Thicker Than Blood
Chapter 1: The Beginning
In 1985, John Winchester worked one of his first solo cases on his own in South Dakota. Sam was 2 years old and Dean was 6 years old at that time. They were staying with Pastor Jim because Sam had started preschool. John didn't want them moving around so much while they were that young.
John went to Rapid City, South Dakota to meet with an old friend of Pastor Jim and fellow hunter Bobby Singer to get information about a local rundown hospital that had several reports of teenagers dying on the property.
After looking at the information Bobby had for him and realizing it was a spirit of a nurse who worked at the hospital in the 50s, John salted and burned the bones of the nurse before any other kids got hurt.
Bobby informed John of another supernatural case two towns over that he needed help with. This started the long friendship and partnership between the two hunters.
While working the case, John talked to witnesses of a strange animal attacks. One witness in particular, he could not stop thinking about the whole week he stayed in town. Her name was Rachel Hawthorne. She saw her best friend get mauled by a wild animal. She luckily survived.
They found proof that the wild animal was a rare skin walker that could turn into large man eating creatures. After finding and killing the skin walker, Bobby went back home and John decided to stay another week.
John had a strange connection to Rachel. Probably because they both lost someone they loved and they wanted to find answers. They both could understand each other.
After spending a hot, heavy week with each other; John got a phone call from Pastor Jim. Sam had caught some really bad cold and he thought John should come back to see his kids.
John said his goodbyes to Rachel. He never told her that he had two young children or about the supernatural world. Though she did know from the animal attacks in town that there was a whole other world out there, she just never asked about it.
John still wasn't over his Mary. How could someone after what he went through. What he had with Rachel was an empty relationship. She understood she would most likely never see him again.
John was keeping secrets from her, but Rachel was also keeping a secret from him. She didn't know about it until a month later when she found out she was pregnant.