Welcome to our new story!
So, I was talking to my lovely fanfiction friend, loveintheimpala, about how I wanted to start writing a Supernatural sister story that started from season one, and she told me how she wanted to rework her wonderful story Maxie Winchester, which is a sisfic that was set from season one. So, we've teamed up together to write a new story, and I can only thank her for all of the time and effort that she has put into writing this with me. There is no way that I would have been able to do this without her support and hard work, so thank you so much Kara, I hope we did it justice!
The name Danielle is a shout out to loveintheimpala, because I'm currently fangirling like crazy over her new story; Dawn of the Winchester, which is shaping up into a great read!
Danielle is the middle child in this fic, so Sam is 22, Danielle is 24, and Dean is 26.
Really hope that you guys enjoy this! Thank you for reading!
Danielle Winchester
Chapter One: Welcome Home
Portland, Oregon — Motel Room — 11:45 AM.
"Danielle Winchester!"
Dean's voice rang through the open bathroom door as he clambered around the motel room, and Danielle could only imagine that he was making some futile attempt at gathering up the weeks worth of clothes and mess that he had left lying around in there. It was always the same when they came to move on from somewhere, and she didn't bother to turn around to see what he wanted. All she could do was spit out the toothpaste from her mouth and give a half-hearted roll of her green eyes. She looked back to the mirror before her and she pushed a lock of blonde hair behind her ear with a sigh. She couldn't understand why he seemed to be in such a hurry to leave when, as far as she knew, they didn't have a new destination in sight. It wasn't like him.
"I swear to god," Dean continued, apparently not taking the hint that she was intent on ignoring him. "If your ass isn't in that car in the next five seconds, I'm leaving you here!"
There was a playfulness to his tone, enough to give away that he was kidding around. But, saying that, he always was.
Danielle scoffed at the idea, and she gathered together her things from the counter beside the sink. "Yeah, right." she called back. She stepped from the bathroom and grabbed her duffel bag from the nearest bed. She threw it over her shoulder and shot him a pointed look. "Like you could survive a day without me."
Dean turned to her, as though offended, and she raised an eyebrow as if to challenge him.
But all Dean could do was laugh at her, as though he was nothing but amused by her confidence. "Yeah, whatever you say, Dani." he remarked, sarcastic.
A light chuckle escaped him, and he gave her a soft shove in the back of the shoulder towards the motel's door, as though to remind her that they had places to be. He gave the room one last look over before he grabbed his car keys from the table and he pulled the door closed behind them with a slam.
The sun shone down over them from the clear blue sky above, and she squinted through the sudden brightness. It was a welcome change from the dull motel room behind them. And, after a week of being cooped up in there, the fresh air and long drive ahead of them was a welcome change, for both of them. Dean tossed her the keys to the Impala and dumped his bag over her arm without warning. He snickered to himself as he turned and headed off in the opposite direction towards the motel's reception to check them out.
Danielle rolled her eyes at him, and she shook her head as she headed towards the car. The black paint glistened in the sunlight, and it crossed her mind that their father would no doubt be proud of the condition his eldest child had kept it in. But they were thoughts that she didn't want to give much time to. Lately, thinking about their dad never brought her to any good conclusions. She tossed the bags into the trunk and climbed into the passenger seat. She pulled off her jacket and threw it over her shoulder to the back seat. The weather was warm to say that it was nearing November, the sun was hot and the wind was almost non-existent, but it wasn't something that she expected would last.
It was in moments like that when things felt a little surreal. Despite the fact that their life could be considered anything but normal, Danielle was happy, and a smile came to her face. She was content. Hunting was all she and Dean had wanted to do since they had found out about the family business, and now that was what they were doing. If she and Dean had ever had one thing in common, it was the fact that they both loved the job. They loved driving down empty highways at full speed with the music turned up full, they loved saving people, and feeling like they were actually making some kind of a difference to the world. She would even go as far as to say that she loved the heart attack inducing take out food that came with it. Despite the upset and fights and pain that the job had brought them over the years, all of the rough patches their family had been through because of it, she wouldn't have changed where they were now for anything. They were happy. They were on their own, they were independent, and they could just hunt.
"What are you smiling about?" Dean's voice came from beside her, and it was followed by the sound of a door slamming closed.
Danielle glanced up at him, and she shook her head. "Nothing." she muttered. "Can we go?"
Dean offered a smirk as he set the car into gear, and the music suddenly blared from the speakers. He took off out of the motel's parking lot, and, over the music, she was sure that she heard the tires screech on the road. It occurred to her, he seemed to have much more of an idea at where they were heading than she did. It wasn't like Dean to wake up in a morning and decide that they had to just up and leave immediately, especially without him saying where they were going. Something was off about it.
"Where are we going, anyway?" she asked, curious, and she had to raise her voice to be heard over the music.
Dean glanced between her and the road, and the smile noticeably faded from his face. "We're going to get some help." he replied simply, and his tone gave nothing away.
But the comment brought a frown to her face. "Help?" she pressed, and she shifted the slightest bit in her seat to face him. "Help from who?"
The confusion was clear in her question, but his eyes were fixed solely to the road as though he could avoid facing her. She reached out and turned down the music to a more suitable level and her voice became serious.
"Is this about dad?" she pushed, hesitant, because it was a conversation that she knew he didn't like having.
Their father had gone off somewhere, not too unusual a thing for him to do, claiming that whatever he was involved with was too dangerous for them to know about. Danielle could have accepted that. She wouldn't have asked questions, and she knew that Dean wouldn't have, either. But then it was as though he had just dropped off the planet. They hadn't heard anything from him in weeks, not until yesterday. They had gotten a voicemail from him, and she would have been lying if she said it hadn't freaked her the hell out.
But Dean still didn't respond, and it was as though he was struggling for words.
"Are we talking help from Bobby? Caleb?" She frowned, because who else was there? It wasn't like they had a huge number of people to pick from. "Who?"
Dean remained silent for a long moment, and it seemed as though he wasn't willing to answer her. She could see it in his face, whatever it was, he wasn't expecting her to like what he was going to say.
"Actually," He cleared his throat, as though awkward, apprehensive. "I was thinking a little closer to home."
Danielle frowned, because now she really wasn't following. There wasn't anyone much closer to home. Was there? They had no family to turn to when they needed some kind of help, they would usually just stick together and get through anything by themselves. She opened her mouth, ready to ask him who he was talking about, but she stopped, and a horrible thought came to mind.
"Please, tell me you don't mean who I think you mean?" He gave no reaction. "Sam?"
The look on his face proved everything, and she shook her head in disbelief. Sam Winchester. It was a name she hadn't spoken in a long, long time. It was a name she hadn't heard spoken for even longer. In fact, she couldn't recall the last time either of them had so much as mentioned their younger brother.
"He's Sam's dad, too, Dan." Dean offered, and it was clear that he had made up his mind. "He should help."
"Dean," Danielle sighed, because she didn't know what to say.
They both missed Sam, whether they wanted to admit it to each other or not, but they had never once been to see him, they never called him anymore, just like he never called them. They had all gone their separate ways, and, if that was what he wanted, if that was what made him happy, she was prepared to accept that. Even if it wasn't what she wanted.
"Sam isn't going to want to help us." she stated, sympathetic. It was a long way to drive to be told to leave again.
Dean glanced between her and the road, and he raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that?" he pressed. His tone remained light, casual, as though nothing bothered him about the situation. But she could see that to be a front.
"Because, he left." she countered. "And he left for a reason. He doesn't want anything to do with this life, he doesn't want to be dragged back into it, Dean. It's not fair to ask him to come back."
"Well, sometimes life isn't fair." he remarked. "That's what family is, Dan. They crash into your lives when you least expect it because they need help. That's just how it is."
Danielle gave a short shake of her head. "Dean, are you sure about this?" she pressed. "I mean, I'm sure dad's fine. He's probably just caught up in a hunt or something, you know how he gets." she reasoned.
"I don't know, Dan. I just, I can't shake this feeling. Something is wrong." He shrugged. "I need you to trust me on this. Going to Sam is the right thing to do."
His eyes left the road for a split second, and they found hers. He was worried, there was no denying that, whether he wanted to admit it or not, something in his eyes proved his fear. He didn't have to say it, and he knew that. She could see it. She always could, sometimes even before he knew it was there himself.
"Okay." She nodded, because him asking her to trust him was something she would never give a second thought to.
Her attention turned back to the road, and she looked out at the highway before them. Even as kids, she had always considered herself to be so much more like Dean than Sam. The two of them had always shared the same attitude, the same drive, the same train of thought. Whether that was towards school or hunting, or to the less important stuff like movies or food, they were much more alike than she and Sam had ever been. Dean was undoubtedly her best friend, and he always had been. But lately, it had been just the two of them, and all they had anymore was each other. They were closer than they ever had been, and she trusted him enough to go along with him on this, the same way that she knew he would have trusted her had it been the other way around.
That didn't mean that she didn't love Sam, of course she did. Sam had always been her kid brother, someone she would have done anything to protect from the world. But that was then. She hadn't seen him in four years. Things had changed. She had barely spoken to him aside from the few calls here and there, calls that had also rapidly decreased in number as time had passed by. Now, they were basically non existent. She lied about it, but she missed him more than she would ever let on. She missed the days when the three of them had been a family. But she understood. She knew why he had left, and she didn't blame him for that. She never could.
"Hey, Dean?" Her voice broke the silence, soft, almost timid.
"Yeah?" he asked, and he looked to her for a moment.
"You think he's okay, right? I mean..." she trailed off, because even she didn't know what she was trying to ask.
Dean sighed, and there was a faint hint of sadness to it. She was scared, she was worried, more than she had ever let on. She missed their dad, they both did. And not knowing where he was didn't fill either of them with much confidence.
"I don't know, sis." he answered, honestly. "But, hey," He threw her a smile. "You're okay, I'm okay, that's something, right?"
"Right." she muttered, and the smile she offered in return was a much less optimistic one.
Danielle didn't expect anything ahead of them to go well, in fact, she was expecting Sam to say no to them, automatic. She expected Dean to get pissed, and she expected nothing less than the three of them to grow more apart than they already had.
Four Years Ago — Cincinnati, Ohio — 11:23 PM.
Danielle felt the presence of someone standing beside her, and she didn't have to look up to know that it was Dean.
"Maybe you should go upstairs." he suggested. His voice was low enough that only she heard him say it, and there was a concerned frown on his face, apprehensive. "I can see this getting ugly."
But Danielle shook her head, the way he knew that she would do. She glanced between Sam and her dad, and she couldn't decide which of them looked more homicidal. There was a lethal glare on both of their faces, unforgiving, and they all knew that there would be no coming back from what was about to happen there.
John shook his head at his youngest child, and he was only getting more and more angry with each second that passed.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!" he thundered, accusing.
In all the years they had spent hunting together, none of them had ever seen him get so mad, about anything. The anger radiated from him, and there was a vein in his temple that thumped against his skull.
But the man who stood before him didn't appear phased. "No, Dad, who the hell do you think you are?!" Sam countered, and his tone matched his father's easily. "What do you think gives you the right to treat us the way you do? Why do you think you get to control us like you do?!" he yelled in his face, and his tall frame seemed to tower over him. "You pushed me into this life, all I'm doing is leaving it."
But John wasn't prepared to back down, and he stepped closer to his son. "Yeah." he agreed, his tone cold, unforgiving. "As well as your family."
Sam scoffed at that comment. If anything, he seemed amused. "Family?" He nodded, incredulous. "You're one to talk about family, Dad. Look at what you've done to yours."
John blinked, hard, and it was clear that the comment had taken him by surprise. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he seethed, and his face dared him to justify his comment.
"You really think that this is what we wanted?" He stepped even closer to his father, and only inches separated them now. "What about Danielle? She's twenty years old, Dad. Twenty. Are you really going to let her do this for the rest of her life? You're seriously going to let her and Dean get themselves killed over this stupid job? What kind of father are you?!"
Danielle scoffed, and she toyed with the idea of saying something. There was a certain level that she wouldn't take, and being dragged into a fight that was nothing to do with her was something she couldn't stand, but she let it go. She said nothing. Because, frankly, the last place she wanted to be was caught in the middle of one of Dad and Sam's arguments. She had seen Dean get into that position before, and it never ended well. For anyone. There was no talking them down when they were so riled up at each other, it was pointless to try. They all knew it.
"Don't bring your brother and sister into this." John snapped.
"And what about Mom?" Sam pushed. "You think that this is the life she would have wanted for us? What do you think she'd say if she could see us now? If she could see how we'd turned out?!"
Danielle closed her eyes and she took a short breath, because things were getting way out of hand. Fast. She felt Dean's arm tighten around her at the mention of their mother, and his fingertips were digging into her ribs slightly.
"Don't you dare, Sam." John warned him, furious. His tone was low, livid.
It was at that point that Sam seemed to realize that he'd crossed a line, but he said nothing about it, he simply shook his head. "I'm done with this." he stated, blunt. "You are not controlling me anymore." He took a step back and just stared at him for a long moment, but the deep frown on his face never faded.
"You walk out that door, Sam, don't you ever come back." he warned. This time, he looked serious, and they all knew there that he wasn't kidding around anymore. It wasn't something he had said in anger, he meant it.
Sam shrugged, but there was a look on his face that proved the words had hurt. But he didn't comment, he simply reached down and picked up his bags and he offered him one last look. "I'm out of here." he muttered. He stormed towards the front door of the motel, but something stopped him. He paused, and he turned to his siblings. "If you two had any sense you'd both do the same."
He gave one last look to his family before he turned and left the room. The door slammed closed behind him, and the sound left them all in a tense silence.
No one spoke. No one breathed. No one dared to.
Danielle glanced towards their father, and she shook her head slowly. She loved him, she did, but there was no denying that this time he had taken things too far. She understood why he had gotten mad, and she wasn't prepared to make excuses for anything that Sam had said to him, but she couldn't believe that he was really going to stand there so calmly and let his son walk away forever without making any attempt to stop him. She pulled herself free of Dean's hold and made a move towards the door after her brother.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" John called after her, and there was a distinct fear to his words that came through the anger, as though he thought that she was about to leave them, too.
Danielle simply glared at him, but she didn't have the guts to look at her brother, and she walked out of the room.
Sam was standing on the side of the parking lot, and it was clear that he was waiting for his cab. She stopped for a moment and looked on at him, and it occurred to her how wrong everything just seemed to be with their family. It wasn't fair. Most teenagers in his position would have spent their last few minutes with their families, they would be told that they were going to be missed, that their parents were nothing but proud of them, Sam didn't get that. Sam never would.
"Hey." she called towards him, and the sound made him jump. "You just gonna leave without saying goodbye?"
Sam's face softened as she approached, and there was a look of sorrow in his eyes. "Dan, I'm sorry." he told her, and he sighed. "I didn't think it'd get so..." He paused, and he shook his head. "Out of hand."
Danielle shook her head, as if to say that it didn't matter anymore. "I'm not angry, Sam." she stated. Her voice was soft, forgiving, and everything that their dad's hadn't been. "I'm gonna miss you."
Sam nodded, and the smallest smile came to his face. He took a short step towards her and pulled her into a hug. Tears built up in her eyes, because she knew that it was the last time they were going to see each other for a long, long while.
"Me, too." Sam said, and his arms tightened around her. She was so small in his arms, and there had been a time when there hadn't been much of a height difference between them. He pulled back to face her, and he smiled. "Look after yourself, sis."
Danielle nodded. "You better stay in touch, you hear me?"
"Promise." He glanced back as a cab pulled up across the street, and he looked back to her, apologetic. "I gotta go."
Danielle took a step back from him. "Bye, Sammy." She offered a smile. "Good luck."
Palo Alto, California — Stanford — 02:43 AM.
"Danielle."
There was a deep voice calling her name, and whoever it was sounded as though they were off in the distance somewhere. She couldn't quite make out where.
"Dani."
They spoke it again, this time a little louder, and she felt someone run a hand through the front of her hair. Their touch was gentle, and the blonde locks were brushed from her face.
"Danielle!"
This time it was a yell, and all aspects of softness and patience were gone. She startled awake at the sound, and her forehead almost collided with Dean's as she shot up.
"What?" she muttered, annoyed.
It was dark outside, and it occurred to her at she didn't even remember falling asleep. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and looked out of the window ahead. Dean had stopped driving, but, where they were, she didn't know. She frowned and straightened herself in her seat, and Dean's leather jacket fell off her as she did. She smiled a little, because it had obviously been him who had draped it over her while she had been sleeping. For all the front he put on, it was the little things he did that proved how much he cared.
"We're here." he stated, and he nodded over towards the block of apartments before them. It crossed her mind to ask him how he even knew where their brother lived, but she decided against it. "What were you dreaming about, anyway?"
Danielle frowned at him, and she was still slightly disorientated from sleep. "What?"
"You were mumbling in your sleep." he told her, and the concern came through in his words. "Everything alright?"
Danielle's mind wandered back to the dream she'd had, and she shook her head. It had been about that night, the one where Sam had walked out. It wasn't a conversation that she wanted to get into, especially not there. Not when they were about to face him again after so long apart.
"It's fine, Dean." she offered. "I'm good."
But Dean seemed skeptical about her response.
"Why are we here at this time, anyway?" she asked him, before he had the chance to say anything more about it. It was a clear attempt at changing the subject, but he didn't comment. "Shouldn't we have gotten a motel and called back at a more, I don't know, human time? No one's gonna be up at this time."
Dean simply rolled his eyes at her, and she didn't miss the smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You're so cute." he remarked. He climbed from the car and slammed the door closed behind himself.
Danielle heaved a sigh and followed his lead, because what more could she do at that point? She was more than content with allowing him to take the lead on this one, because, honestly, she wanted no part of it. She headed towards the building, but she realized that he wasn't following. He was headed in the opposite direction.
"Dude," she called. "What are you doing? The door's this way."
Dean chuckled, and his response was simple. "Like you said, it's almost three in the morning, everyone's gonna be asleep."
"Yeah, which is why we go and knock on his door, not break into his place like you're obviously planning on doing." she reasoned, but her protests seemed to fall upon deaf ears and he continued on his way.
"Come on, Dani," He threw her a grin. "Where's the fun in knocking on the door?"
Danielle shook her head in defeat, and, reluctant, she followed. "Fine." she muttered. "But, if he kills us, it's on you."
"You say that so much, Dan, it's lost all meaning." he remarked. "When have I ever pitched us a bad plan?"
She shot him a look, incredulous. "Do you really want an honest answer to that?"
Dean chuckled, and he nodded at her to follow him over the parking lot towards the back of the building.
Danielle wasn't ready for this. At all. Her mind once again drifted back to that night four years ago, the one when he had walked out. It was a night they had promised they would always be fine, that nothing would change. But nothing since then had been fine between them. It had been about as far from fine as they could have gotten. Things had changed between them, between all of them. That night had been the point that everything had gone downhill between them and Sam. They hadn't known it at the time, but the promises of staying in touch and always being there for each other were never destined to last. They were drifting apart even back then, and they hadn't even realized it. Every step that Sam had taken towards college and every step that Dean and Danielle had taken towards hunting had been a step away from each other. It had been tearing them apart, and they had never noticed until that night. Since then, it had been Dean and Danielle against the world.
"Relax." Dean muttered. "You're over-thinking this."
Danielle looked to him, confused, and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
They climbed the metal stairs at the back of the building, and she had to trust that he knew which room he was headed to.
"You're thinking too much." he told her again, and he glanced back as she followed him. "Just, chill out. Whatever happens, happens."
Dean came to a stop outside of a window, and he shrugged at her. It was now or never. The window was open in a matter of seconds, and he climbed through it first. The room they stepped into was dark, and it was hard to see anything in front of them.
Dean headed further inside, as though he actually had some idea of what he was doing, but Danielle didn't move from where she stood beside the window. There was a distinct bang from somewhere ahead of her, and she heard Dean swear under his breath.
"Really, Dean?" she hissed. "Why couldn't we just knock on the door."
"You, shut up." he threw back. "Maybe help me find a light-switch instead of just standing there looking pretty."
Danielle opened her mouth to respond, but she stopped. There was a dark figure standing in the doorway, and she knew that it wasn't Dean. Her stomach dropped. They moved fast, faster than she could anticipate, and they grabbed a firm hold of Dean by the shoulders from behind. It was an attack that was easily blocked by the eldest Winchester. He turned and shoved the man hard in the chest, and the taller man went still as Dean moved through a strip of light that came from the window. Dean took full advantage of that and had him on the floor in a matter of seconds, pinned beneath him.
"Whoa, easy, tiger." Dean remarked, and there was a cocky grin on his face.
Sam frowned up at him, and there was nothing but confusion etched into his features. "Dean?!" he breathed out, and Dean could have laughed at the level of shock that came through in his words. "You scared the crap out of me."
"That's 'cause you're out of practice." Dean quipped.
Sam huffed at him, maybe in annoyance, maybe in amusement, before he grabbed a firm hold of his brother. The heel of his foot slammed down into his spine, and he easily flipped them over and pinned his elder brother to the floor, smug.
"Or not." Dean muttered, and he sounded mildly surprised. "Get off me."
Sam rolled off him, and he pulled Dean up with him to stand. They stood and stared at each other for a long moment, and nothing was said. For a moment, Dean was more surprised than anything. His brother looked exactly the same as he had done when he had left that night. He was just bigger. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting to find there, but the thought that his brother was still the same was somewhat comforting. Maybe it meant that things hadn't changed as much between them as his sister seemed to think. Or maybe that was a naive idea to have.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam asked, and there was a frown on his face that proved he wasn't in the mood to mess around.
"Well," Dean shrugged, and a smile cracked at his lips. "We were looking for a beer."
"We?" That seemed to take Sam by surprise, and Dean noted the change in his face. There was only one person that he could have been referring to. "Where—" But he stopped as his eyes fell to the girl standing behind his brother. "Danielle."
Danielle nodded in way of acknowledgement. "Sam."
There was no emotion in her voice, at all, and all Sam could do was stare at her for a long moment. The girl who stood there looked nothing like the girl he had said goodbye to four years ago. Through the dim light that shone through the open window, he barely recognized the girl who stood before him. She looked so much older. So much had changed in her and he couldn't even put his finger on what it was. He had to wonder just how much he had missed out on while he had been gone.
But the frown quickly returned to his face, and he tore his eyes away from his sister. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked again, and he clearly hadn't been satisfied with the answer he had gotten the first time.
"Okay," Dean held up his hands as if to tell him to calm down. "Alright, we've gotta talk."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Uh, the phone?" he pushed, sarcastic.
Danielle scoffed behind them, and both Sam and Dean glanced towards her at the sound. Sam looked nothing but confused, as if he didn't understand what the issue could be, and that only annoyed her more. It wasn't even the fact that he had ignored so many phone calls from them, it was as though he couldn't even remember doing it, as though it had meant nothing to him at the time.
"And, if we'd have called, would you have picked up?" Dean asked him pointedly.
Before Sam had the chance to answer, before he even had time to think up a response, the light flicked on above them, and they all turned towards the girl who now stood in the doorway to the room.
"Sam?" she pressed, and there was a small frown on her face, curious.
"Jess, hey." Sam seemed mildly surprised, or maybe it was that he had been caught out in something he didn't want her to see, and he cleared his throat, awkward. "Uh, Dean, Danielle, this is my girlfriend, Jessica." he introduced her.
Danielle offered a soft smile, somewhat apologetic to the fact that they had crashed into their home at such an unreasonable time, but Dean didn't seem at all concerned about that. He threw an appreciative nod in her direction, and a grin formed on his face.
"Wait, your brother and sister?" Jess smiled brightly as she looked between them, and she stepped further into the room.
Sam gave a slow nod, anything but happy about it, and Dean took a step further towards her. The grin only seemed to widen on his face as he looked her over slowly, and the small pajamas she wore did nothing to halt his smirk.
He gestured towards her tight t-shirt, and he nodded. "I love the smurfs." he commented, and his tone was playful. "You know, I gotta tell you... you are completely out of my brother's league."
Danielle rolled her eyes at the complete lack of shame in flirting so mercilessly with his brother's girlfriend. But Sam looked a lot less amused than anyone else.
Jess chuckled, as though nervous, and she glanced between him and Sam. "Just, let me put something on."
"No, no, no, I wouldn't dream of it." Dean quipped. "Seriously." He turned back towards Sam, but his eyes never left her. "Anyway, we gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family stuff, but, uh, nice meeting you."
Sam looked up at that, and he appeared to be getting more and more annoyed by the second. "No." he stated, blunt. His gaze flickered between him and Danielle slowly. "No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her." He moved to stand beside her, and his arm wrapped around her shoulders, as if to prove a point.
Dean glanced back towards his sister, and he raised an eyebrow as if to ask her for some kind of help. But all she could do was shrug, and it was a clear indication that he was on his own. He turned back to their brother, and his face suggested that he knew Sam to be being difficult just for the sake of it. Maybe he wasn't even surprised.
"Uh, okay." Dean nodded. "Dad hasn't been home in a few days." he stated simply, and his eyes fixed to Sam to pin any kind of reaction.
There wasn't one. Sam didn't appear at all phased by the comment, and his expression remained stony. "Yeah, he hasn't been home in a few days more than once before." he muttered, impassive. "He'll stumble back in sooner or later."
Danielle shook her head at him, incredulous, and Sam didn't miss it. Four years and he was still butting heads with their dad. And she was done with it. She stepped forwards, and her face was serious. "Sam, Dad's on a hunting trip." she clarified, earnest. "And he hasn't been home in a few days."
Sam's expression completely changed at that, and he looked between the two of them slowly. "Jess, excuse us." he muttered, but his attention never left his siblings. He didn't look happy. "We have to go outside."
Danielle and Dean shared a look between themselves, and it was clear that they were about as lost as each other with the statement. They followed Sam's lead as he headed out of the room towards the door, and he pulled it open forcefully. They followed him down the hallway, and towards a flight of stairs. Danielle dropped to the back, because she had absolutely no desire to be the one to have this argument with Sam, but Dean looked more than prepared for it.
They came to the bottom of the stairs, and Sam pushed though the doors to the street. He rounded on them before they had chance to process much of anything. "Alright, whatever this is, it's not gonna happen." he snapped.
Dean shook his head, incredulous. "Sam—"
"No." Sam stopped him. "I mean, come on, you can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you."
"You're not hearing me, Sam." Dean countered. "Dad's missing. We need you to help us find him."
Sam scoffed. "You remember the poltergeist in Amherst?" he pushed. "Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine."
"Yeah, well, not for this long." he countered. "It's been weeks, Sam. So, are you gonna come with us, or not?"
Sam narrowed his eyes, and he seemed to consider the idea. It wasn't like their dad to go off for so long without a phone call to say that he was alive, at least. And Dean knew that their brother had to know that somewhere deep down.
But Sam shook his head. "I'm not."
Dean's brow furrowed. "Why not?"
"I swore that I was done hunting, Dean." he rebuked. "For good."
"Oh, come on, Sam." he challenged. "It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad."
Sam huffed, as though the thought of it not being that bad amused him. "When I told dad that I was scared of the thing in my closet he gave me a forty-five."
Danielle scoffed. The amount of times that she had heard that same statement from her brother was ridiculous. She could have given over a hundred different responses to it by now, but she remained silent.
"Well, what was he supposed to do?" Dean retorted.
"I was nine years old!" Sam pushed. "He was supposed to say, don't be afraid of the dark."
"Don't be afraid of the dark?" Dean repeated, a note of disbelief in his tone. "Are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there."
"Yeah, I know, but still. The way we grew up, after Mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her. It wasn't right."
Dean turned from him, and he looked out over the street for a moment. That was an argument that he refused to get into.
"And, you know, we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find."
Dean nodded in way of agreement. "We save a lot of people doing it, too." he stated.
Sam paused, and he shook his head. "And, what about Danielle? Hm?"
Danielle raised an eyebrow. It was like he had only just remembered that she was with them, so, naturally, what was the first thing he did? He used her as an argument. He wasn't making it any easier for her to let go of everything that had happened. At that point, a part of her wanted nothing more than to call it a loss and drag Dean back to the Impala.
"What about Danielle?" Dean challenged, defensive.
"Do you really think that the way we grew up was healthy for her?" he pushed. "For any of us? Dean, we were brainwashed into this life."
"There is nothing wrong with Danielle." he told him, blunt, and his tone came across a little more forceful than necessary. "And, for the record, none of us were brainwashed. Dani and I chose this life."
"You think that mom would have wanted this for us?" he went on, and he wasn't backing down, that was clear. "The weapons training, and melting silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors."
"So, what are you gonna do?" he pushed, and his tone matched Sam's easily. "What, just live some normal apple-pie life? Is that it?"
"No," Sam shook his head. "Not normal. Safe."
"And that's why you ran away." Dean concluded. He nodded his head to himself slowly. "Wow."
"I was just going to college." Sam argued, defensive. "It was dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone. That's what I'm doing."
"Yeah, well, dad is in real trouble right now, if he's not dead already. I can feel it." he implored. "We can't do this alone."
Danielle shot him a look, and she once again considered the idea of finally getting involved. They all knew damn well that she and Dean could have done their job fine without their brother. They had done for years. But, once again, she kept her mouth shut, and she folded her arms over her chest, because she wasn't going to get involved. Not a chance.
"Yes, you can." Sam muttered.
"Yeah, well, we don't want to." he countered. His voice was quiet, as though it had taken a lot to admit that.
Dean refused to look anywhere near his sister at that comment, as though he didn't want to incite her to comment.
Sam's eyes flickered between them both. Danielle looked nowhere but the damp ground at her feet, because she knew that Sam wasn't stupid. He knew that statement meant one thing; Dean didn't want them doing it alone anymore, he didn't for a second believe that statement extended to her. He heaved a sigh, and he looked down for a moment.
Dean looked on at him, expectant, and raised his eyebrows.
"What was he hunting?" he eventually asked.
That comment seemed to perk Dean up a little, and a relived smile came to his face. He nodded at his brother to follow him to where the Impala was parked further into the lot, and Sam didn't argue. They approached the car, and Sam took the time to wonder just how long they had been driving around in it. When he had left, it had been their dad's pride and joy, so why had he given it up to them? Dean opened the trunk, and he pushed up the bottom of it to reveal the spare compartment beneath it. There were so many weapons in there he couldn't even take note. There was something in there to kill anything and everything that he had ever heard of. And then some.
"Alright, let's see..." Dean muttered, more to himself than either of them. "Hey, Dani, where did I put the thing.. with.. the thing..."
Danielle shot him a confused look, as though to ask how she was supposed to know what he was talking about. "Probably right next to your brain." she pondered, and he looked up to face her. "Oh, wait, now you'll never find it."
Dean narrowed his eyes, as if to say that he'd take her challenge, and the smallest smirk crossed his face. "Do you wanna go back in the trunk?" he asked her, and he offered her a smile. "Because I am more than happy to lock you back in there."
"You ever even think about putting me in that trunk again and I will kill you." she retorted. "You almost went to prison for that."
Dean barked a laugh. "What, because one old lady called the cops and said she'd seen me carry you over the parking lot and lock you in a trunk?" he remarked. "Yeah, I don't think that one holds up in court, Dan."
"Hey, it could have been a kidnapping for all she knew." she snapped. "You probably scared that poor woman to death."
"No, you know what probably scared her to death? You screaming at the top of your lungs like you thought I was gonna murder you." he countered. "You've always been dramatic."
Danielle rolled her eyes at him. "Don't even talk to me." she huffed. "Or maybe you'll end up in the trunk. You know, if you and your ego can both fit in there."
"Oh, Dan," He shook his head. "You've never been funny."
"And you've never been observant." she countered, and he frowned. She pointed towards the tape recorder right in front of his face. "Like I said, you wouldn't survive a day without me, bro."
Sam glanced between them, but he didn't comment. There was something so natural about the way they bickered between each other, and it reminded him of how they had been when they had been teenagers. Honestly, he had missed it. And it was only now that he was realizing just how much he had truly missed being around them.
"So, when dad left, why didn't you go with him?" he asked, curious, and the question seemed to pull them back from their argument.
"We were working our own gig." Dean said lightly. "This, uh, voodoo thing. Down in New Orleans. You should have seen how Dani took down this witch. Man, it was impressive."
Sam raised an eyebrow, as though surprised. "Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourselves?"
"I'm twenty-six, dude." he muttered. "And, besides, I'm perfectly capable of keeping Danielle alive. And, you know, she's not as useless as she looks." He chuckled. "We make a pretty good team. We've been taking more hunts without him lately. He's cool with it."
Sam frowned. "So, what makes you so sure that something is wrong?" he pushed. "Maybe he's just leaving you both to it."
Dean shook his head. "No, it's more than that." He pulled a folder from the trunk, and he took out the papers that were inside it. "Dad was checking out this two-lane black-top thing just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy," He paused and handed one of the papers to Sam; a missing poster. "They found his car, but he'd vanished. Completely MIA."
Sam glanced down at the next paper Dean handed him, a printout of a newspaper article. Centennial Highway Disappearance. His eyes skimmed the article, barely reading more than he needed to, and he looked back to Dean.
"So, maybe he was kidnapped?" Sam suggested, and there wasn't an ounce of concern in his face.
"Yeah, well, here's another one in April." Dean tossed down another sheet of paper for each date he mentioned. "Another one in December 04, 03, 98, 92, ten of them over the past twenty years." He reached out and took the papers back from his brother before shoving them all back into the folder. "All men, all the same five mile stretch of road."
Sam narrowed his eyes, and he still didn't seem to be taking him seriously.
"Just, show him the tape, Dean." Danielle insisted, exasperated. "That'll make him understand."
Sam shot her a look, as if to ask her what the problem was. The tone she used wasn't one that he knew her to have. She sounded pissed, impatient, angry, and he noticed it was a tone she seemed to have reserved only for him, never for Dean.
But Dean continued before Sam had the chance to call her on it. "Anyway, it started happening more and more, so dad went to dig around. That was about three weeks ago, we hadn't heard anything from him since. Which was bad enough. Then, yesterday, I get this voicemail." He took the tape recorder that Danielle had pointed out to him and pressed play.
The message that played through the speakers was muffled, static, and it gave Danielle chills every time she heard it.
"Dean," Their dad's voice came through the speakers. It didn't sound like him. He sounded concerned, worried, maybe even afraid. There was no confidence to the strong voice they were all so accustomed to. "Something big is starting to happen... I need to try and figure out what's going on... it may... I... look out for your sister... be very careful... both of you... we're all in danger..."
Dean glanced towards his brother as he stopped the tape, and there was an expectant frown on his face.
"You know there's EVP on that, right?" he stated.
"Not bad, Sammy," Dean quipped. "Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?"
Sam simply shook his head, and it was clear that he wasn't prepared to start joking around with them.
"Alright," Dean caved. "So, we slowed the message down, ran it through a gold wave, took the hiss out, and this is what we got."
He pressed the play button again, and this time the sound of a woman's voice came through. "I can never go home." It was an eerie whisper, like something out of a horror movie.
"Never go home." Sam pondered.
Dean dropped the tape recorder back into the trunk of the car, and he slammed it closed. He turned to lean again the edge, and Danielle did the same. Suddenly, Sam felt as though he was being spotlighted. Their expressions matched each other's perfectly, the way they sat, arms folded over their chests and heads tilted slightly to one side, mirrored the others without fault. They each raised an eyebrow at him, the same one. He had to wonder how unintentional it really was. If he hadn't known better, he would have said that it was a rehearsed gimmick.
"You know," Dean looked up at him. "Four years, Sam, we've never bothered you, we've never asked you for a thing. We need help."
Sam looked away from them both, and his eyes were fixed to the ground. "Alright," He sighed. "I'll go." There was a clear reluctance to his tone that neither of them missed. "I'll help you find him. But I gotta be back first thing Monday. Just... Wait here."
Dean frowned as he turned away from them. "What's first thing Monday?" he called.
Sam turned back to them at the question. "I have this," He paused, and he shrugged, as though awkward. "I have an interview."
"What, a job interview?" Dean shrugged it off. "Skip it."
"It's a law school interview." he rebuked. "And it's my whole future on a plate."
"Law school?" Dean raised an eyebrow, and a smirk came to his face.
But Sam ignored him. "We got a deal, or not?"
Dean didn't answer him, and they seemed to continued their conversation without words for a moment. Sam eventually took a step back, and he headed back towards the building before them.
"I can't believe that you're doing this." Danielle muttered, and she pushed herself up from the trunk.
Dean frowned at her, and he watched as she climbed into the passenger side of the car. Was she really pissed at him? Already? He wasn't even sure what he had done. Curious, he moved from where he sat and climbed into the car beside her.
"I'll bite." he remarked. "You can't believe I'm doing what?"
"You know what." she muttered, but he didn't appear to be following. "You can't just drag him back into this. He doesn't want it."
"Look, Dani," He sighed. "I get that you're still mad at him, but—"
"How I feel about Sam right now has nothing to do with this." she stopped him, abrupt. "He got out of this life once, we shouldn't be here to drag him back into it. It's not fair."
Dean shook his head. "Like he said, he's back Monday." he offered. "It's just a weekend."
"It's never just a weekend, Dean." she countered, and her tone was low. "You know that just as well as I do."
Dean sighed, and he chose not to answer that.
Danielle shook her head at him, and she looked away. None of this was fair. She looked over towards the apartments, and she knew that Sam was up there more than likely lying to his girlfriend about where he was going, about what was really going on with their dad. That wasn't fair, either. He had walked away once, and he was happy, or, at least, he seemed to be. If something went wrong, if anything happened between now and Monday, Sam was never going to forgive them. And, more than that, they would never forgive themselves. She had the darkest feeling, something was going to happen. And it wasn't going to end well.
"Dan?" Dean glanced towards her when she said nothing. "Look, we'll get through this weekend, alright?" His voice was soft, apologetic. "You and me. We'll get through it, we'll find dad, we'll take Sam home, and he'll be safe. Before you know it we'll be right back to hunting together and living our lives. It's just a weekend."
Danielle nodded, but there wasn't much confidence behind it. "I'll hold you to that." she muttered.
It was going to be an interesting couple of days.