AN: I would just like to point out that this is just the backstory to this story, not all chapters will be this long, this is just to set the scene and introduce you to the original character in this story. Enjoy!
Prologue
Then
The light in the library was dim as Sam and Dean scrolled through news pages or flicked through the old dusty books on the shelves of the library.
"Anything?" Dean looked up at his brother.
"No nothing." Sam replied reading through an article from Iowa but it was nothing they would be interested in. Dean sighed and drank the last dregs of his coffee. He was bored, they had gone days without a case and for once they didn't have to save the world. Dean's phone rang in his pocket, the loud shrill echoing all over the bunker, fishing it out of his pocket, he looked at the caller ID but there wasn't one, curious, he answered it.
"Hello?'
"Dean? Dean Winchester?" A female's voice asked on the other side of the phone.
"Yeah who's asking?" Sam looked up from his laptop, curious himself.
"Haley; Tommy Water's daughter, do you remember me?" She asked hopefully. She really needed his help and it would help if they remembered her.
"Haley! Of course I remember you, how have you been?" Dean exclaimed, hitting Sam in the shoulder to pay attention. "Hey Sam's here, I'll put you on speaker." Dean pulled the phone away from his ear, flipped the speaker on and placed it on the table in front of them.
"Hey Sammy!" Haley smiled, remembering the nickname his dad and brother used to call him when he was a kid. They had been left with each other a few times when their dads had hunted together; Dean usually had gone with them leaving Sam and Haley behind. It was nice to have someone to hang out with occasionally when they were gone. "You still got those cooties, your dad told me about?" She laughed and Sam smiled remembering all those years ago.
"Nah I'm cured, how you been?" He asked, leaning closer to the phone. They hadn't seen each other since they were kids, she'd done the same thing as Sam and decided to give the hunting a rest and go off to college but from what he could remember, she hadn't lasted very long either.
"Oh you know, a little broken rib here, a little demon possession there, you know the life." She laughed. "Listen guys I really need your help."
"Sure thing, what you got?" Dean asked leaning on the table.
"My dad and I were tracking some demons and they took him, usually I wouldn't call and would find him on my own but there are a lot of them and I had specific instructions to call you and I don't think I can take them all on." She sighed, hating to admit it.
"Where are you?" Dean asked rummaging around in his pocket for his keys.
"Just outside Kansas City." She said, pacing the sticky motel carpet.
"How did we not hear about this?" Dean asked his brother and he shrugged.
"We've been tracking them for a month across Arkansas and Oklahoma." She said, flicking through papers on the table in the corner of the room. "They've been flying very low under the radar," she picked up a sheet of paper with the obituary of one of their previous vessels. "That's probably why you haven't heard about it."
"Alright, we can be there in a couple hours." Dean said, leaning on the table again.
"I'm at the Happy Valley on 4th, room 602. I'll see you when you get here."
"Alright, see you soon." Dean was about to hang up before Haley stopped him.
"Guys," Haley sighed, as she plonked herself down on the edge of the bed, "Thanks."
"Anytime Hales." Sam smiled and Haley hung up, flopping back onto the bed, hoping beyond hope that the boys got there before the demons had chance to do anything to her dad. Deciding she should probably get some sleep while she could, she kicked off her shoes and closed her eyes.
A loud banging on the door awoke her from her fitful sleep, grabbing her gun from the nightstand and flicking it off safety, she crept up to the door, peering through the peephole at the two brothers.
"It's us Hales!" Sam called from the other side of the door. Re-engaging the safety, she unhooked the chain and pulled open the door. "Sam?" Haley tucked her gun in her waistband and looked up at her childhood friend in disbelief; this was not the Sam she remembered from all those years ago. Sam smiled, happy to see his friend again. "You are not that scrawny 14 year old anymore," she looked him up and down having to crane her neck back to look at his face.
"You're not exactly a tiny 12 year old with pig tails yourself." He laughed; she had definitely blossomed in the twenty odd years it had been since he saw her last. Developing curves in all the right places, not that that mattered to Sam he had never seen her as more than a friend and that would never change. "Shortie." Sam coughed, and she threw her head back laughing at the old nickname he used to tease her with.
"Gigantor!" She shot back as quick as a bullet, just as she used to when she was twelve. "It's good to see you Sammy," she smiled and moved to give him a hug, having to stand on her tiptoes in order to do so. Dean stood and watched the reunion of the two friends. She pulled away and looked over at Dean, he smiled back at her. That annoying twelve year old girl he had once known had grown into a beautiful woman, years of hunting toning her body; he had discretely been checking her out as she had spoken to his brother. "Dean, you have not changed a bit," she laughed again and leant over to hug him also. Dean obliged not objecting to a hug from her.
Haley pulled back from Dean and opened the door wider to let them into the room. Stepping through the door, they surveyed their surroundings, the usual hunter digs, crappy motel room, with peeling wallpaper and strange brown stains of God knows what on the walls. Haley had stuck various papers on the walls, trying to connect them together where she could; Dean walked over to wall and looked through them all.
"Impressive!" Dean pointed to the walls reading the sticky notes she had stuck to each of the obituaries and newspaper articles.
"You still do that?" Sam asked, turning to look at the wall. Haley shrugged; Dean looked over at Sam a questioning look on his face.
"If Haley knew her dad was going away on a hunt and she was gonna be left with me, she used to save up all her homework until that night and this is how she planned out what she was doing and when." Sam explained, lifting bits of paper up and peering at the articles underneath them.
"It passed the time." She shrugged; her hand on her hip. Shaking her head she suddenly remembered that her father was in danger and they needed to be out there saving him. "We need to get my dad back."
"We'll find him Hales," Sam reassured, putting his bag on the table and pulling out his laptop.
"So tell us what you got." Dean took a seat at the table and awaited the information she had for them.
"They started off in Arkansas; they've basically been swapping vessels every couple of days, mainly possessing the homeless so they've been able to go pretty much undetected." She started, pointing to the route they had taken on the map and pulling down the very short obituaries of the people they had possessed and passing them over to Dean. "Obviously they've been doing the usual demon things on their way that's sort of how we've been tracking them, we had cornered one of them when they took my dad." She had started pacing as she talked; it was keeping her calm as she tried to figure out what to do. "I've tracked them to an abandoned farm on the outskirts of town." She pointed to the map again.
"So what do you wanna do?" Dean asked, watching her pace.
"I wanna go get my dad!" She said as if Dean was crazy enough to ask.
"Yeah but you can't just go in there all guns blazing." Dean said, leaning forward.
"It's never stopped me before!" Haley said, hands on hips, starting to regret she'd called for help.
"What Dean means is we need to go in with some kind of plan." Sam clarified, looking across the table at his brother.
"Alright, we go in there kill the sons of bitches, get my dad and walk out of there!" Haley had stopped pacing now, and was looking at Dean like he was an idiot.
"Ok how many demons do you think there are?" Sam asked trying to keep the peace between them.
"Probably about eight, that's how many I counted yesterday when my dad got taken." She was getting increasingly annoyed that they weren't already on the road by now. "Listen guys, I really appreciate you coming all the way up here from wherever the hell you were but seriously can we please go and get my dad!" Sam and Dean looked at each other, talking with their eyes.
"Ok let's go, I'll drive." Dean said after a few minutes of deliberation. He knew that there was really no way of planning a hit on a group of demons they were always too unpredictable.
"Thank you!" Haley exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air and slapping them back down on her legs. "I just have to grab some things from our truck." She picked up her keys from the table and sat down to put her boots back on. "Let's go." She stood up and grabbed her jacket from the chair, tugging it on as she followed Dean out of the door.
Haley walked over to her dad's truck and opened the box on the bed of the truck, pulling out a bottle of holy water and two knives. After being satisfied that she had everything, she closed the box, locking it tight and jumped down from the truck bed, her boots thumping as they hit the ground. She walked over to the boys, where they were rummaging through the trunk and having a whispered conversation.
"You didn't tell me she was hot!" Dean whisper shouted as Haley dodged round a van parked a few cars away, she smiled to herself as she heard what Dean had said. She had always had a crush on Dean ever since she first saw him when she was ten and he wasn't bad to look at even then.
"Dude, the last time I saw her she was twelve!" Sam whispered back, Haley walked up behind them just as Dean was about to say something else.
"Ya'll ready to go?" She asked, Dean jumped and turned to look at her sheepishly, wondering if she had heard. Haley raised an eyebrow at Dean's expression and looked beyond the boys at the car they were standing in front of. "No way!" She had moved round to give the car a better look. "You still have the Impala?" It was in great condition considering the amount of miles it had done over time.
"She's my baby, course I still have her!" Dean scoffed. Haley raised her eyebrow again.
"So can we get going?" She asked, itching to find her dad.
"Jump in." Dean told her, smiling as he closed the trunk.
Moments later they were on the road heading towards the farmhouse, Haley giving Dean directions when she needed to. It wasn't long before they were pulling up in front of the house; Dean cut the engine and killed the headlights so that the demons wouldn't be alerted to their presence. They jumped out, closing the doors softly behind them and grabbed their weapons out of the trunk. Haley slipped both of the blades into her boots, one in each, for easy access. She stuffed the bottle of Holy water in the pocket of her jacket as Dean pulled out a spare Angel blade and handed it to her.
"You're gonna need this." He said, she took it but gave Dean a curious look. "Angel blade, it will kill any demon, it will do a better job than those in your boots." He smiled and nodded down at her shoes.
"Thanks." She knew there was some kind of weapon out there that would kill a demon but she had yet to come across an angel blade or an angel to acquire such a weapon. Haley looked up at Dean for a moment, giving him a flirtatious look but it was interrupted seconds later by a man screaming out in pain, she whipped her head around to look at the house as more cries echoed around the trees. "That's my dad!" She whispered, worriedly.
"We'll get him out." Sam said, quietly as more cries rang out through the night air.
Haley followed the boys across the grass, stepping lightly so as not to alert the demons inside the building. Once they neared the front she knelt down underneath the window and looked inside to see what they were dealing with. There were four demons sitting at a round table in the living room playing cards and laughing with each other. Most demons tended to prefer their own company but this was the first time she had seen such a big group of them together.
Looking at Sam and Dean she signalled that there were four of them and moved over to the door, where they were standing. Dean began to take a step back to kick the door down but she put a hand on his chest to stop him and put her finger to her lips to tell him that they needed to stay quiet. She stepped in front of the door and pulled out her lock pick from her back pocket, crouching down in front of the lock and expertly working it until there was a soft click. She smiled at her victory and stood up tucking the lock pick back in her pocket. Twisting the door handle she opened it and pushed it open as silently as possible and crept past the open doorway to the living room, where the demons were still sitting, completely unaware of the hunters presence. Back to the wall, she stopped Sam from entering through the door as he was about to move towards her. They were going to do this her way. Dean gave his brother a look, Sam sending one back that said; 'Do what she says'
She edged her way towards the kitchen, checking for anymore demons that she couldn't see from when she peeked through the window a few minutes ago, the kitchen was clear so she moved around the corner keeping her back against the wall. Looking around the room, she saw the table close by and a chair that she could reach with her foot. She kicked it over, the crash bouncing off the baron walls. All four demons looked towards the open kitchen door.
"Go check it out!" One demon nodded to the dark haired one closest to the door. Haley heard it's chair scrape against the floor as he moved away from the table and edged her way back around into the hallway, awaiting the footsteps of the demon to edge closer. Hearing that they were right next to her she turned the corner and plunged the Angel blade into the demons chest, covering its mouth so that it wouldn't cry out. She let the body fall back so that it would land next to the doorway, alerting the demons to her presence.
His body hit the ground with a thud and she moved around it to stand in the doorway, the Angel blade dripping with blood. "Hello boys." She said as they stood, eyes flickering to black.
"Come to get your dad?" One of them asked, licking his lips at the amount of destruction that was about to ensue.
"Something like that, only this time I brought friends." She gave a devilish smile as Sam and Dean entered through the doorway.
"Winchesters!" One of them hissed, throwing its head back, a plume of black smoke escaping through its mouth, clearly intimidated by the sheer thought of taking on the Winchesters.
"Sorry to break up the party," Dean smiled and lunged towards the nearest of the two demons. Haley moved towards the blonde haired demon that was closest to her, raising the Angel blade once again, but using its power, he quickly flicked her to the side so she hit the wall and crashed down onto a dresser below, sending pieces of wood flying across the room. Hearing the noise, Dean looked up and saw her lying face down on the floor, slightly disorientated from the hit to her head. Sam had taken on the other demon once it had thrown Dean to the floor. Getting to his feet, Dean picked up the demon blade and attacked from behind, his surprise attack had succeeded and the demon flashed orange and fell to the ground. Dean stepped over the body and ran over to Haley.
"You ok?" He asked as she sat up, a hand to her head, she was fine other than the cut to her forehead.
"Yeah," she nodded, and moved to get to her feet; Dean helped her up and passed her the Angel blade. Another orange glow lit up the other side of the room as Sam struck the demon with his blade. Catching his breath he turned to Haley and Dean.
"You good?" He asked her specifically, the protection for his old friend kicking in once again.
"Aces." She muttered, wiping away the blood trickling down her cheek with her sleeve. "Four down, four to go." She sighed. Another cry of pain rang out through the house; she winced, tightening her hold on the blade, her knuckles turning white. Suddenly a noise in the kitchen caught her attention as three more demons appeared out of nowhere, their eyes flickering to black and back again. Before the boys had even registered what was happening she had already run into the kitchen to take on the next lot of demons.
Flying at the one closest to her, she landed a punch to its stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Sam and Dean rushed to take on the others, going hand to hand combat it's each of them. Occasionally one of the demons would use their telekinetic powers to fling one of them across the room, only for them to stand up and brush themselves off and go right back to fighting again. After a good fifteen minutes of taking hits from all directions all three demons were dead. Haley wiped the blood and sweat from her forehead, breathing heavily as the demon Sam was fighting slumped to the ground.
"Dammit." She winced, feeling the sharp pain of a broken rib in her side, which made catching her breath harder.
"What?" Sam asked, raising his eyes to the ceiling, trying to concentrate on catching his breath.
"Asshole broke my rib." She took a sharp intake of breath as she stretched back up to her full height. Both boys looked back at her, enquiring looks on their faces, "I'm fine." She breathed, another cry ringing through the air. "Daddy!" She called, not caring if the demon torturing him could hear her.
The sounds were coming from the basement, Haley teared through the house looking for the door and eventually finding the doorway under the stairs. She took the steps down two at a time, the boys following close behind. When she reached the door at the bottom of the stairs, the adrenaline running through her veins, she kicked at the door, breaking the lock open and gasping at the sight before her as the door swung open.
"Haley." Tommy breathed. He was covered in blood, his once blonde hair was now matted with deep red blood, his shirt hanging off him in tatters. A knife stuck up out of his thigh, stemming the bleeding that would have usually have been pouring out of the wound by now.
"Ah, the cavalry has arrived." The demon smiled. She almost couldn't see him in the darkness of the basement, his all black suit blending in with the darkness, the only thing giving him away being his bright white teeth. Sam and Dean came up behind her and stood either side of her, their eyes flicking to the demon and back to Tommy, pinned against the wall. "And you brought the Winchesters. Now it's a party." The demon laughed evilly.
"What do you want with him?" Haley spat, her eyes fixed on the demon.
"Revenge." He replied simply, twirling a knife in his hand. "You see your dad here, killed my sister and now I'm going to kill him." He continued pointing the knife at Tommy. Haley's hold on the Angel blade tightened once again, she tried to lunge towards him but with a flick of his finger she was rooted to the spot and the blade was ripped from her hand, flying across the room, along with Sam's. "Ah ah ah," he laughed and caused the blade in Tommy's thigh to twist and he screamed out in pain once more. This was a powerful demon, killing him was going to be difficult compared to the lower level demons they had been battling upstairs.
"Bitch probably deserved it," she muttered, watching the demon as he paced in front of her. Dean nudged her, she was playing with fire and if she wanted her father to get out of here in one piece then she needed to stop with the back chatting. "It's not going to bring her back." She stated, the demon turned to look at her and laughed.
"I don't want to bring that bitch back! This is just for fun!" Demons Haley thought, mentally shaking her head, they were never satisfied until they were causing death and destruction wherever they went. Haley turned her head slightly, discretely looking to see if there was anything she could use as a weapon, she needed to end this and get her dad out of here. "It's too quiet in here." With a flick of his finger the knife was twisting in Tommy's leg once again, his screams rattling through Haley's skull, she couldn't stand this anymore.
"Stop!" She shouted, something snapping inside of her, "Please don't hurt him." She pleaded, not knowing why, Demons weren't sympathetic to anything; he threw his head back and laughed. Doing another quick scan of the space around her, she noticed that Dean's jacket was riding up at the back catching on the demon blade tucked into the back of his jeans; the demon must have only confiscated the weapons that he could see.
"I'm getting bored," the demon sighed, twirling the knife in his hand again. Haley leaned closer to Dean, her feet still routed to the spot from the Demon's power, she was close enough to be able to reach around his back and take the blade. She would wait until the Demon wasn't looking in their direction and take it. "Maybe, I'll just kill him." An evil grin slid across the Demon's face as he held the knife up to the light, the metal reflecting the light back onto his evil face. Haley's heart had dropped; she had to do something before he could hurt her dad.
She spread her arm out around the back of Dean, her eyes not moving from the Demon. She had misjudged slightly and inadvertently ended up groping him, not that Dean minded; he didn't react except for the subtle rise of an eyebrow, not wanting to give her away. Finally managing to find the blade, she wrapped her hand around the handle. The Demon was now standing in front of her father, the tip of the blade pressed against his lips while he contemplated what he was going to do.
"Yep, that's what I'm going to do!" He smiled, as he plunged the knife into Tommy's stomach.
"No!" Haley had screamed, pulling the knife from Dean's belt and flinging it across the room. Everything happened in slow motion; the knife flew across the room and landed in the demon's back, as soon as her legs were free from being bound to the floor she sprinted across the room as Tommy fell to the floor, blood dripping from his mouth. She barely registered the orange flash coming from the Demon, all she could see was her dad.
"Daddy!" She cried, dropping to her knees and pulling his head onto her lap. Sam and Dean were beside her in seconds as she panicked, her shaking hands put as much pressure on the wound as she could.
"Haley." He coughed, blood spurting out of his mouth as he did so. Sam reached over and moved her hands away so that he could help to stem the blood, her hands shaking too much to be able to put enough pressure on it.
"Daddy don't leave me." She sobbed, looking down into his eyes.
"Listen to me." He wheezed, as more blood trickled out the side of his mouth. "Don't be like these dumbasses and try to bring me back." Sam and Dean looked up at each other, knowing what Tommy knew; he wasn't coming back from this one.
"You're not going anywhere." She whispered, tears flowing freely down her face now.
"Boys," Tommy choked, and Haley propped him up further.
"Yeah Tommy," Dean said coming closer, kneeling down beside his brother so that Tommy could address both of them.
"Look after my girl." Haley continued to sob quietly, her body shaking uncontrollably.
"I always did." Sam replied, remembering all those times he had told him the same thing when he'd left her with him. Tommy choked out a chuckle, he could feel himself slipping way now; but not before he said one last thing to his princess.
"I love you princess." He reached his hand up to cup Haley's face, wiping her tears away with his thumb weakly. It was cold, the blood now leaving his extremities.
"I love you too Daddy." She whispered, placing her hand on top of his and nuzzling her cheek into his cold hand. Tommy's hand slipped from her face and his eyes fluttered closed as his breathing began to slow to nothing. Sam pulled his hands away; no longer being of any use as Haley gave an almighty wail that could have shook the whole house. Dean got to his feet, his hands resting on the back of his neck, pacing as he let all the air escape his lungs, like a deflating balloon.
"Get out." Haley said, cradling her father's head in her lap, wanting to be alone.
"Haley I-" Sam started.
"Get out!" She screamed. Dean looked at Sam and signalled for his brother to move. Sam reluctantly got to his feet and headed for the door, looking back at his friend as she continued to sob.
"We'll be outside." Dean said softly, before disappearing through the door.
Haley cradled her father in her lap, numbly rocking back and forth as she wailed and sobbed loudly, all of which Sam and Dean could hear as they walked around the overgrown yard. Sam took off into the trees and started putting all his energy into breaking branches up to make the funeral pyre, to give Tommy the hunter's funeral he deserved.
An hour had passed when Sam ventured back into the house to find Haley. When he opened the door to the basement he found her exactly as he had left her. He walked over to her and knelt down beside her, placing his large hand on her shoulder.
"Are you ready Hales?" He asked, squeezing her shoulder gently. She nodded, feebly and wiped away the last of the tears from her cheeks. She lifted Tommy's head off her lap and gently lowered it to the floor.
"Do we have anything to wrap him in?" She asked, wiping her nose on the back of her sleeve.
"Dean's looking or something upstairs." He replied, squeezing her shoulder again.
"I'm sorry for yelling." She whispered, playing with her hands in her lap, feeling very open and vulnerable.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." Sam replied. He still had the puppy dog eyes down and it only took one little look at his face before she burst into tears again, slumping against Sam. He embraced her in a hug, trying to comfort her as best he could.
A few minutes later, Dean appeared in the doorway holding a large white sheet he had taken from one of the beds upstairs and a role of string. He felt a small pang of jealousy as he saw his brother and Haley embraced in a hug - but now wasn't the time for that. He walked over to them and crouched down next to Tommy's body.
"Haley, do you want to do this alone?" He asked, wanting to respect her wishes. She pulled away from Sam and wiped away the tears once more before shaking her head. Dean got to his feet and spread the sheet out beside Tommy and they got to work preparing his body for the pyre.
Ten minutes later, Haley was standing between Sam and Dean, watching the flames as they licked against the wood, casting an orange glow across their faces in the darkness. She crossed her arms around her body as she shivered even though the heat from the pyre was radiating around her. Dean looked over at her, the flickering of the flames reflecting back in her glassy eyes. He noticed she was shivering and slipped out of his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. She looked over at him and gave him a small smile in thanks, pulling the jacket closer around her, already feeling warmer.
They waited until the flames had died down and the body had fully burned before climbing back into the car and leaving the farm. They had agreed that they would take Haley back to the hotel so that she could grab her things and they would take her back to the bunker, Sam had told her that she needed time before she got back to hunting and Dean had agreed. Haley had decided that she wouldn't be bringing the truck with her; neither of them had ever really liked it.
The ride to the motel was silent, Haley curled up on the backseat, Dean's jacket still wrapped around her and her head resting against the cool glass of the window, somewhat soothing her pounding head. Sam kept turning slightly to look at her and Dean would look in the rear view mirror every once in a while to make sure she was ok, but she just stared at the white line rushing by as they drove.
Dean pulled into the parking lot and pulled into the now vacated space next to Tommy's truck, Haley sat up and sighed, slipping her arms into the sleeves of Dean's jacket and pushing the door open.
"I won't take long." She looked at them both as they looked back at her with sympathetic looks on their faces.
"Take all the time you need." Sam gave her a kind smile; she nodded and pushed open the door disappearing into the darkness.
It wasn't long before she was ready to leave; she had grabbed all of her things as well as a few things of her dad's she wanted to keep for sentimental reasons. The boys had helped her empty the weapons box of the truck and added it to their stash in the trunk before setting off on the journey back to the bunker.
Haley had tried to fall asleep a number of times but the constant bumping over the rough road didn't help. She didn't think she would get much sleep in the first place; just closing her eyes for a few seconds brought back the images of Tommy dying in her arms. Halfway, Sam asked for a pit stop, Haley was thankful for this, she wanted some fresh air and to stretch out her legs that were beginning to ache.
"Want anything?" Sam asked, pointing at the convenience store behind him, she shook her head; he smiled and turned to go into the store.
"Bring pie!" Dean called through the open window.
"Yeah, yeah!" Sam called back as Haley wandered away from the car and around the grassy area, kicking at the plastic soda bottles that littered it. Dean watched her from the driver's seat, a sad expression on his face. He liked Haley, a lot, despite only meeting her as an adult a few hours ago, she was an amazing hunter, maybe even better than him and Sam, not that he would ever admit that to her face; she proved that when she took down that demon back at the farm. She wasn't bad to look at either, her perfect olive complexion, curves in all the right places, although you wouldn't know to look at her at that moment, Dean's jacket drowning her, making her look smaller than she actually was.
Haley could feel Dean's eyes watching her, she turned to look at him but he didn't look away like she thought he would. Her interest peaked; she wandered back over to the car and slid into the back seat, crossing her legs underneath her on the leather seats of the Impala.
"Hey," she said as she got comfortable.
"Hey," he replied, turning in his seat to look at her. "You ok?" he asked, giving her a sympathetic look.
"Not really." She sighed, looking down at her hands and picking at her nail beds, avoiding the loaded look of sympathy Dean was giving her.
"Yeah I get it." He said, remembering all the feelings he had when John had died, although they didn't have the same kind of relationship that Haley and Tommy had, he had still lost a parent and knew some of what Haley was going through. "So that was some impressive knife throwing skills back there!" he praised, her eyes flicked up and smiled at the look of surprise on his face.
"I never miss!" she smiled, it was a particular skill that she had prided herself on, she had spent a long time trying to perfect her knife flinging skills and it had paid off.
"Well, that demon definitely didn't see that one coming." Dean said, watching his brother, who was now standing at the cash register.
"Nope." She said, enunciating the p. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Haley started to feel awkward and decided to fill the silence. "So what's the story with this bunker?" she asked, wanting to change the subject. Dean smiled just as Sam climbed back into the car, a plastic bag bursting at the seams with food and beer.
"Did you get the pie?" Dean asked before Sam had even got into the car properly.
"Yes Dean." Sam replied, shaking his head.
"Good. I was just about to tell Haley about the bunker." Dean started the car and reversed out of his parking spot.
"Ah." Sam said and then he launched into his explanation of the Men of Letters and the bunker, Dean occasionally butting in where he thought necessary. Haley listened intently but couldn't help but think how much her dad would have loved it.
"Oh my God!" she had exclaimed when she walked through the door and saw the expansive war room below her. "This is amazing!" she said, following Sam down the stairs so he could show her around. He'd shown her around the library and the war room before taking her to the kitchen where Dean had already started cooking something up, his stomach had been grumbling throughout the journey back.
"You hungry?" he asked her as she stepped into the kitchen behind Sam.
"You cook?" she cocked her head to the side and looked at him, completely at home in the kitchen, a spatula in hand.
"Sometimes," he shrugged, waving the spatula around in the air as a beef patty sizzled on the grill behind him.
"No, I'm good, I just want to crash." She said through a yawn.
"I'll show you were the bedrooms are, just give me a second." Dean said taking the now cooked patty off the grill, putting it inside a hamburger bun and shoving it in front of Sam, he hadn't asked for it or wanted it but his stomach had been grumbling along with Dean's so he didn't refuse it. "Come on," Dean said walking towards her
"Night Sammy." She said, turning to him as Dean tried to escort her out of the room towards the maze of corridors.
"Night Hales." Sam replied, through a mouthful of burger.
"That's the bathroom," Dean said as they reached the corridor with the bedrooms, "This one's mine and Sammy's is down the hall. Take any, but put some distance between you and Sammy, he snores; loudly!" Dean told her, his voice echoing off the tiled walls.
"Yeah, I remember." She said, remembering all those times she had hit Sam with a pillow to stop him from snoring when they had been left alone overnight. Dean smiled back at her. "I'm gonna hit the hay, I'm beat," she said, pointing to the door opposite Dean's, he was slightly pleased by this.
"Night Haley." He smiled.
"Night Dean," she smiled back but it didn't quite reach her eyes, heavy with sadness. Dean turned and began to retreat back down the corridor towards the kitchen. "Dean." She called timidly, he turned back around to look at her and she padded across the hallway to him, his jacket laid across her arm. "Thanks." She handed the jacket back to him. "And for letting me stay here."
"No problem." He gave her another lopsided smile and turned heading back to the kitchen. Haley opened the door to her bedroom and climbed onto the bed, not bothering to change. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but she knew that it wouldn't be easy.
Two Weeks Later
Haley had hardly left her room in the two weeks that followed Tommy's death, only to shower and use the bathroom. Sam and Dean had been bringing her plates of food and leaving them outside her door but she only ever had half of it before leaving it outside her door for them to pick up the next time they brought her food. Each time they knocked on her door they had sighed in defeat as they heard no reply, she had completely isolated herself away from everything. She was grieving and this was how she dealt with it, tending to spend her days sleeping, although it wasn't very restful. Dean had heard the sobs emanating from her room every night, he wished he could do something to help her, it was getting harder and harder for him to ignore.
Finally in a place where she felt she was ready to face the world without her dad, she emerged from her room, fully dressed in her usual t-shirt, jeans and boots and headed for the kitchen where she could hear the boys chattering away.
"Morning." She said cheerfully, putting on a brave face for the boys' sake and maybe for herself too. Sam sat up straighter peering over the top of Dean's head at her as she appeared in the doorway, Dean's head whipping around at the sound of her voice.
"Um, morning." Sam said, an eyebrow raised as he watched her walk over to the table and take a seat besides Dean.
"Have you guys eaten yet?" she asked, looking between the two of them. They both shook their heads, a little bit taken aback by her presence. "Anyone for pancakes? I think you have all the ingredients." She said looking over at the shelves that served as a pantry.
"Wait a minute," Dean said; putting a hand on her arm as she tried to get up from her chair, she looked down at his hand, feeling the warmth of it on her skin. "You make pancakes?"
"Yeah?" she looked over at Sam, slightly confused. "Do you remember them Sam?" Realisation crossed Sam's face, as he remembered the times they had made pancakes on the occasions where there had been a kitchenette in the motel where they had stayed while their dads were gone.
"Oh my God, those were the best pancakes I've ever tasted!" Sam exclaimed, his mouth watering remembering the taste.
"Want some?" she asked, looking between the two brothers.
"Hell yes!" Dean had said before Sam could even answer, she let out a soft, sweet giggle, that instantly brought a smile Sam and Dean's face, happy that she was no longer in as dark a place as she had been over the last fortnight.
"I kinda need my arm back though Dean." She smiled, his hand still resting on her arm, heat radiating from it. He looked down at his hand and reluctantly removed it, not wanting to lose contact with her just yet, not now that she was here, spending time with him.
"Are you doing ok Hales?" Sam asked, turning to look at her as she began counting out spoonfuls of flour into a random bowl she had found.
"I'm just taking one day at a time Sammy, I'm gonna have my bad days but I know my dad wouldn't want me to spend the rest of my life like I have the past couple of weeks." She said, adding an egg to the mix. "I just got to get back to normal, whatever normal is." Sam and Dean both nodded, Dean secretly hoping that she would stick around a little longer.
"Well you can stay here as long as you want!" Dean piped up, making sure that she knew that she was welcome but more because he didn't want her to leave.
"Thanks guys." She smiled, dropping the batter into the pan, sizzling as it hit the pan. "So you got a case?" She asked nodding at the laptop in front of Sam. Sam turned to look at it.
"Nest of vampires, just rolled into the next town over, already dropped four bodies in one day, so looks like it's a big nest." Sam replied, scrolling through an article.
"Well there's only one way to find out," she said, dropping pancakes onto two plates and walking them over to the table where Dean was practically salivating at the sight of them. "Let's go take a look." Haley placed the plates down in front of the boys, Dean instantly dug in, shovelling them into his mouth like his life depended on it. "Good?" she asked him, hand on hip and eyebrows raised.
"Amazing!" Dean replied, his mouth full. "Please move in with us." Dean pleaded, getting ready to shovel another forkful of pancake into his mouth. Sam chuckled and looked up at Haley his pancakes barely touched.
"Are you sure you're ready?" he asked, a tone of concern in his voice.
"I just need to get back to normal Sammy, I'm good I promise." She smiled down at him reassuringly. "I'm gonna go get my stuff ready, meet you in the garage in ten?" she asked Dean, watching him chew on the last piece of pancake, he nodded unable to speak. She shook her head smiling and headed off in the direction of her room.
Haley crept around the barn door corner, the sound of the vampires snoring coming from all directions of the small space. Sam and Dean had gone around the other side of the barn to cut them off if they tried to escape through the back. They had protested about leaving Haley on her own but after seeing how she had handled the demon back in Kansas City, she had convinced them to let her go alone, having one person at all three exits made more sense than letting them escape through the unmanned exit; plus she had been hunting for as long as they had and was still on this earth, just because she was a female didn't mean she couldn't handle a few vampires.
Her large blade hung down by her side as she passed by two sleeping vampires in hammocks on the opposite side of the barn, she was checking for anyone they may have been keeping as a blood slave before starting her attack. Creeping into the next room, she found exactly what she was looking for; through the bars of what used to be a stable was a young girl, maybe in her early twenties, her neck covered in blood and her eyes wide as she watched her walk towards her. Haley held a finger up to her lips, signalling for her to be quiet before she got closer trying to find a way to get her out.
"Key?" She mouthed, noticing the large metal padlock, holding the door closed. The girl pointed across the room to another sleeping vampire, nestled in a bed of hay. Rolling her eyes, she crept across the wooden floor, silently and inspected the sleeping form, looking for any sign of a key on his person. Suddenly, the vampire sighed deeply and rolled over onto its side, revealing the key sticking out of his back pocket. Slowly, Haley reached over and gently pulled the key from his pocket, stopping momentarily when he reached up to brush something imaginary off his face. Celebrating slightly as she pulled the key free, she tiptoed back and started fiddling with the lock, turning the key a few times before the lock gave a loud click, she closed her eyes momentarily hoping that this hadn't caused the vampire to stir from its slumber. The girl watched the vampire over her shoulder and shook her head at Haley, letting her know that he hadn't woken up, her tensed shoulders relaxed and she reached over to pull open the door and let the girl leave but in her rush, the girl knocked the lock out of Haley's hand sending it clattering to the floor. Behind her she could hear the rustling of the hay as the vampire she had stolen the key from had awoken from his slumber.
"Go!" Haley commanded, pointing in the direction of the back door where, hopefully, either Dean or Sam were positioned and at least one of them would help her out. The vampire bared its teeth at her, hissing and edging closer. Gripping the blade tightly, she moved closer to the vampire in front of her just as more hissing began to ring out around the dark barn. They were all awake.
"Shit." Haley said under her breath, swinging her blade around in her hand getting ready for the fight that was ahead of her.
Outside, Sam and Dean were dealing with the girl Haley had sent out to them, she had run as fast as she could out of the back door and slammed straight into Sam and Dean. The girl had been hyperventilating and Sam had attempted to get her to calm down so they could understand what she was trying to say to them, since she was out in the daylight they knew she wasn't a vamp.
"Awake." Was all that Dean had gathered through the strangled breaths of the frightened girl; after a few minutes it had dawned on Dean that the vampires had woken up and were likely mounting an attack on Haley. His eyes widening, he looked up at his brother, who had apparently come to the same conclusion. Dean dashed into the barn, blade held out in front of him, ready to help her out. But as he rounded the corner into the most open part of the barn, he found that there was no need. Standing in front of him was Haley, breathing heavily, droplets of blood spattered across her face and arms, surrounded by the decapitated bodies of eight vampires.
"'bout time you turned up!" she laughed, looking around at the bodies, lying in a circle around her. Dean looked on shocked as Sam ran up behind him and joined him in his look of bewilderment. "Can we go? I smell like vampire." She wiped her face with the back of her hand only smearing the blood around her face more as she walked past them and out the back exit of the barn.
"We are so keeping her!" Dean said to no one in particular and followed her out of the barn.
That night, the sound of Haley screaming woke Dean with a start, springing out of bed he grabbed his gun from the nightstand, flicking off the safety and wrenched his door open, darted across the hallway and crashed through Haley's door, which thankfully she had not locked. As soon as his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he found Haley's sleeping form, gripping the sheets in her hands, sobs breaking out in between the screams, he put the safety back on and placed the gun on top of a table by the door on his way over to her.
Dean knelt down next to the bed, gripping her wrists tightly, trying to stop her writhing around so much. Nightmares; a hunter's biggest weakness. If you asked any hunter, they would tell you that the nightmares were by far the worst thing about this job, if they didn't, they were lying. Dean knew all too well the feeling of being trapped inside one of his own nightmares.
"Haley!" he shook her gently as her perched on the side of the bed, trying to wake her, when she didn't wake up straight away he shook her again. Haley shot straight up in bed, looking back at Dean.
"Dean?" she asked, hoarse from all of the screaming. Dean looked back at her with a look of sympathy crossing his face. A new round of tears had started to cloud her vision and letting out a strangled cry she collapsed against him and continued to cry. Wrapping his arms around her, he stroked the back of her head and held her close, comforting her.
"It's ok, it was just a nightmare." He whispered, his large warm hand, caressing her hair reassuringly.
"My dad." She whispered into his shoulder.
"I know, I get it, I get 'em too." He replied, resting his chin on the top of her head. She nodded into his shoulder, understanding.
The two of them stayed in that position for a while as Haley's sobs ebbed away and she slowly recovered from her ordeal. Eventually, Dean reluctantly pulled her away from him and looked down at her face, as best he could in the pitch black.
"Come on let's go for a walk." He motioned his head towards the open door and she nodded, pulling the sheets away from her and following Dean through the bunker to the kitchen, squinting against the light as Dean turned them on along the way. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked as Haley slid onto a chair at the table.
"Not much to tell," she shrugged, "You were there, you know what happened." She looked down at her hands that were placed on top of the table. Dean nodded, understanding now what her nightmare had been about.
"Go make yourself comfortable on the couch; I'll make you something that will help you sleep." He nodded, motioning to the library where the couch and TV were situated. She nodded and slid out of the chair and headed for the library. His eyes followed her, lingering a little on her butt which was barely covered by the tiny sleep shorts and oversized T-shirt she was using as sleepwear.
Making herself comfortable on the couch, Haley wrapped the soft blanket that had been lying across the back, around herself, creating a little cocoon, protecting her from everything. Reaching for the remote she flicked on the TV as a distraction from her racing thoughts, the only thing on at this time of night were infomercials but she didn't mind. A few moments later, Dean appeared beside her holding a mug, he handed it to her and she smiled gratefully as she took it, feeling the warmth of the liquid radiate across her skin. Dean sat down on the opposite side of the couch and she turned to face him, her back resting against the arm and her knees drawn up towards her chest.
"Milk and honey?" she asked, taking a sip from the mug.
"I thought it would help." He replied, looking around at the library which was only lit by one of the table lamps and the light from the TV.
"Thanks." She smiled, snuggling into the blanket and resting the mug on her knees. "I'm sorry for waking you up."
"It's fine don't worry about it," he replied, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and resting his arm on the back on the couch. Haley looked at him, raising her eyebrows as he stifled a yawn.
"Do you think I woke up Sammy?" she asked, quickly turning to glance at the doorway.
"No, I only heard 'cause you're across the hall." He replied, she nodded, taking a sip of the milk, its warmth spreading through her like a wave.
They sat in a comfortable silence for a while. "Nice work with those vampires today by the way," he said nudging her knee with his, she laughed slightly. Moving so she could put the mug on the coffee table, she edged towards Dean, the heat radiating off him, she hadn't realised how cold she was until that moment so decided to stay by his side instead of moving back to the opposite end of the couch.
"Did you expect me to be a damsel in distress or something?" she asked, giving him a gentle smile.
"No, I just didn't expect you to be able to take down the entire nest on your own!" Haley raised an eyebrow at him.
"Because I'm a woman?" she asked.
"No, because I don't think me and Sam could take down eight vampires on our own either, as much as I hate to admit it, you're a much better hunter than we are combined." Dean told her, looking her straight in the eye to show that he meant it. Haley was slightly taken aback by this statement but a smile spread across her face as she saw the sincerity in Dean's eyes.
"Sam and I." She stated, the smile now turning mischievous.
"You still do that?" Dean asked, laughing with a slight undertone of annoyance.
"No, I just remember how much it pissed you off back then." She laughed, her mind slowly drifting away from the memory of the nightmare she was having only an hour ago and onto a time when she had first known Sam and Dean.
"Is that how it's going to be from now on? I pay you a compliment and you correct my grammar?" he asked, turning to face her slightly, Haley laughed loudly, the noise reverberating off the walls, she looked down at her hands resting in her lap.
"No but it means a lot that you said that, thank you." She gave Dean a smile, "and thank you for tonight, if you hadn't woken me up, I'd probably be bawling my eyes out in there right now." She said looking down at her hands, interlocking and unlocking her fingers. "I miss him Dean." She said after a long moment of silence. "I knew that this might happen one day but I wasn't ready." She whispered, tears beginning to prickle at her eyes. "I used to think he was invincible." She laughed bitterly, shaking her head at how naive she had been. Dean watched her as she lifted her eyes towards the ceiling, trying to stop the tears from falling again.
"We all hope that we will Hales but deep down we know our time is going to come one day." He replied, watching her as her eyes flicked back down to look at him. "Your dad knew his time would come eventually and he made sure you were going to be ok. Whether it happened now or in ten years, you wouldn't have been ready then either." She kept her eyes locked on his as she listened to what he had to say. "Losing someone you love isn't meant to be easy." He reached out and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her as he held her to him, comforting her as the tears that she had tried so hard to hold back began rolling down her cheeks.
"When did you get so wise Dean Winchester?" she asked, chuckling through her tears.
"I grew up," he shrugged, moving a hand up and down her back.
They sat in their comfortable silence once more; Haley still huddled up against Dean, his warmth making her feel sleepy. "Dean can you do me a favour?" she asked, her voice resonating through his chest.
"Sure." His voice was becoming thick as his eyes were starting to droop.
"If you hear me having a nightmare again, please come and wake me up, I don't want to go through that again." She lifted her head to look up at his face, to gauge his reaction to her request.
"Deal." He couldn't refuse; the sadness in her eyes was overwhelming, he wanted the real Haley, not the one overcome by sadness and tormented by nightmares every night. Haley gave him a relieved and thankful smile as his eyes became so heavy they drooped closed; Haley's not far behind, just as Dean's breathing evened out into a steady rhythm, her eyes fluttered closed as she drifted off. That night was the best night's sleep either of them had ever had.
6 Months Later
Dean pulled the Impala up at the side of the road, at the edge of the forest he and Haley were about to set foot in. Sam had not joined them on this hunt; he was back at the bunker helping Castiel work out how to restore order to heaven, leaving Haley and Dean to hunt on their own. This didn't bother either of them in the slightest, they enjoyed each other's company and over the last six months they had become very close.
The pair moved around to the trunk, grabbing their weapons, they had been hunting a shifter for the past couple of days and had finally managed to track it down to an area of the forest on the outskirts of town.
"You good?" Dean asked, loading the cassette of silver bullets into his pistol.
"Yeah," she said, checking her bullets and sliding the silver knife into the inside pocket of her jacket. "Lead the way Hammy," she smiled, teasing him. Earlier that week Dean had been so hungry he had managed to stuff about three quarters of his burger into his mouth, his cheeks bulging out at the sides, Haley had said he looked like a Hamster and had been calling him rodent related nick names ever since, at first it had got on his nerves but he was slowly warming up to it and besides she would run out of them at some point.
"Was that the best you could come up with?" he asked, as she fell into step beside him.
"Maybe," she smiled up at him through her long eyelashes, Dean just shook his head and chuckled.
The canopy of branches above their heads had begun to get thicker and it began to get darker and darker as they walked further into the forest. The sound of a twig breaking to her right alerted Haley to movement in a dense area of trees, she reached across to her left and grabbed Dean's arm stopping him from walking any further forward and pointed to where she heard the noise, Dean nodded back at her and together they headed towards the trees, their guns held out in front of them, safety off ready to shoot and ask questions later.
Side by side they crept through the trees silently, surveying their surroundings for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. They had been told by the local sheriff that there was an old abandoned mine in the woods, this was where they were heading to, the mine being a prime location for the shifter to live.
Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw something flash past him assuming it was the shifter he turned towards it, pointing his gun in the direction he first saw the movement but as his back was turned, the shifter ran past, the movement going unnoticed by both the hunters. Dean turned back around now, unable to see anymore movement from the shifter, looking back over at Haley he signalled for them to continue on further through the forest. According to what the sheriff said the entrance to the mine shouldn't be too far away, they continued to walk side by side, knowing that if they got separated the shifter could use it to their advantage.
After a few more minutes of walking in silence, they found the entrance to the mine, covered by the hanging branches of a willow tree, Haley expertly slid through the small gap in the wood that had been boarding up the entrance to the mine but they had to pry an extra panel away from the rest so that Dean could get his wider build through the gap. Once Dean was through, they dropped down from an out crop onto a track below. The two of them followed the track through the dark expanse of the mine, stopping every now and then to examine alcoves that looked like they could possibly be somewhere the shifter might be hiding.
"Dean," Haley called, as she examined one of the alcoves on the opposite side of the track. He made his way over to her, looking over her shoulder at what she was pointing at. Lying in the middle of the floor was a pile of skin the shifter had shed, by now it could be anyone, most likely either of them.
"Well it's not an Alpha," he said looking around the tight space they were standing in. "Stay close; it could be one of us." She nodded, shining the flashlight she had pulled out of her pocket around the alcove and noticed that it wasn't an alcove at all but a small tunnel that led away from the main one.
"I think we need to go this way," she told him as he was about to turn around and head out of the alcove, he shone his own flashlight down the tunnel and agreed with her as he saw the bloody hand print on the wall a little further up the tunnel.
Eventually the tunnel opened up into a large chamber and it was evident from the items of clothing strewn across the floor that this was where the shifter had been living. Dean moved around the room examining every part of it trying to figure out where the shifter was hiding and in what form it might be this time, it could be anyone. He tried to stick as close to Haley as possible so that he knew if the shifter did turn into her; he would know which one was his Haley; he had begun to get very protective over her lately even though he knew she could handle herself.
Across the opposite side of the room Haley noticed a dim light shining through an opening in the rock, she headed towards it, the soft shuffling of feet within the room, made her instantly aware that there was someone, or something inside. Gingerly, she stepped through the archway of the rock, the walls dimly lit by the kerosene lamp sitting on a large boulder in the corner. The smell of rotting flesh and blood instantly made her feel sick, and she quickly buried her nose in her jacket, composing herself before circling around the room, checking every nook and cranny for any sign of the shifter.
Suddenly she heard heavy footsteps behind her and a hand gripped at her shoulder, turning she swung her arm as her elbow collided with the nose of whoever the hand belonged to.
"Son of a bitch!" Dean's voice said out of the darkness. Swinging around she pointed the flashlight in the direction of his voice and aimed her gun at him, she sighed and lowered her gun slightly, hesitant in case the shifter was now wearing Dean's face.
"You startled me!" she exclaimed, stepping back a few steps and concentrating her gun on him, "I thought you were the shifter." She shrugged.
"Yeah well I'm not so put the gun down would ya," he said pinching the bridge of his nose, to stem the small amount of blood that was trickling out of one of his nostrils.
"Dean!" Haley called loudly, her voice echoing off the thick layers of rock surrounding her not convinced that this was her Dean. In the distance Haley could hear footsteps pounding towards her, he was running, they got increasingly closer and suddenly another Dean entered through the opening.
"Wha-" he started but he stopped as soon as he noticed his twin standing across from her, she had pointed the gun at him now as he emerged into the dimly lit room. He raised his hands in surrender and remained where he was standing. "Haley it's me." He said, edging further into the room. Strike one. Dean had not called her Haley for six months now, hearing him say her full name felt weird but this wasn't enough to base her decision on. She flicked her eyes over to the other Dean and locked her eyes on his.
Over the last couple of months as they had been spending a lot more time together, they had gotten closer and closer, close enough for her notice little things that Dean did around her that she would never have noticed under normal circumstances. Whenever he looked at her now, his eyes twinkled as if she were the only person in the room, his usual scrunched up face through stress and worry, softened as if just being around her was enough to relax him, his normally tense shoulders were also relaxed, he had put every ounce of trust in her right then and the way his eyes never left hers told her that this was her Dean; she was convinced.
Quickly flicking her eyes over to shifter Dean, she looked him in the eye; Strike two: no twinkle, his forehead scrunched up as it would always be but when she looked at him nothing about him relaxed; Strike three, you're out. Turning off the safety she aimed the gun at shifter Dean's heart "Haley, don-" he started but she didn't give him chance before she blasted two bullets into its heart.
"Adios bitch!" she lowered the gun and turned to Dean, as he let out the breath he had been holding. "You better be you, Sammy will never speak to me again if not!" she laughed, but she couldn't hide the nervousness in her voice.
"It's me." He laughed, reaching around to the back pocket of his jeans where he was keeping the silver knife, as soon as Haley saw the knife in his hand, she ran towards him throwing her arms around him, he staggered back slightly as her body collided with his but he didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around her and holding her to him tightly.
She pulled back slightly, looking up at his nose to survey the damage she had done, "Don't sneak up on me like that you idiot!" she scalded, slapping him in the chest with the back of her hand. "I could have killed you!"
"Sorry!" he replied, holding his hands up in surrender, honestly, he had no idea why he had done it in the first place.
"Can we go home? The smell in here is starting to soak into my hair." She stated, pulling at a lock of her hair and pulling a face at the smell that was coming from it.
"Yeah let's go." He nodded, leading the way through the tunnels and out into daylight.
Sam looked up from his laptop when he heard the sound of the door to the bunker creaking open and Haley and Dean's footsteps pounding down the metal steps. "Woah what happened to you?" Sam asked, looking up and seeing the cut across the bridge of Dean's nose and the dried blood that had seeped out around it.
"Hales got the drop on me." Dean replied, placing the case of beer on the table in front of him.
"Yeah well that's what you get for sneaking up on me when there's a shifter on the loose!" she called back as she headed in the direction of the kitchen to drop off the bag of groceries she was carrying. Sam raised his eyebrows at his brother as he handed him a beer and twisted the cap off his own bottle. "Sit." Haley ordered, re-entering the room, first aid kit in hand. Dean obeyed his orders and hopped up on the table, their faces level now, only inches apart. Haley ripped open an alcohol swab and began dabbing at the cut.
"You might want some ice too; you're getting a black eye." Sam chuckled, pointing the neck of the beer bottle towards his eye, where a purple bruise was beginning to form.
"God dammit Hales!" Dean exclaimed.
"Don't worry I won't tell anyone you got beaten up by a girl, wouldn't want to ruin your delicate reputation or anything." She laughed, wiping away the dried blood. Sam let out a loud laugh that bounced off the walls of the library. Dean turned his head to glare at him, but Haley gently put a hand on his cheek and turned it back towards her, smirking as he evil eyed Sam out of the corner of his eye. "Ok, you don't need stitches but I'm gonna put you some strips on just to help close it up." She said, already placing the first strip across his nose. "And get some ice on that eye!" she ordered, placing the second. "I'm gonna go take a shower, I may see dead people but I don't want to smell like one too." She laughed and headed off in the direction of the bathroom. Dean's eyes following her every move.
"So did you ask her out yet?" Sam asked, taking a swig of his beer. Dean's head whipped around so fast that he nearly gave himself whiplash.
"What?" Dean asked, completely taken aback by the comment.
"Dude, you've been looking at her like that for the last couple of months, don't think I don't notice." Sam told him, Dean was about to open his mouth to reply but he couldn't think of a suitable comeback so just closed his mouth and took a sip of his beer.
"Is it that obvious?" he asked defeated.
"To me yeah but maybe not to her. Just ask her." Sam told him and retreated off towards the kitchen, beer in hand. Dean shook his head and headed towards the couch.
Later that night, Haley and Dean were sprawled out on the couch watching a movie; Sam had long ago gone to bed, leaving them together in the hope that Dean would eventually ask her out. The movie they were watching was terrible and the both of them were completely bored of it by now and were just staring at the screen not really watching it. Sighing Dean turned to Haley.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," she nodded, removing her legs off his knees, where they had been resting comfortably for the last couple of hours and turned to look at him as he muted the TV.
"How did you know it was me and not the shifter?" it had been bothering him for hours, there was something about those moments in that chamber that made him wonder.
Haley sighed and pulled her left leg underneath her letting the other dangle over the edge of the couch, "The shifter called me Haley, you haven't called me that for a long time, you wouldn't have noticed because it comes naturally to you now but the shifter wouldn't have known that." She shrugged.
"That was it?" he exclaimed incredulously. "What if you had killed me instead of him?"
"I wouldn't have. I know you better than you think Dean." She smiled, looking down at her hands as she did whenever there was something she didn't want to talk about.
"Oh." He said, fixing his eyes on the TV, he still hadn't got a good enough answer from her but he figured it was the best he was going to get for now.
They sat in silence for a while, but it wasn't their usual comfortable silence, you could cut the tension in the air with a knife and it was starting to feel awkward between them. "Your eyes." Haley said quietly, still playing with her fingers.
"What?" Dean asked, turning his head to look at her. He had heard her correctly; he just wanted to clarify what she had said.
"Your eyes," she said louder, looking up at him now. "Lately, when you've looked at me, you've had this kind of twinkle in your eyes every time you look at me, it's like you're seeing me for the first time or something. Your face completely relaxes the second I set my eyes on you, you don't look tense and stressed just relaxed. When I looked into your eyes back in that mine, I knew it was you, I would know that look anywhere." She finished on a whisper. Dean looked back at her, bewildered. He hadn't realised she had noticed this, it was true, she lit up a room whenever she was there, her presence had this relaxing effect on him that he had also noticed not too long ago but it was only in the last couple of months that he realised he had very strong feelings for her, listening to her cry herself to sleep at night killed him every night and it took everything in him not to break that door down and wrap her up, keeping her safe from everything that made her feel this way.
"Say something," she laughed, watching him stare. Without hesitation, Dean moved forward crashing his lips onto hers, this took Haley by surprise but she'd been dying to do this for months and kissed him back with just as much passion, it was like a switch had flipped inside her, electricity flowed through her body as their mouths moved together, her skin tingling everywhere that it was touching his. She moved closer to him so she could get a better angle, untangling her legs from underneath her and kneeled next to Dean never breaking the kiss.
Reluctantly she pulled away from him, trying to get her breath back "You're not very good with words are you?" she laughed, breathlessly, looking down at him as she tried to get herself in a comfortable position. Dean smirked back at her and grabbed her hips pulling her across so that she was straddling him, a more comfortable position in his opinion, she laughed but stopped when she noticed how bad the damage she had inflicted upon his face was, reaching up she cupped his cheek. "I'm sorry for what I did to your face." She whispered, rubbing her thumb across his cheek.
"I deserved it." He shrugged; he shouldn't have snuck up on her. "Unless it means you don't want to kiss me anymore then..." he trailed off, smirking again.
"For what it's worth I've pretty much had a crush on you since I was a kid, if I liked you when you were mean to me I think I can deal with a few cuts and bruises." The twinkle in his eyes had now turned to lust, and Haley flicked her eyes between his eyes and his lips before kissing him once more. Haley giggled against his lips as he placed his hands under her thighs and stood from the couch slowly making his way towards the bedrooms, so they could take this somewhere a little more private.
For the first time in the last six months, Haley was finally happy again and she couldn't have asked for anything more.
Hello! Welcome to my new FanFiction, Freaks and Greeks, this chapter was just to set the scene a little so you got a little bit about the background of how Sam, Dean and Haley know each other. This is not my best work but please bare with me it has been a loooooong time since I last wrote anything that wasn't an essay for university so I may be a little bit rusty.
Please let me know what you think and I will be posting the first chapter very shortly.