A/n: Okay, so this is my first story. I hope you all like it, please review, and constructive criticism is always welcome!
Emma Winchester had always been the baby of her family. She was the last of her siblings to be born before their mother had been killed which made for an overprotective yet distant father and two overbearing older brothers. Their dad may have been protective of them but he had never been around much, favoring to instead leave Sam and Emma in the care of Dean.
She was just a baby when their mother had died in a fire, murdered by a monster their dad had told them, but Sammy had been four and Dean eight. Dean was the most protective out of the two of them, he acted more like their father then John ever did. Sam loved to tell her stories about the time when Dean was trying to get her to talk and she looked right at her big brother and called him Da. Dean quickly got her back to calling him De and John Da but Sam never forgot that look of pride that flickered over Dean's face when he first heard it.
Sam was always the one she went to when she needed to get out of trouble, he was more rational then Dean and tended to take her side in a fight, it didn't hurt that he snuck her cookies after dinner and read her stories before bed. Sammy may have been the one she went to to talk about boys and clothes but Dean was the one she ran too for comfort. One time he held her through the whole night because she was afraid of a thunder storm.
It was hard growing up with three boys, Sam was the more sensitive one, but even he couldn't understand the intricacy of being a woman. It didn't help that she looked so much like her mother, with rolling waves of blond hair and wide, doe eyes. As she got older, it sometimes hurt John just to look at her, especially if he had been drinking.
But no matter what happened they got through it, because they were a family, an unconventional one but still a family and they stuck together. Then just after Emma turned 14, Sam announced that he got accepted to Stanford and that he was leaving, that night. She sat on the bed of their hotel room as Sam and John screamed at each other for what seemed like hours, Dean always butting in to try to stop the fighting, but when the screaming finally stopped, it was done by a door slamming in their face. He hadn't even said goodbye. John packed up, tossed Dean a roll of bills, and left for a hunt a few minutes later, and for the first time since she was 9 Dean held her the whole night while she cried.
After that night John spent less time with the two of them and more time on his own, hunting. He bought a truck and gave Dean the Impala and he'd send money and call after every hunt but things were just never the same again. Emma used to like school but now with Sam gone and their Dad practically missing it became nothing but a chore, it wasn't hard to convince Dean to let her drop out right before her junior year.
"Shouldn't we call first? Are we really just going to break in?" Emma asked, holding the flashlight while Dean picked the lock to their brother's apartment.
"Like he would actually pick up the phone. Now will you hold it steady? I can't see a damn thing when you're shaking it so bad." He replied.
"Sorry, I'm just nervous, I guess. I mean, we haven't seen him in so long, what if-"
"Hey, hey," Dean cut her off. "What have I told you about all these chick flick moments?" He said but still squeezed her shoulder in a gesture of comfort as he swung the door open. "Ladies first."
Emma walked into Sam's apartment and was mildly surprised, she knew it would be clean but she didn't expect it to be so well decorated, well, from what she could tell in the dark. She yelped as another body suddenly collided with hers, sending her crashing down onto the carpet and pinning her arms above her head. Before she even had a chance to retaliate, Dean was hauling them off her. She sat up, rubbing her lower back as she watched Dean and who she now recognized as Sam continue to fight and roll around on the floor.
Boys! She thought, Once you get them started they won't stop until somebodies won.
"Dean? Emma?" She heard Sam ask. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Well, I was looking for a beer." Dean joked.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He repeated.
Dean sighed, "Okay, we need to talk, all of us."
"Uh, the phone?" Sam said.
"And if one of us called would you have picked up?" Emma piped in and Sam looked at her then, as if realizing for the first time that she was there. But before he could say anything the light was flicked on.
"Sam?" The woman asked and Emma turned to stare at the pretty girl in the smurf shirt that Dean was now ogling. Emma felt the urge to roll her eyes as an odd wave of jealousy swept over her. This is what Sam left them for? To go to school and fall in love and pretend to be normal?
"Jess, hey, uh, Dean, Emma, this is my girlfriend Jessica." He said.
"Wait, your brother Dean?" She asked and this time Emma did roll her eyes. What? Was she invisible or something?
"I love the smurfs." Dean stated, already back to his usually cocky attitude, "You know, I gotta tell you, you are completely out of my brother's league."
"Just let me go put something on." She said.
"No, no, no, I wouldn't dream of it. Seriously." He said and Emma rolled her eyes again. Hm, maybe if she kept this up they really would stick that way, she wondered to herself.
"Hey Dean, I'm going to wait by the car." She said and quickly made her way outside before anyone said anything to stop her. If they even noticed, she thought bitterly.
Once she was leaning against the hood of the Impala, Emma found herself trying to fight the urge to cry. Her emotions had been all out of whack lately and now Dean was trying to bring Sam back to find their dad and the two of them were so wrapped up in each other that they've already started to ignore her. Then to make things even worse, Emma felt bad for acting like an attention deprived brat in the first place. But she and Dean had been practically alone for years, they had bonded, and the truth was that Dean throwing Sam back in the mix made her feel insecure.
When the two of them finally came down from Sam's apartment, Emma blatantly refused to look at either of them, curling up into the back seat of the Impala and trying to ignore her two brothers as they shuffled around the trunk. She heard tidbits of their conversation, something about finding dad, and how Sam had an interview first thing Monday for some law school. Emma didn't care. If Sam wanted to have his own life away from them then that was fine. She'd put up with him until Monday then it would be back to her and Dean, the way she liked it.
Emma cracked an eye open and when she didn't see Sam and heard Dean still fiddling in the trunk; she quit feigning sleep and began picking at the hem of her shorts. She smiled as she thought about how lucky she was that Dean even let her wear them. He never used to care about her clothes but ever since she hit 16 he had been keeping an annoyingly close watch on what she wore. It wasn't her fault she had a figure and wanted to show it off but she often mused that if Dean had it his way she'd be in full nun attire.
Hearing approaching footsteps Emma quickly shut her eyes again and listened as her two brothers got into the Impala. She listened as Dean explained a little more about what was going on in Jericho before they fell silent. Finally, Sam spoke up.
"Uh, is there something wrong with Emma? She hasn't said two words to me." He asked.
"Dude, she's pissed at you. You left without even saying goodbye, what'd you expect?" Dean said and the Impala was silent once more. It did make Emma feel a little guilty and childish about her silent treatment but she was hurt and this was the only way she could deal with it without screaming at Sam or bursting into tears.
"Why is she even with you, anyway? It's May; shouldn't she be getting ready to graduate?" Sam asked.
Shit, Emma thought to herself, I never expected having to tell Sam that I dropped out. Emma felt like a rock was just dropped into her stomach, she and Sam may have been having a few issues but he was always like a drill sergeant when it came to school and even if she was mad at him she didn't want him to be disappointed in her.
"Uh, well Sam, the thing is…" Dean struggled and Emma took a little relief in the fact that he never expected to tell Sam either. "We got so busy hunting, and with you gone, and Dad on the road, I just let her drop out."
"You what?" Sam asked. "Dean!"
"She's going to get her GED, just like I did. You're making it sound way worse than it really is." Dean said.
"Dean, schools important-"
"Oh, really? For hunting, see Sammy, I didn't know it took a degree." He said.
"It's Sam, and you don't know if this is what she wants to do for the rest of her life, Dean. Have you even asked her?" Sam asked.
"Emma understands why we do this, Sam, we're Winchesters! Do you really think this normal, apple pie life of yours is really going to work out? That you're going to become a lawyer and marry your girl?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, why not? You don't have to follow Dads orders; you can choose a different life, Dean." Sam sighed. "Maybe on Monday, when you drop me off Emma should stay too. She could stay with me and Jess while she finishes school and-"
"You are not taking her away fro-"
"Would you guys shut up?" Emma finally exclaimed, leaning forward to the front seat. "You two are fighting worse than Sam and Dad." She took a deep breath. "First of all, I'm not going anywhere. Second," She slapped the back of Sam's head, making Dean snicker.
"Hey, what was that-"
"Second," She repeated. "Sam it was my idea to drop out of school so lay off of Dean. Third," She smacked the back of Dean's head and Sam mocked his previous laughter.
"Emma, come on, I'm driving-"
"Third, Dean, if Sam wants to go live a normal life then let him. It's his choice, not yours, so there's nothing you could do about it. And finally, we only have a few days to find Dad so everyone needs to play nice and get along or I'll leave you two assholes at the hotel and I'll find him myself." She said.
They were silent for a moment until Sam spoke, "Emma?"
"Yeah?"
"I missed you." He said.
She smiled. "I missed you too, big brother."
"Hey, Emma?"' Dean asked.
"Yeah, Dean?"
"I hear you cursing again and it's going to be your ass I leave at the hotel." He said and Emma simply smiled, rolling her eyes.
A/n: Thanks for reading, review please!
