AN: Here's the next chapter for you guys. We get to see a little fatherly Dean in this chapter and a very much like her father Gracilynn. Enjoy!
"So?" Sam asks, looking over at his brother driving the car.
"So what?" Dean counters.
"We gonna talk about this whole 'I just met my fourteen year old daughter for the first time' deal?" Sam asks. Dean looks over at his brother. From the look on Sam's face, Dean knows he's not going to drop this and lets out a sigh.
"I don't know. What do you want me to say?" Dean asks.
"This kind of changes things," Sam says.
"I know that," Dean says, irritated. "It's not like I can change what I did when I was a teenager Sam."
"What are you going to do now that you know?"
"I don't know," Dean answers.
"You don't seem to know much of anything right now," Sam says. Dean squeezes the steering wheel in annoyance.
"It's not like we can take her with us. I mean, we're trying to stop the apocalypse here. And neither one of us is in the right mind to have a kid around right now, between me going down under and you getting hot and bothered with a damn demon," Dean yells. Sam flinches at this abruptness.
"No, but you planning on visiting?" Sam asks.
"Like I said, I don't know. I kinda just found out about this a half hour ago," Dean says. Sam chews his bottom lip, wanting to say more but is effectively cut off by Dean turning the radio up.
SNSNSNSNSNSNSSN
"Dean. Sam. Are you two hungry? You could stay for dinner if you'd like?" Kayla asks the brothers sitting on her couch.
"Uh…we wouldn't want to intrude," Sam says, noticing Dean not making a move to say anything.
"You won't be. I'm making lasagna," Kayla says.
"If you really don't mind," Sam says, glancing at Dean who is staring at a spot on the rug.
"No problem at all," Kayla says, handing the brothers each a beer. Sam takes his, smiling and saying thank you. Dean doesn't notice so Sam nudges him and Dean jerks to attention and grabs the beer mumbling a 'thanks'.
"I thought for sure you two were here on a hunt," Kayla says. Dean and Sam look up at her. They weren't surprised she knew they were hunters. Kayla's Uncles' family was the family John was helping out when Dean got her pregnant. Kayla knew what they did and what was out there.
"No, just passing through," Dean says.
"Why would you think that?" Sam asks. Kayla scrunches her eyebrows in confusion.
"You haven't heard?" she asks.
"Heard what?" Dean asks, his interest piquing at the thought of a hunt.
"Supposedly there's a serial killer killing young women around here. But everything just seems off," Kayla says.
"Off? How?" Dean asks.
"No sign of forced entry. Doors and windows are locked. The victims brutally murdered. It just seems weird. I thought that was why you two were here," Kayla explains.
"The cops find anything?" Dean asks.
"Not sure. They're keeping it pretty hush-hush," Kayla says.
"Not true," Gracilynn says, walking into the room with a pile of papers in her hand. All eyes turn to her.
"What do you mean?" Dean asks.
"It's most likely a really pissed off ghost," Gracilynn says. Dean and Sam raise their eyebrows.
"She knows about…everything?" Dean asks Kayla, looking towards her.
"You told me to keep safe. Figured it passes down to children too," Kayla says.
"Why do you think it's a ghost?" Sam asks Gracilynn.
"Well, like mom said," Gracilynn says, sitting on the chair across from her father and Uncle, "The doors and windows were locked and well, they were covered in blood. And the fact the cops found black goo in the same room each victim was found in."
"Ectoplasm?" Sam asks, looking over at Dean.
"Looked like it to me," Gracilynn says, but then shuts her mouth immediately.
"You saw it?" Dean asks. Gracilynn just shrugs her shoulders, knowing she screwed up.
"Gracilynn. How the hell would you have seen it?" Kayla says, already knowing the answer. Gracilynn shrugs her shoulders again.
"You went to the crime scenes didn't you?" Kayla asks, clearly pissed. Gracilynn rolls her eyes and looks over at her mom, taking a deep breath.
"Well, something wasn't right. I mean I figured if I could prove it was something supernatural maybe you could get a hold of someone who could help," Gracilynn explains.
"So, naturally you went there by yourself," Kayla shouts, "You could've gotten yourself killed!"
"Mom chill out. I brought salt and iron. Besides, he doesn't kill anyone my age. I was good," Gracilynn says.
"You…I…" Kayla says, beyond angry. She looks over at Dean and points to him. "Say something."
Dean looks at Kayla like a deer caught in headlights. He sputters something unintelligible but then composes himself.
"Why do I have to say something?" Dean asks, mentally berating himself for the stupid question.
"Because you're her father. And because this is your fault," Kayla snaps.
"What? How is this my fault?" Dean asks.
"Because I might've raised her so far, but she is one hundred percent your daughter," Kayla explains.
"She's got a point Dean. She's just like you," Sam says, smirking.
"Shut up Sam," Dean snaps non-angrily. He looks at Kayla who is clearly waiting for him to say something. He lets out a sigh and turns to look at his newly found daughter.
"You're mother's right," Dean says. The smirk vanishes from Gracilynn's face.
"What?" she asks, not expecting him to take her mother's side.
"Hunting is dangerous, especially when you don't have back-up and are only fourteen years old. You could've gotten yourself really hurt. Or killed," Dean says in a fatherly tone.
"I am so not the one you should be worried about. If you want to worry about someone worry about my mom," Gracilynn says angrily.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dean asks.
"I was not the one breaking into a crime scene trying to take on a pissed off ghost by myself," Kayla says at the same time.
"It's not like he's going after virgins," Gracilynn yells, throwing a pile of papers down on the table and stomping off to her room.
Dean and Kayla look at each other while Sam notices the pile of papers Gracilynn threw on the table. He picks them up and begins to go through them, realizing that its research on every killing up until the latest.
"Dean," Sam says, getting his brothers attention. Dean looks over at Sam and sees him looking through the papers.
"What are those?" he asks, leaning over to get a better look.
"Research," Sam says, flipping through the pages as he reads them.
"Research? On what? When did you have time to research?" Dean asks looking over Sam's shoulder.
"On the killings. Every single one until the one a few days ago. Dean, this is pretty thorough," Sam explains in astonishment.
"Where'd you get these?" Dean asks as Kayla comes over to sit on the other side of Sam.
"Gracilynn threw them on the table," Sam says, giving Dean a look. Dean looks up at Sam and then looks over to Kayla.
"All right. Sam you go over all this stuff," Dean says as he stands up. Sam looks up at him, confused.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna go have a long overdue talk with my daughter," Dean says as he glances over at Kayla. Sam nods his head in understanding and Dean starts up the stairs.
"Second door on the left," Kayla calls after him. Dean raises a hand in thank you and disappears at the top of the stairs.
SNSNSSNSNSNSN
Gracilynn is lying on her bed on her stomach, head in her arms listening to Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On". Seeing this as he peers into the room, Dean taps on the door frame.
"I'm fine, go away," Gracilynn mumbles into her arms.
"I see that," Dean says, entering the room anyways. Gracilynn looks up quickly, not expecting it to be Dean who came up. She watches him as he grabs her computer chair, spinning it around so he sits on it backwards facing her. Gracilynn studies him for a minute and decides if he's going to make the effort to come up to talk to her, the least she could do is sit up and show him a little respect. I mean, after all, he is her father. Dean watches as his daughter studies him, fighting a silent war inside her head. She must have come to a decision because she sits up and leans up against the backboard of her bed.
"Mom says I remind her a lot of you," Gracilynn says, "That true?"
"I guess," Dean says with a chuckle, "At least Sammy agrees with her."
"She says I look a lot like you too," Gracilynn says.
"Yeah, well lucky for you both your parents are hot so either way you would've been fine," Dean says with a smirk.
"Nice," Gracilynn says, rolling her eyes. Dean fidgets in his chair a moment.
"So…uh…how'd you get all that research?" Dean asks, looking at his daughter.
"I looked it up. You know there are these new things called computers. You should really check them out," Gracilynn says with a smirk of her own.
"Someone thinks she's funny," Dean says, forcing himself not to smile.
"I'm adorable," Gracilynn says. Dean snorts, remembering a time when he said the exact same line.
"So, you really did all that research before you went to go check the places out?" Dean asks.
"Of course. I'm not stupid. I wouldn't walk in there blind," Gracilynn says, a little defensively.
"Of course not. You're a Winchester," Dean says smiling at his daughter who returns a very similar one.
"Dean." Dean looks up and sees Sam in the doorway. "I think Gracilynn was on to something."
"What do you mean?" Dean asks, scrunching his eyebrows.
"The victims. None of them were virgins," Sam starts.
"Well, yeah. No one's a virgin," Dean says.
"I am," Gracilynn jumps in.
"And that's never gonna change," Dean says, pointing at her. Gracilynn rolls her eyes.
"I'm gonna have sex sometime," she argues.
"Like hell you will," Dean mutters.
"Alright. Dean," Sam says, getting his brothers attention, "They weren't just non-virgins…"
"Non-virgins?" Dean and Gracilynn ask at the same time, wearing twin smirks.
"Shut up. Both of you. And stop with the twin thing," Sam says, "Listen, each of the victims had a kid out of wedlock."
"Yeah, but that one girl…what's her name…uh…Carrie? Mary? She didn't have any kids," Gracilynn says.
"Not with her. She had the kid when she was 15 and put it up for adoption," Sam explains.
"So what? This ghost is going after females who had sex and got pregnant before they were married?" Dean asks.
"Yeah, looks like it," Sam confirms.
"When did the killings start?" Dean asks.
"Uh…" Sam says, looking through the papers, "August."
"So why don't we just go through deaths in August. See who died who would have a problem with women getting pregnant before they're married," Gracilynn says.
"You read my mind," Dean says, standing up and tapping Gracilynn on the leg. Dean and Sam head downstairs to see if dinner is ready. Gracilynn follows after them.
"We'll get on this when we get back to the hotel," Dean says to Sam. Sam nods his agreement.
"Wait, I can help," Gracilynn says.
"You've done a lot already," Sam says, raising the pile of papers in his hand.
"But…" Gracilynn starts.
"No, Gracie. You can't work the hunt," Dean says, entering the dining room where Kayla has just finished setting the table.
"That is so not fair," Gracilynn whines.
"Gracilynn, it's too dangerous. I don't need you getting hurt," Dean says, turning around and looking his daughter in the eyes. Gracilynn stares back at him, clearly upset by this.
"Fine," she snaps out, sitting at the table. Dean lets out a sigh and joins his brother on one side of the table.
AN: Please read and review! I would love to know what ya'll think and if I'm still on the right track with all of the characters Thanks!