Brothers
By Ammie Hawk
Disclaimer: Nope.
AN: Okay, so this chapter was already written when I posted the Prologue, so I figured I should get it up, and get to the crux of the matter. Anyway, hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1
Harry pulled up outside a grey two story house in Lawrence, Kansas. He consulted the stack of letters in the passenger seat of the rental car he'd gotten upon arriving in Kansas City. The address matched. He took a deep breath as he got out of the car and began making his way up the walk to the porch. He hesitated for just a moment before knocking on the closed portal.
A moment later, the door opened to reveal a pretty blonde woman, though she looked too young to be his mother.
"Yes?" she asked curiously.
"I'm sorry to bother you," he shook his head to clear his thoughts, "but I'm looking for John and Mary Winchester."
"I'm sorry," she gave him a sad look, "but they don't live here anymore."
"Oh," his face fell slightly. "You wouldn't happen to know where they moved to, would you?"
"Unfortunately, I don't," she shook her head. "I just moved here from Wichita."
"I'm really sorry to have bothered you," he ran his hand through his hair. "It was really a long shot that they'd be here, so I'm sorry I wasted your time."
He turned to head back to his car, only to come face to face with two men. It took him a moment to realize that they were standing on the step leading up to the porch, making them easily a head taller than him. Which was really not fair if you asked him.
"Uh, excuse me," he said as he slipped between them.
He had only made it a few paces when he heard them introduce themselves. He whirled around. But was too late, as they had followed the blonde into the house. He decided to wait until they came back out to see if they'd talk to him.
About fifteen minutes later, the pair reemerged from the house and made their way to the black '67 Chevy Impala parked across the street. Taking another calming breath, he got out of his car and jogged across the street after them.
"Excuse me," he called when he was almost to them. "I know you don't know me, and I don't know you, but I couldn't help overhearing you earlier. Are you the Winchesters?"
"What's it to you, kid?" the shorter of the two shot back as he leaned against the open driver's side door.
"Well," he licked his lips nervously, "I'm actually here looking for someone, and if you are, maybe you could help me. Her name's Mary Winchester."
"Look, kid, you're barking up the wrong tree, she's dead," the man pursed his lips in a scowl.
"What? No, that can't be," Harry began to panic slightly, he couldn't have come all this way just for them to be gone too. "Okay. Okay, what about John? John Winchester?"
"Why do you want to know?" the other asked, leaning on the roof of the car.
"Well, you see," he fidgeted slightly, "Mary Winchester is… was my mother."
"Prove it," the first demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Okay," the bespectacled man nodded. "I can do that. I just have to run back to my car," he motioned across the street. "Please don't leave."
As he took off across the street, the taller of the pair turned an incredulous stare at the other. "Dude, what the hell?"
"Look, Sammy," green eyes turned to meet hazel, "there's no way in hell he's got actual proof that he's mom's kid. He's what? Fifteen? Sixteen tops? At best, he's got forged documents, though I have no clue what he's set to gain by that. At worst, he's some kinda nasty trying to get to us or Dad and we'll have to waste him."
"I guess," Sammy sighed. "I just don't like it, Dean. First, this case that brings us home, and now this kid. Something's up, Dean."
"I'm not sayin' I don't agree with you," Dean shook his head. "We just gotta treat this like any other case."
He cut off as the dark haired man returned, clutching a letter in his hand.
"Here," he handed it to Dean.
The elder brother took it and quickly read through it. Once he was finished, he handed it to Sam, while he continued to examine the envelope. His eyes widened marginally when he read the post mark dated July 15, 1981. That would make this kid older than Sammy.
"I want that back, please," Harry's voice cut into their confused thoughts. "It's all I have."
"Oh, yeah, sure," Sam handed back the letter as Dean handed over the envelope. "So, you're Harry?"
"Yeah," he shook his head. "So do you know how I can reach John?"
"Nope, can't help ya there, kid," Dean shook his head.
"Well," Harry sighed and pulled out another piece of paper, "here's my cell number, please let me know if you hear anything. Or if you just want to talk Dean," his eyes darted between the pair, unsure which one was his brother.
Dean took the paper and finally got in the car, crumpling it slightly and letting it fall to the floor. He started the engine as Sam got into the passenger seat. He took off, leaving the other man standing in the street. As they drove, they continued talking about the case, both silently agreeing to leave the matter of their supposed brother alone for the time being. He finally pulled into a gas station.
"I'll be right back," Dean said after more discussion, and he had filled the tank. "I gotta use the bathroom."
He walked away from the car and his brother. After turning the corner, he stopped next to the bathroom and pulled out his cellphone. Making sure the coast was clear, he dialed a number.
~This is John Winchester. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean at 866-907-3235.~
"Dad?" he said after the tone. "I know I've left you messages before. I don't even know if you get 'em." He cleared his throat. "But I'm with Sam. And we're in Lawrence. And there's somethin' in our old house. I don't know what to do. And there's more, there's a guy here asking about you and Mom. Said he was Mom's son. So, whatever you're doin', if you could get here. Please. I need your help, Dad."
He hung up and quickly composed himself before making his way back to the car. Without a word, he got in and went off in search of a motel. They were unloading the car when Dean's phone began ringing. He pulled it out and stared incredulously at the caller I.D.
"Who is it?" Sam asked curiously.
"Dad," the elder shook his head, before flipping the phone open. "Dad?"
~Dean,~ John Winchester's voice filled his ear, ~where is Harry now?~
"Wait, this is about the kid?" he asked in disbelief. "I tell you something might be in our old house and you're worried about a kid who claims to have a connection with us?"
~Answer the question, Dean,~ John demanded.
"I don't know," he scowled darkly. "We left him at the old house."
~Tell me you have a way to get a hold of him.~
"He left a cellphone number," Dean answered.
~Good,~ his father acknowledged. ~You call him and find him. Then you call me. Once you have your brother, then you work the case. Family comes first.~
With that the line went dead. Green eyes glared at the device before flipping it closed and throwing it on one of the beds. His younger brother stared at him in confusion.
"You called Dad?"
"Yeah," he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "I wanted help on the case, as well as answers about the kid."
"Okay…" Sam pressed. "And he called back because of Harry?"
"Yeah," green eyes rolled in annoyance. "He wants us to find him. Where is that number anyway?" he began patting his pockets.
"Here," the taller of the two pulled it out of his coat pocket.
"So," he continued, taking the paper, "I'll go find the kid, you go see what you can find on the case."
"Are you sure?" Sam asked, confused.
"You didn't hear Dad," Dean shook his head. "At least I'm willing to continue with the case as well as search for our brother."
"So, he is our brother?" a brow rose in disbelief.
"If you'd heard Dad's reaction you wouldn't argue," the older brother scoffed. "Besides, I didn't give the kid's name, but Dad knew exactly who I was talking about. Anyway, you go find out what you can and I'll catch up with you once I find the kid."
"Okay," Sam sighed, picking up the keys to the Impala. "Have Harry meet you here, and you can use his car."
"Yeah, yeah," the shorter of the pair scowled. "One scratch and I'll kill you myself."
As soon as his brother had left, he picked up his phone and flipped it open. He stared between it and the number for almost a full minute before finally punching in the number. He took a deep breath, wishing he had a drink, as it began to ring. He was just about to hang up when the line finally connected.
~Hello?~
"Uh, hi, uh, Harry? It's Dean," he answered nervously.
~Dean,~ the other sounded surprised. ~Uh, look, I'm sorry about earlier. I probably shouldn't have come. I don't really know what I was thinking. But you don't have to worry, I'm getting a flight back to London as soon as I can, and you never have to see me again.~
"No, don't," he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Look, you caught us off guard earlier. But I called Dad and he wants to talk to you."
~He does?~ Harry asked, confused.
"Yeah," Dean nodded. "So, uh, if you could come to where I'm staying, I'll call him and you can talk to him. I would offer to meet you somewhere, but Sammy took the car so I'm kinda stuck."
~Okay, where are you staying?~
He gave the name of the motel.
~What room number?~ even though he couldn't see him he could tell the other man was frowning.
He rattled off the room number almost automatically. As soon as he finished there was a loud rapping on the door. Green eyes shot warily to the closed portal.
~Dean, open the door,~ there was a weird sort of echo from both the phone and outside. ~It's Harry.~
Dean slowly got to his feet and pulled his gun from his waistband, before making his way to the door. It seemed a bit too quick for the other to have arrived, unless he was following them, or worse.
Keeping the gun hidden, he eased the door open just a crack. Sure enough, the messy haired, bespectacled young man from earlier was standing on the other side.
"How'd you get here so fast?" Dean frowned.
"It's not like it's magic, Dean," Harry chuckled as he pulled the phone away from his ear. "It's the only motel in town. I'm staying two rooms down."
"Uh, right," the older male scratched his neck a bit sheepishly. "Uh, well, come on in."
He opened the door further, keeping the hand holding the gun out of sight. The shorter man nodded slightly as he stepped into the room. As soon as his back was fully to Dean, the hunter surreptitiously slipped the gun back into his pants.
"So, uh, have a seat," he motioned to the small table in the room. "I'll call Dad. He doesn't usually answer right away, so this could take awhile."
"O-okay," Harry took a seat in one of the chairs.
Dean nodded and pulled his phone out again. He quickly located his dad's number and hit the call button. He was expecting it to go to voicemail as it usually did, so it surprised him when it was picked up on the second ring.
~Dean, is Harry there?~
"Yeah, he's here," he cleared his throat to hide his surprise. "Dad, what's going on?"
~Give him the phone,~ John demanded, completely ignoring the question.
"Dad."
~Give Harry the phone, Dean, I won't ask again.~
Dean gave a growl of frustration as he pulled the device away from his ear and held it out to the other, "He wants to talk to you."
"Oh, uh, okay," Harry took the phone and placed it to his ear. "Hello?"
~God, boy, it's good to hear your voice,~ John took a deep breath. ~I'm John, Mary's husband.~
"Uh, hi, I'm Harry, Harry Potter," he fumbled slightly. "Look, I'm sorry I dropped in like this. It seems like it's a bad time."
~No, don't apologize. I'm glad you're there. In fact, it's actually really lucky you caught the boys, they were just passing through. See, we don't live in Lawrence anymore, haven't since Mary died.~
"I was sorry to hear about that," green eyes closed as tears stung at the back of his eyes. "Do you mind my asking what happened?"
~I don't want to discuss that over the phone,~ John said evenly. ~If you stay with Sam and Dean, I'm sure we'll meet up sometime soon. We can discuss it then. And we can talk about what happened to you too. Cause when we found out what happened to James and Lily and you weren't brought immediately to us, we assumed you were dead too.~
"Yeah," Harry agreed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "But it seems like you are in the middle of something. I don't want to impose, so maybe it'd be best if I go home and wait for a better time."
~No, you stay with Sam and Dean,~ he insisted. ~I'm sure we'll meet up soon. I'm not losing you again, kid. Mary wouldn't have wanted that. Now, give the phone to Dean, and I'll get everything squared away.~
"Fine," Harry sighed, pulling the phone away from his ear and holding it out to his brother. "He wants to talk to you."
Dean took the phone back and put it to his ear, moving to the door so he could step outside and have a semblance of privacy.
"Dad, what the hell?" he hissed quietly. "This kid could be any number of things, and you're just blindly going to accept that he's Mom's long lost kid?"
~Hell no, I wasn't born yesterday,~ John snapped. ~There were only five people in the whole world who knew about Harry's connection to Mary, and four of them are dead. So you do whatever tests you can think of to prove he's not something else. Just, Dean, be subtle. Don't hurt him if you can help it. Cause if he is just Harry, I don't want to scare him away. But either way, keep him with you, till I meet up with you. Even if he comes out clean, I have a few tests you boys don't know about. Cause one way or another, I want to know what happened to Harry.~
"Wait," Dean shook his head, "so you're sayin' that Mom did have another kid?"
~Yeah, she did,~ his father sighed. ~But we'll talk about that later, right now, you have a job to do.~
With that the line went dead. He gave a deep sigh and turned to make his way back into the room.
Ammie: Okay, so I meant to have this chapter up yesterday, but things didn't go according to plan. Anyway, this is currently the only other chapter I have written for this fic, so I can't say when it will be updated again, but at least it's moving. So, please, let me know what you think. And if ya'll have any ideas you'd like to see in this fic, or any of my others, feel free to drop me a pm, either here or on Facebook.
