Everybody has something to conceal
Humphrey Bogart
Sam sighed as he looked out his and Jess' bedroom window to see his brother Dean; waiting by the car. The Impala; dad had given Dean the car almost ten years ago now. Sam had tried not to think too much about that car; because when he did he thought of their dad; and thinking of their dad made Sam think of Dean. And when Sam thought of Dean, well, it was hard when he thought of Dean.
Sam had only one regret when he'd decided to attend college; and that was not that he was leaving his father, but rather he was leaving Dean. Dean had been there every day that Sam could remember. John Winchester had not, but Dean had. Dean had been the one constant in Sam's life growing up. Not a day went by back then, that did not include Dean in some way.
Dean had been there when John Winchester hadn't, and when Sam left, he felt like he was tossing Dean aside to live for only himself. He'd felt sad, incredibly sad to be leaving Dean, but Dean had told him he understood what Sam wanted and Dean had offered him money for his bus trip to Stanford.
Dean had driven him to the bus station and waited and watched as Sam climbed on the bus and Sam knew when the bus pulled out that Dean would still be watching until long after the bus disappeared from his sight. Sam knew this because he would be watching Dean and the Impala until long after they disappeared from his sight.
Sam had been free of his former life for about three years now, and as such he'd been freed of his family too. He'd been free of the hunts, free of his marine drill sergeant father and free of feeling as if he had no control over his life. Sam had succeeded in leaving his old life and he'd been free; then Dean had shown up.
Dean was here; here in Sam's new life, and he was pulling Sam back into that old life. The one Sam had hated so much; the life he'd fought so hard to forget. But Sam couldn't ignore Dean's plea for help when it meant they needed to find their father.
Sam and John Winchester had never really seen eye to eye; and that was what had led Sam to want to leave more than anything else had. Sam had tried so hard to get away from hunting, from his father's obsession to find the thing that had killed their mother. For Sam, his mother was just a woman in a photograph; he didn't know her; hadn't known ever truly known her. Sam only knew what Dean had told him growing up.
All his childhood, Sam had been subjected to everything supernatural that was out there then, and he'd hated it; he'd hated the hunting and the moving around; the leaving just when he'd made friends. He'd hated that abnormal life; of not feeling or being normal. Sam had worked hard to get where he was today and now here he was about to dive back in head first; to help Dean; and for what? To find the man who had told him to leave in the first place? The man that had told him if he walked out the door, he'd better stay gone?
Sam sighed again. Man, things were messed up when your last name was Winchester. Some things never change, Sam thought. Some things couldn't change when you were John Winchester's son.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Dean sighed as he took in the fact that his brother Sam, had just checked to see if he was still outside waiting on him. Dean felt like he was walking on hot coals here; he felt he had to step just right or he'd burst into flames and be gone in an instant. He felt that if he said or did the wrong thing, Sam would choose this normal apple pie life over his family, over his brother… again.
Dean knew Sam hated this life, the hunter life; and Dean knew that was why Sam had run away to Stanford in the first place. Sam had wanted to avoid being a part of the Winchester family's legacy. Sam didn't want to hunt; he didn't want to explain his former life, or the lack of any life, to others. Sam wanted to have friends, do normal things; Sam wanted normal.
And for that alone, Dean was sorry he'd come here to ask Sam to help find their father; but hell, he needed help, and the fact was that John Winchester was their father; not just Dean's.
Dean felt that even if Sam and John didn't see eye to eye, the least he could do was want to help find him. And Dean did need help and he had no one else he could turn to other than Sam.
Sam and John had constantly butted heads; from the moment Sam had been able to form a complete sentence, the two had fought over all kinds of things, mostly trivial things. Those fights made for some trying times in Dean's opinion. But what Dean remembered that neither man seemed to remember was just how hard they had made things for Dean.
Dean always ended up in the middle of their fights trying to keep the peace and keep the family together. Dean was the one who was always trying so hard to say the right thing, to not take sides, and it had torn him up inside that day Sam had left.
Dean remembered that day in great detail, and he remembered it had been John Winchester who had pushed Sam out the door. John was the one who practically demanded Sam leave and never come back. Dean had tried to keep each man from coming to blows over Sam's choice to leave, but then John had dealt the final blow by telling Sam if he left, then he would be leaving for good.
But then Sam hadn't really needed to be pushed. Sam had been ready to leave for years; all he'd needed was the excuse to leave; the excuse to not feel like it was his fault when he'd left. And Sam had taken John's push; he couldn't get out the door fast enough. So, Sam had left.
Dean had taken him to the bus station himself, but it was Sam who ran away. Dean had rushed out to stop Sam from the walk into town, but still when he'd watched Sam get on that bus, he couldn't help the feeling that Sam knew he wasn't just leaving John, but that he was leaving Dean as well. Sam had watched Dean as the bus pulled away, but he'd stayed on that bus. Dean stood a log time watching the bus disappear from his sight and feeling that his whole reason for being here, to take care of Sammy, to protect his family, was all over. His job as big brother was no longer needed; Sam was grown and now on his own. Dean was lost.
Dean had sacrificed his own childhood to ensure Sam had one; the best that Dean could give him anyway. He had tried his best to protect Sam; Dean had accepted that early on their lives were never going to be normal. Sammy hadn't. Sammy had fought every step of the life that John on thrust them into.
Sam had wanted normal; Sam had wanted to be free. Dean had wanted normal for Sammy; but he wanted Sammy safe more than anything. But Sam hadn't seen what Dean had seen from early on about their lives. Sam didn't know what happened in that nursery when the yellow-eyed demon had been there. But Dean had. He'd never told Sam or John for that matter, but Dean had seen everything that had happened… Dean had seen his mother, Mary Winchester in her last moments. Dean had seen it all.
Sam had no idea how badly things had been from that moment on for Dean. Sam hadn't seen their father fall into such a deep depression nor the alcoholism that John dove into head on. Sam had been protected from the evil that Dean had seen. Sam couldn't possibly understand how much evil was out there because he hadn't experienced the things Dean had.
Sam could only see John as the cause of everything that had gone wrong in his life; not the man who had lost his world when his wife died. Sam didn't see that John wasn't trying to keep Sammy from normal; he was just trying to keep his family safe, and because he knew what evil existed out there, John had probably been too harsh and demanding.
John Winchester did not want to lose his boys to the same evil he'd lost Mary to. But because he fought Sam's every step to avoid the life they had, well, that was why Sam had left; why he'd needed to escape.
Sam just wanted to be away from their father; but this extended to getting away from Dean as well. Sam hadn't seen that by walking out on John, he was also walking out on Dean. It didn't matter that it was all about John's rules and training them to be what he expected them to be to survive; Sam was too focused on just leaving.
Maybe, just maybe, Dean could get Sam to understand that you can never truly leave this life; maybe Dean could get Sammy to stay with him as they searched for John; just maybe…
Dean sighed again. Man, things were messed up when you were a Winchester, he thought.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Amy Hein looked at the two men as they left the diner. She turned to her friend Rachel, sitting next to her. "Those guys are not Troy's uncles." She said adamantly.
"What? How do you know that?"
"Two reasons; one – Troy's family isn't smart enough to know what a pentagram truly means. Neither is mine for that matter. Troy just loved pissing them all off with that."
"And the other reason?" Rachel asked, turning to look at the two men as they got into a really badass looking black car. Nice, she thought.
"Troy's parents were only children; no brothers or sisters."
"If you knew that, why did you talk to them?"
Amy watched as the car pulled away from the curb. She thought about that for a minute. "Honestly, I'm not sure, but I think it's because they can do something."
"Do something? Do what exactly?" Rachel asked confusion showing on her face.
"Stop Constance. They can stop Constance Welch."
"Don't say her name. We promised we'd never say her name out loud." Rachel admonished her friend.
"You're the one who brought her up. I wasn't going to say anything. At first anyway."
"Well, maybe I shouldn't have."
"No. I think they can stop her. Nobody in town wants to admit we have a ghost problem, but you and I know different. We've seen her, remember? We know the stories, we've heard about the men who go missing around here. We know she's behind it." Amy said, sounding strong.
"Maybe we should have warned them about what she's capable of?" Rachel asked as the car disappeared at a corner light down the street.
"They know what to do. I feel it. We can trust them to finish this as long as we let them do their job."
"Job?"
Amy thought about that too. "Yeah; something tells me this is what they do. Hunt evil. They have a job to do; this is their job." She smiled as she added, "I think it's their family business."
Rachel turned to her friend. "Boy, sometimes I really wished you were more normal. The psychic stuff scares me sometimes." She smiled to take the sting out of her words. "Then again, sometimes you're better when you're a bit 'un-normal'."
"Speaking of psychic powers, the tall one with the cute puppy dog face; he's got the ability. He just hasn't fully realized it yet." Amy said, thinking about the two guys. "The other one, I'm not sure about him. There's something… he's different."
"What do you mean different? Different good or different bad?"
"Good; definitely good; they both are, but… the older one, he's got a… a destiny for lack of a better word. His road will lead both of them to Hell and back, literally. But he… his road leads him to God eventually." She paused. "I don't know how to put it, but both of those guys are important to our life here on earth, but he will literally be the one who will bring humanity back from the brink with the ultimate sacrifice. He will save mankind and… restore mankind's faith in God. He's important."
"Wow, that's deep. And neither knows how important they really are do they?"
"No, but hopefully they will one day." Amy said as she rose from her seat in the booth. "Come on, let's go shopping."
"What about the rest of these flyers?" Rachel asked following her friend from the booth.
"Leave 'em. We both know they won't do any good anyway; Troy's already gone, and he isn't coming back. Constance took care of him. No more cheating." She paused. "Not saying she's good or anything, but she got it right with Troy and now I don't have to wonder who's bed he's in tonight." The two girls walked out of the diner and headed off down the street.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Joseph Welch turned his back as the tall young man who said he was a reporter got into his black Chevy and drove away. Joe knew he was about as much a reporter as he himself was a beautician. He knew the man was trying to find out what he could on Joe's wife, Constance. Just like that other man had done last week. Joe knew he hadn't been a reporter either. No way. That man had been a soldier, no way was he a reporter.
Joe turned back as the car made the turn onto the main road from his yard's driveway. Joe had said he didn't know what a woman in white was when this guy had asked him, but he had lied; he knew. He'd heard the phrase before, from some of the people in town. Everyone thought it was Constance who was out there hurting those men, but no one talked to outsiders about it; they didn't want anyone thinking they were crazy; that the whole town was crazy, so everyone kept their opinions quiet. That was just fine with Joe. He didn't need anyone telling him what his wife had become, he already knew. And he knew it was his fault.
Joe wasn't always home and yes, he had cheated on Constance, but it was only the one time. He'd had to deal with that for the past twenty odd years. He wasn't perfect, but he knew it had started with him, so he'd stayed alone after losing his wife and children; sort of his own self-imposed penance for his sins. He'd done wrong by Constance, so he'd remained faithful to her after her death in the hopes that she'd stop killing; but she hadn't. Even though he didn't want to admit it to the young man he'd been right about her; and Joe wished him silent good luck in his quest to find her and put her soul to rest once and for all.
Joe wasn't gonna say it out loud, but he knew who this man was; he was a Hunter and he knew that he'd succeed. He watched until he could no longer see the car as the young man headed back towards town. It'd be dark soon and Joe knew the young man would have to use Centennial Highway to get back to town. He may even run into Constance on the way.
It's time for her to be put to rest, one way or another. Joe breathed in deeply of the late afternoon air and turned back to head inside before evening fell across his yard.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Sheriff, we got another call 'shots fired' – this time over off Breckinridge Road." Deputy Hein said rushing into the interrogation room where Sheriff Jasper Pierce stood looking at the empty handcuff dangling from the table.
They'd just gotten back from the false call of shots fired off Whiteford Road only to find his suspect, this Dean character missing from where he'd left him handcuffed.
"You take Rogers and Sanderson. I'm staying behind to contact the state police. This Dean guy is in the wind and probably with his partners."
"You think he had anything to do with Troy's disappearance?" The deputy asked.
"No not really, but he knew something. He knew who was behind Troy's and all the others. He took that crazy journal we found in the motel room with him." The sheriff scratched his head. "Go on, get going. Go catch some bad guys."
The sheriff watched as his three deputies left to go chase another false trail. He knew what was already happening off Breckinridge Road; and it was best if he wasn't there. If this involved Constance… well, he needed to be outside of this. He knew it was the old Welch place where they'd be heading, and he knew what for.
Someone had finally taken his sister home. Yeah; his sister. Constance was finally going home to face her demons and he was going to let it happen. It was about time, too. She finally needed to be put to rest once and for all. Lord knows, he'd tried to contact her himself, but she only appeared to strangers; men who had somehow cheated. She was punishing those men for the same thing that Joe had done to her.
He sighed as he thought about what Constance had done; to those men; to her own children. She had never been unstable before, but she'd been a mother since she was seventeen and Joseph's cheating had pushed her over the edge. But that was no reason to kill her children and then herself; and then to come back from the dead and punish others for their misdeeds. No, it wasn't right, and he knew this needed to end now.
And he knew this Dean guy and his partners were the ones who would be ending it. He knew from that journal he'd thumbed through that this was just the kind of thing they'd be able to handle. So, he'd let them, and he'd conveniently forget to call the state police on them. He'd let them do their job and move on. He took one last look at the dangling handcuff and slowly turned to walk out of the room.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Dean turned to see Sam standing in the glow of the flashing lights of the fire trucks by the open trunk of the Impala. The apartment building was still actively burning, but Dean had been able to get to Sam in time.
He thought he'd done the right thing pulling Sam out of there, but now he knew he had fully and completely pulled Sam back into the family business. He knew Sam's need for Jess was going to end up being the same need their father had for their mother; both men had seen their respective others burn in a way no one should ever have to witness. Dean knew this was his fault; he had messed up Sam's normal safe apple pie life. He didn't have a clue on how to find this demon anymore than he had a clue on how to find their father.
Dean should have left Sam alone; kept him out of this hunt. Maybe Jess would still be alive if he'd never shown up here. Sam deserved to have normal. Dean had just robbed him of it completely; all because he didn't want to be alone anymore. He didn't know how to find their father, and he didn't know how to fix this loss Sam now had to deal with.
Dean sighed to himself as he realized he'd have to work to fix this; to find yellow eyes before anyone else ended up burning on their ceiling. They had to find their dad; he was the only person who could help with this job now. He was the only one who know everything there was to do about this demon. Dean had really messed up this time; some things never change; he thought.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sam turned to see Dean watching him as he stood by the open trunk of the Impala. He could see the firemen behind Dean as they continued to work on the fire that had started in his and Jess' apartment. But Sam knew it was didn't matter anymore about saving the apartment; only the other tenants and their belongings needed saving. Jess was gone now; like their mother. Sam didn't care about anything else; he only wanted to find the thing that had killed her.
He should have never left Jess alone, and she might still be alive. Sam had longed for this normal life he'd made with her, and now this thing had just robbed him of that; all because he'd gone off to help Dean find their father.
Sam sighed to himself because he knew Dean blamed himself and while Sam had wanted to blame him too, he knew it wasn't Dean's fault. None of the things that had happened to the Winchesters was Dean's fault. It was the thing that killed their mom and now Jess that was to blame.
And now he wanted back in this; he wanted to find this demon and end him as soon as he possibly could; he wanted his old life back, his hunter life; and Sam just hoped he had the strength to find their father, and to kill this evil before anyone else was lost at its hands. Sam felt a great sense of regret, but he was going to shove that regret down, and replace it with the anger he felt growing every second; Sam should have realized that things hadn't really changed; they never did when you're a Winchester, he thought.
