Chris Isaak's voice drifted in and out of Dean's ears as he read his dad's journal for the millionth time. They had some time off. Which only meant they hadn't found anything yet. Their last case had ended last night, and Sam was out trying to find another case for the Winchester boys to solve. Dean had to laugh at them sometimes. He was afraid they were becoming more and more like a bad episode of Scooby Doo. His fingers tapped the rhythm to Blue Hotel as he read. The song softly playing from the radio by the bed.
His eyes landed on something as he flipped through. It was the word 'Father'. He looked closer and started to read the page. By the time Sam had walked through the door, juggling his laptop case, a bag of food and drinks, Dean had already gotten through the small section five times. Dean's eyes fixed on Sam.
"Dude…" Sam sat the drinks and bag down and looked at his brother worriedly. "You look like shit…what happened?"
"Sam…uh…" Dean looked back down at the page. It was torn and a lot of the words were faded, he'd only been able to make out some of it. "I think." His voice trailed off.
"Spit it out Dean." Sam picked up one of the drinks, took a swig then made a face and grabbed the other.
"I think." He repeated. "Oh fuck it read this." He said finally shoving the journal into his younger brothers hands. Sam took it, looking at Dean like he was crazy and read what he could. His eyes went wide and his mouth gaped open slightly.
"There's no way…" He started, but his voice trailed off just like his brothers had. "You don't think. I mean. No. It can't be." Sam couldn't even form a full sentence, but Dean knew exactly what he was saying.
"I think it's true…I mean why would he write about it if it's not." Dean reasoned. Now there was something odd going on if Dean was being the reasonable one.
"No. I refuse to believe it." Sam dropped the journal onto the table, sat his drink by it and stalked off to the bathroom. Dean let out a sigh and watched his younger brother. He knew it would be a lot to take in. It hadn't really sunk in for him either. When Dean heard the shower turn on he finally grabbed the bag of food and started chowing down.
"What no extra onion?!" he called out, loud enough he figured Sam could hear him. His assumption was only confirmed when he heard the shower turn off, something yelled and then the shower turn back on. He hadn't heard what Sam had said, but it didn't really matter, he could guess what was yelled.
By the time Sam was out of the shower Dean was already sprawled out on one of the beds, hands tucked under his head and staring up at the ceiling in thought. Sam smacked his brother's feet as he passed.
"Take your shoes off or don't put your feet on the bed." He said, grabbing a change of clothes then walking back into the shower. Dean rolled his eyes and ignored his brother's request.
"So…" Dean sat up. "What are we going to do about this?" Dean called and looked at Sam as he walked back into the motel room now fully clothed.
"Nothing, because there's nothing to do." Sam was in denial. He didn't want to believe it so he wouldn't. It was something he didn't think he could handle. It was too much for him. Not now he couldn't take it.
"Sam…come on. I'm the unreasonable one. You're supposed to be the one that can handle these things." Dean got off the bed and picked the journal back up. "I know it's crazy. And I don't know why we didn't find it before. But here it is." Dean held up the journal as proof.
"Dean we don't even know what half of that page says we can't just go jumping to conclusions. I am being the reasonable one here." Sam said flatly, and started setting up his laptop. Dean rolled his eyes and dropped the journal back onto the red table in the corner of the room.
It was like most of the rooms they'd stayed in. Terribly decorated, sleazy looking. Something from a 1970's porn kind of look. Shag carpet, normally an odd color. Tacky wallpaper and bad furniture. It was how they lived now. Going from bad motel room to bad motel room if they had time to stick around they'd unpack more of their stuff, but normally only the essentials made it out of the Impala.
"Did you find anything?" Dean asked changing the subject.
"I think so." Sam said with a nod, and then continued. "Okay so there's this case in Memphis." He clacked away on the keys of the laptop. "Looks like another woman in white case." Sam said with a shrug.
"So just a simple salt and burn?" Dean asked sitting on the foot of one of the beds. He felt the old and used mattress sink under him. God what he wouldn't give for a decent bed.
"Looks like it." Sam gave a nod. Dean did the same and lay back on the bed.
"I think we should go ahead and go…I don't feel like sitting around." Sam said getting up and putting his laptop away. Dean groaned but got up and started packing.
After everything was loaded into the Impala Dean climbed into the drives seat and popped in a tape. Sam was already sitting in the passengers seat, staring out the window. Dean looked over at him and started up the car.
"Gotta love her purring." Dean gave the dashboard an affectionate rub of his hand before peeling out of the parking lot and out to the highway. Sam had gotten out the map and was navigating. The trip was spent in silence between the two boys for the most part. They weren't far from Memphis, about six hours.
"Dean…you're going the wrong way." Sam said looking up from the map then back down, tracing a red line indicating a road with the tip of his finger.
"No…I'm going exactly where we should be going." He said and continued driving in the direction he was. They'd been in the car for already four hours.
"Dean." Sam's tone was low and warningly. "I know what you're doing. This is pointless…what good would it do?" He was trying to reason with his brother, trying to get him to turn the car around.
"I've got to know if it's true or not." Dean's eyes were fixed on the road.
"And so what if it is." Sam's voice rose slightly.
"I don't know yet. All I know is I'm going to find out if she's real or not." He was determined. Sam could tell it by the way he spoke and he knew there was no use in trying to stop Dean when he had put his mind to something. So Sam was along for the ride.
"If dad wanted us to know he'd have told us." Sam let out a long sigh.
"I don't care if he wanted us to know or not. We should know if we have a sister." Dean stepped on the gas a bit. The Impala purred as it headed to Jackson, Tennessee.
Sam watched the road go by. Dean kept his eyes fixed on the road and his hands on the steering wheel. It'd be about two extra hours in the car. The ride went by slow. Neither one of them wanting to break the silence, or look at the other. Dean had realized he was acting a bit reckless, but that didn't matter. He had to know. If they had a sister. They needed to know.
How could their dad keep that kind of thing from them? Dean's fingers gripped the steering wheel, knuckles turning white. Sam was staring out the window. Head bopping against the glass slightly. When the road got rough he took his forehead off the window and sat up straight.
"How are you expecting to find this girl anyways? All we know is her last name and that she at one time lived in Jackson. Dad didn't even know where she was now or anything." Sam said, finally giving in and breaking the silence.
"I can check records and shit." Dean gave a shrug and pulled into the parking lot of a motel. When they were in the room, settled in and essentials unpacked Dean got out the phone book and started looking for the name. "Hey…how was it spelled again?" He asked, not looking up from the page.
"Audrey Karn…K-A-R-N." he said reluctantly. He didn't like this at all. Dean gave a triumphant air punch and grabbed the phone. "Whoa Dean wait…what are you going to say?" He asked sitting on the bed across from Dean.
"Um…" Dean hung up the phone and shrugged. "I didn't really think about it." He said honestly and shrugged.
"This is a bad idea." Sam shook his head.
"Sam we're already here so we might as well go through with it. Sam nodded id agreement. "I've got an idea…we can go to her apartment." Dean said looking down at the page. "We can pose as handymen and get a look around." He nodded; his mind was already made up. Sam let out another sigh and got up. Following Dean out to the Impala. Dean shoved the torn out page of the phonebook into his pocket.
Dean looked at the piece of paper then to the door, reading the number. They were at the right place. He knocked twice and waited. He could already hear music playing and then someone walking towards the door.
"Coming!" A girls voice called out. Sam was nervous and he could tell his brother was to. "Can I help you?" the girl asked opening the door. Dean took a second to look her over. Long auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail and bright green eyes.
"Yeah we're here to check the windows." Dean said after a moment. Sam simply nodded. After giving the two a suspicious look she spoke again.
"I didn't call for anyone." She was obviously smart enough to not let in to complete strangers. Which would only make things harder for the boys.
"Mrs. Heartwood from next door had complained about a draft and after checking hers and getting other complaints we noticed some common mess ups in the windows, so we need to check the windows on this floor." Dean lied expertly. Praying she wasn't close to her neighbors.
"Fine." She said moving out of the way, but watching them closely. Sam gave her a smile and a slight nod as he headed into the apartment after Dean.
"Thank you miss…Karn was it?" Dean was playing the role well.
"Yeah." She said simply, arms crossed over her front and leaning against the now closed door.
"Sam can you go check the windows in the back?" Dean said nodding towards the small hallway. Sam gave a nod and headed down to the back rooms. It was a large apartment. A two bedroom at least.
"The last door on the right is my room…tell me when you need to go in there before you do." She called after Sam.
"Okay." He said, turning to look at her with another smile. She turned her attention to Dean who was pretending to check the window in the living room. His eyes were focused on the pictures set up on a bookshelf. His eyes landed on a picture of his father, another man and a little girl with bright red hair and freckles. He could tell the girl was Audrey.
"That's my dad and my godfather." She said, noticing his eyes on the picture. Dean gave a nod, hiding his slight confusion. Audrey walked over and picked up the picture, running a finger over it and letting out a light sigh. Dean turned to look at her.
"I'm guessing the little girls you then?" He was trying to dig up any stories he could. She nodded looking at the picture for a long moment before setting it back down.
"I didn't get to see my god father very often. He didn't live all that close. He was like a brother to my dad though." She shrugged. "He had two boys of his own. Kinda wish I'd met them at sometime." Audrey was getting all nostalgic and Dean was trying to take in the information.
Well he now knew that he didn't have a sister at least. Which was good in his opinion. This girl was a knock out. But he hadn't let himself think that until just now. The fact that she wasn't his sister put a smile on his face.
"Hey Sam…you checked the windows back there yet?" Dean called, turning towards the hallway.
"I just have the bedroom left." He called, peeking his head out of one of the rooms. Audrey jogged over to her room, opened the door then closed it behind her while Sam headed out to talk to Dean. "Did you find anything?" He was talking low, so she couldn't hear him.
"She's not our sister." He picked up the picture and showed it to Sam. "Dad was her godfather." He nodded.
"See I told you that there was nothing to worry about." Sam said with a know it all smile.
"Yeah…" Dean nodded. "But I would like to get to know her…" He was smirking now. Sam gave him a look and rolled his eyes. "Come on…she's hot." Dean said then jumped when he heard Audrey laughing.
"You two…suck at whispering." She informed them and walked into the main room.
"Uh…how much did you hear?" Sam said worriedly.
"Enough to know you two…are liars." She wasn't mad and that was obvious by the smile on her face. "So you guys thought I was your sister?" She asked with a raised brow. Sam and Dean looked at each other, unsure of what she knew and what they could tell her.
"Um." Sam started.
"Well…our dad has this journal and you were mentioned. We just weren't sure." Dean explained and without giving to much information.
"Ah…okay." She said and nodded. "So you are the Winchester boys." She said giving them a once over. "I heard a lot about you guys from your dad. I'm guessing he never mentioned us." Audrey gave a light shrug. "My dad was a hunter to." She nodded. Dean and Sam's eyes widened slightly and she laughed. "You boys busy or do you have some free time to chat?"
Dean and Sam exchanged glances before Dean spoke up.
"We've got time." He flashed her his most charming smile. Sam gave a roll of his eyes.
"Sorry about the lying to you." Sam said with the usual shy smile on his face. Audrey shrugged and waved him off.
"No big deal…I get it." She walked to the kitchen. Dean tilted his head to the side slightly, watching her disappear into the kitchen then looked at Sam.
"I like this chick." He gave a simple nod.
"Dean…we really can't stay long…we've got to get to Memphis." Sam reasoned.
"So…you two followed in your dad's footsteps?" She asked walking back out with three beers, tossing a bottle to Dean then Sam and popping the cap off of her own. Audrey made her way to the couch and sat down. "I thought about it…I was trained for it." She shrugged and took a small drink. Sam sat in a chair across from the couch, angled slightly toward a rather large TV while Dean plopped down on the love seat.
"Yeah we did." Sam nodded and took a sip of his beer.
"You were trained?" Dean asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah…my dad taught me a lot. I worked a few cases with him, but after he died I just kinda stopped and got a real job." She explained.
"Oh." Sam said looking at her, studying her a moment.
"He got killed while on a hunt." She shrugged lightly. "He died doing something he loved. He said that's how he always wanted to go." Audrey smiled fondly.
"I can see that." Dean said with a nod.
The three spent the next three hours, talking, joking, laughing, smiling and drinking some. By the time they realized this it was late. The sun had gone down an hour or so ago and the cool night air was drifting in through an open window.
"I don't know…I had thought about going back to hunting." Audrey was staring out the window.
"So then why don't you?" Sam asked, sitting down the empty bottle.
"Don't want to hunt alone…I couldn't do it." She answered with a shrug. A big smile spread across Dean's face.
"Well…" He started. "I've got an idea. We're going to be working a case in Memphis if you'd like to join us." His smile didn't fade once. Sam looked at him with a raised brow. Audrey seemed to take a moment and think about it. Then looked at Sam who just shrugged and smiled.
"Fine." She said with a smile and it was decided. Audrey would join the two on their next case.