~3 Years Later~
Sam woke in the middle of the night to a banging coming from his apartment living room. He snuck into the kitchen, and watched with a racing heart as the intruder entered. He snuck behind the guy, and grabbed for him, but after a few punches and grunts, Sam found himself laying on his back, looking into the eyes of his older brother.
"Whoa, easy there tiger," Dean laughed, pinning Sam to the floor.
"Dean? You scared the crap out of me," Sam snapped, letting out a breath of release.
"Because you're out of practice," Dean said, slapping the side of Sam's leg. Before Dean realized it, Sam raised his other leg and wrapped it around Dean's chest, reversing the hold. "Or not," Dean grunted. "Get off me." The two men stood up and faced each other.
"What the hell are you doing here Dean?" Sam asked.
"Was looking for a beer," Dean replied with a smile, but the lights coming on overhead had the both of them turning around.
"Sam?" Jessica, the woman Dean had watched his brother fall in love with, walked into the kitchen in her nightclothes. Sam made the introductions, and Dean couldn't help but to make a couple comments.
"Dad hasn't come home lately." Dean informed Sam.
"He's probably doing a Miller shift somewhere," Dean shrugged. Dean smirked, and looked down before looking back up at his brother.
"Dad's on a hunting trip, and he hasn't called in a few days." Dean said, more clearly for Sam.
"Jess you'll have to excuse us."
After throwing on a hoodie and shoes, Sam walked with Dean out of the apartment.
"Dad's disappeared before," Sam said.
"Never this long," Dean pointed out. "Look in two years, I never asked you for anything." Sam, knowing it was true, sighed and went back inside to pack.
On the road, Sam turned to Dean.
"How's Kris?" he asked suddenly.
"You'll see for yourself in a few minutes, just, don't talk while I'm on with her," Dean said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing their sister's number.
"Hang on a minute," Kris said before setting the phone down. They heard a couple gun shots, and their hearts raced.
"Kris, what the hell was that?" Dean asked after she got back on the line.
"Shape shifter," she replied, the shrug obvious in her voice.
"Nice going," Dean muttered. "Quick question. How long has it been since you've talked to Dad?"
"Too long," Kris replied. "I was going to call you and ask you when you last heard from him."
"Too long. I'm on my way to where he last was and wanted to see if you wanted to meet me there."
"Where?"
"Jericho, California."
"I'm about two hours out, so I'll see you there." Kris replied before hanging up. She came up to a sign that read Palo Alto, but ignored it and kept driving. She would look in on him later.
"So, what's up with Kris?" Sam asked Dean as the drove down the highway.
"She's pissed at you to put it mildly. She said she never wants to see you again, and that there is no way she would welcome you back. She went through a lot of shit after you left."
"She left too though right? After I did?"
"Yeah, but not until a year later," Dean replied. "Dad and I both wanted to make sure she would be okay on her own."
"And she's been doing good I take it, considering she took out a shape shifter on her own."
"She's amazing." Dean smiled, the pride in his voice more than apparent.
'Dean…" Sam started, but was cut off as Dean made a sudden stop.
"Gotta fill up," he said before getting out of the car. Sam watched him walk into the station. After a few minutes, he got bored and started looking through the cassette tapes Dean had in a box.
"Dude you have to update your cassette tapes," Sam told Dean as the elder brother got back behind the wheel.
"Why?" Dean asked, sounding slightly offended.
"Black Sabbath, ACDC, Metallica, it's the greatest hits of mullet rock."
"Number one rule of the car, driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole." Dean smirked, popping in the Metallica cassette. They drove a little longer, and soon came up to the park, where Dean noticed a familiar car sitting.
He pulled over and stared at the back of his little sister's car.
"Stay here for a minute." He said, getting out of the car just as Kris did.
"Hey Dean," she said, tossing her arm around Dean's shoulder. She looked at the Impala, and noticed right away Dean wasn't alone.
"Dean, what is he doing here?" Kris demanded, staring at Sam with a fuming rage Sam had never seen before.
"I went to get him," Dean replied. "Look, this is Dad missing, we all need to be here to look for him."
"Fine," Kris huffed, knowing he was right. "But don't expect me to be civil." Dean nodded and walked back to the car, telling Sam it was okay for him to get out.
"Hey Kris,"
"Dick," Kris greeted him back, her gaze cold and emotionless.
"So, Dad was working this gig. He was investigating a two lane asphalt, Man went missing."
"Maybe he was kidnapped." Sam spoke up.
"Several more before him," Dean shook his head. "All males, all on the same stretch of road."
"You think this thing got Dad?" Kris asked Dean, feeling a breeze ruffle her hair. She let out a couple dry coughs, covering her mouth when they didn't stop.
"Fuck, hold on," she managed to get out. She turned her head away and retched slightly, willing her breathing to slow down.
"Too excited?" Dean asked as Sam reached into the Impala. He pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to her, which she surprisingly accepted.
"Something like that," she replied, taking a huge drink of the water. She glared at Sam before taking in a deep breath.
"There's only one way to find out what happened to him," Dean said.
"Dean, remember what I told you before we left Stanford," Sam spoke up, glancing toward Kris.
"What, gotta be back at school at a certain time? Got a curfew?" Sam's jaw tightened, but he refrained from saying anything.
"Look you two, we need to find Dad and find out what's going on in this town, so that means working together." Dean snapped.
"I'm willing, but is she?" Sam asked, giving Kris the coldest look he could muster. Kris raised an eyebrow at him, and walked toward him slowly.
"I'm not the one who abandoned everyone Sammy. I'm not the little coward who ran away. The only thing I've been doing is working with our family to save lives. How great do you really feel, sitting in a classroom while outside those walls, someone is dying, and there was a lot you can do to save them? I'm not the one who has to learn to play well with others Sammy, you are." She lifted her hand and went to slap his face, but stopped the second Sam flinched backwards. She smirked and turned toward Dean. "I went a few miles up the road before the two of you got here." She told him.
"What did you see?"
"Another male disappeared, on a closed down bridge. There was blood everywhere in the car. The victim's name was Troy Squire. Had a girlfriend named Amy, who claims she was talking to him on the phone just before midnight. He said he would call her back, never did."
"How did you find all this out so fast?" Sam asked, slightly impressed.
"I'm not completely incompetent Samuel."
"I never suggested you were,"
"Hey, don't start that," Dean growled. "Well, let's go talk to the girlfriend."
"You guys go, I'll meet up with you," Kris said.
"Where are you going?" Sam asked.
"None of your business," Kris replied, turning on her heel and stalking away from her brothers, tears clogging her throat. That's why she was leaving, she didn't want them to see her cry.
"Let's go," Dean smiled at Sam, who watched Kris burn onto the road.
"She hates me now doesn't she?" Sam asked, sliding into the passenger seat.
"I've told you before, no, she doesn't hate you. She's just pissed off and needs time to settle down."
"That'll be until the end of time with the way things are going right now," Sam muttered as they drove in the opposite direction of Kris.
"Dude, she's your twin, you should know her better than anyone."
"I thought I did, but I was wrong. I figured she would be a little upset, then get over it after a few minutes."
"She felt you abandoned us dude, she's not going to get over that very quickly." Dean pointed out. "You just need to prove how sorry you truly are to her."
"That's the thing though Dean, I'm not sorry I left. I'm sorry it caused this riff with all of us, but I'm not sorry I left."
"As long as she knows you're a little sorry, then she'll forgive you, in time."
"I hope so," Sam sighed. They drove into town, and right away Sam noticed two girls walking together putting up flyers. Dean pulled over to the curb, and they both got out and walked up to them.
After talking to the girls and a trip to the library, they decide to check out the bridge again, where they met up by Kris.
"What's up sis?" Dean asked, walking up to her.
"This is the bridge Troy disappeared from, so I figured there would be something about it."
"There is," Sam said. "A woman, Constance Welch, killed herself after killing her kids in their bathtub."
"So you think she's returned as a vigilant spirit?"
"Yeah, but why go after men?"
"Maybe she's had bad experiences. I know I'm ready to kill half the male population after my experiences with men."
"Kris, you were as promiscuous as Dean was in high school," Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, and I've had even more men since then try to force shit out of me. Just, stop while you're ahead Sammy. I'm cooperating for Dad and Dean, but if you keep trying to outsmart me, then you're in for a rude awakening."
"Okay you know what," Sam snapped. "First of all, it's just Sam. Secondly, you have no room to yell at me or hate me for leaving, especially since you left right after I did."
"I left a year later, and I still kept in fucking touch with Dad and Dean. What did you do? Go to parties every night, sit in the library all day working on homework? We needed you and you left!"
"We've been over this so many times Kristina!" Sam shouted. "Besides, you're one to talk!" Sam shouted to his sister. "You left right as soon as I did!"
"Now who's being repetitive? At least I had the courtesy to call Dad and Dean every day to let them know I was okay. That's why Dad was so apprehensive about you leaving in the first place! Dad wanted to make sure you were okay!
"I was at school, no danger there. What the hell did you do in all that time anyway?"
"I played Mary fucking Poppins!" Kris screamed back. "I rode a fucking umbrella into children's nurseries and became their damn nanny!"
"That's not a damn nanny, that's a damn witch and I'm gonna hunt her ass down," Dean spoke up, receiving glares from his younger siblings.
"You know you're not helping Dean," Sam said, though he couldn't help but smile slightly.
"No, I'm bringing you both down from your high horses so we can get this damn job done. You want to dish this out, I'll find a boxing ring. For now, get your asses on the same damn page and let's get this solved."
"He's right," Kris growled, rolling her eyes as she looked around. She noticed the lights to Impala was on. The car revved, grabbing Sam and Dean's attention.
"Dude, who's in your car?" Sam asked. Wordlessly, Dean reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys, showing there was no way the car could have been started without them noticing.