Chapter Two:
Castiel waited for Christina to step out of the bathroom after he had fetched her clothes. He knew that neither one of her brothers would understand if he was in the bathroom with her again. The last time he had he nearly lost his life from shame and embarrassment. He heard the bathroom door opening and Christina walked out wearing a new pair of pants a dark blue tee-shirt, and her hair up in the towel. She sat down on the bed closest to the bathroom and patted the area next to her for Castiel to sit next to her. He complied and she took in a deep breath.
"I saw my parents at the diner." She started and Castiel could see the shiver fly through her. "They didn't seem to remember me."
"That is because," Castiel took a deep breath to calm his own vessel's nerves. "After you joined your brothers I came back and blocked their memories of you. They would never know who you are unless someone, either you or a neighbor tells them who you are."
"So I was scared for no reason?" Christina asked him. Her eyes were looking ashamed and he slowly shook his head.
"You didn't know. If you didn't want Sam or Dean to know about the truth about your parents then it's good you were concerned. But now I believe you can face them without fear."
"Thanks Cas," Christina said after a few minutes to let his words sink in. "You're a really good friend." She kissed him gently on the cheek and pulled on her socks that she had stashed away in her pocket. Castiel felt strange as his cheeks began to burn but shook his head when there was a knock at the hotel door.
"Christy if you want food, open up." Dean's voice slightly muffled from the large metal door made Castiel nod his goodbye and vanish with a slight disturbance of air. Christina stood up and quickly walked over towards the hotel door. "You look better." Dean said as he and Sam walked in with the food. "You had us worried there for a bit after you left so suddenly."
"I just had a minor freak-out." Christina said searching through the bags to dish out the food that was inside. "But my shower seemed to help." She stared at her food for a moment before starting on her cheeseburger.
"Okay, glad you're feeling better." Dean said a bit more relaxed knowing that their sister talked at least. "So you feeling up to visiting the family today after lunch?"
"Yeah. I can do that." She said with a smile. She looked at the milkshakes and took the strawberry one and they ate their food with minor conversations. But as Sam and Dean watched as their sister finished getting ready to head out with them, they couldn't help but sense she wasn't telling them the complete truth.
~Family Ties~
Christina sat in the back watching as the scenery changed from city life to farms and houses with large breaks in between. Sam kept glancing back from his case work, but decided to not bring up anything as they drove.
"So where is this family's farm?" Dean asked breaking the awkward silence that music couldn't help.
"It should be the near the edge of town." Sam said looking up from the street and squinting to see farther. "There should be a row of apple trees that cover a driveway."
"What if there's a gate?" Dean asked pointing out some of the farms having large fences with iron gates blocking the drives. "What then?"
"Well, if the family's home we ask them to let us in or we can do what you enjoy most and hop the fence." Dean smirked. He did enjoy jumping over fences. But he wasn't sure it was a good idea, just in case something went south.
"What's the family's name?" Christina asked softly surprising both Sam and Dean as she hadn't spoken in the forty five minutes of drive time.
"Uh...Amanda and Jeremy Walker." Sam said flipping to the top page. "Bobby said he found their information on a local website last time he was in town and saw they were having a few problems." Dean slowed to a stop at a fenced farm with twenty or so apple trees lining the long drive. He drove to the intercom box and gently pressed it.
"Hello?" A voice came through the line. It was a young female's voice and Dean licked his lips trying to think of a good excuse to come inside the farm.
"Uh, hi!" Dean called out of his car. He rolled his eyes as he waited for a reply. "We're here for a job. May we come in?"
There was silence for a few minutes. Dean felt like he had done something wrong until he heard a buzzing sound and the gate opened up. "Come on in. Just park your car near the tractor." Dean slowly moved his car up the long drive making all three of them sit in their seats ready for any kind of action. The house, as they arrived, was a modest size Victorian. Large windows spaced evenly around the main floor while windows on top were smaller but were also spaced equally apart. A large fading red barn was nestled near the back of the house while a large oak tree with a half finished tree house stood out in front of the Victorian. Dean felt a little creeped out as he parked his Impala next to the tractor but took in a deep breath before they all slowly exited the car.
They all slowly walked up the steps to the porch and Dean knocked on the door. A loud dark barked from the inside the house that was soon silenced made the Winchesters trying their hardest to calm down. None of them really liked people with dogs, because the dogs had the ability to see the true colors of people living and dead. They could see monsters that people can't normally see and were afraid of being attacked by the animal.
"Peaches down!" Sam and Dean were surprised to hear the soft voice of the waitress from earlier. The door opened and when Amanda looked at the three standing there she smiled, still struggling to hold back the dog. "I'm sorry about this. Would you like to come in?" She asked pulling the dog into a sitting position. But the dog continued to bark struggling in Amanda's hands. "Come on in and sit down, I'll be right with you three."
The three siblings felt a little strange as they walked in but Dean noticed the same uncomfortable twitch Christina was going through. She froze at the threshold for a few seconds before walking in and closing the door tightly behind her. She flinched when she heard it click and Dean pulled her aside when she turned around.
"What's wrong?" He asked and Christina shook her head. Clearly not wanting to talk. Dean followed her into the living-room where she sat down next to Sam in the spot closest to the door. Dean remained standing just in case he needed to catch his sister in case she ran off.
"Sorry about that you guys." Amanda said coming in drying her hands on a towel. "Peaches tends to get overly excited when people come to the door. She is harmless so there's nothing to worry about getting nipped."
"No you're just fine." Dean said smiling. "I do have to say it's interesting on meeting you again after seeing you at the diner."
"Likewise." Amanda smiled motioning to a chair for Dean but he shook his head politely. "So you are here because of work?" She asked sitting down in an arm chair across from Sam and Christina.
"Yeah, we heard you had some opened positions for work." Sam stated surprised to see Christina silent through all this.
"I thought you said you guys were exterminators." Amanda said the look of confusion on her face. "At least that's what my husband and I thought when you guys came in for lunch."
"Well, we..." Dean continued nervous. He slowly sunk into the earlier provided chair.
"We manly do exterminations but the job we had canceled at the last minute." Christina said with a saddened smile. Sam and Dean looked at their sister as she snapped out of her earlier situation. "When we arrived at our appointment they told us that your farm was looking for some hired help. Is that true?"
"Well, yes actually." Amanda said her eyebrows twitched slightly in confusion before she shook her head. "The thing is you three, my husband had some last minute appointment that he had to go to. If you want to give me a number I can reach one of you I'm sure we can see if we can set something up." She looked out the window then back at the three Winchesters. "You guys have any experience with farm work?" Amanda asked.
"Well, we..." Dean started.
"We lived on a farm when we were kids. So it's been a while since we did any work. But I'm sure it would come back to us." Christina said forcing a smile. "Well, we can see you're a bit busy with your husband being gone, and you just getting off of work, so we will be looking forward to your call." Amanda looked surprised for a second before nodding, standing up to shake their hands.
"If you three get the job would you mind coming here early?" Amanda asked.
"How early?" Dean asked with a slight confused look.
"We can be here by eight tomorrow morning." Christina offered standing up making Sam and Dean to stand as well. "We just don't want to trouble both you and your husband any earlier."
"That's going to be just fine, dear." Amanda said shaking each of the Winchester's hands. "I think that would be just perfect. Jeremy doesn't like getting up early at the crack of dawn either but-" The front door opened and Christina felt her body involuntarily tense up.
"Amanda, what are those two boys from the diner doing here?" Sam and Dean turned around seeing the older man from before standing looking at Christina with intensity. "Who are you?"
"She's our sister." Dean answered pulling Christina and turning her around.
The look on Jeremy's face changed from annoyance at Sam and Dean to a mix of a curious smile. But the smile didn't reach his cold eyes. "Oh my god..." Jeremy said taking a hesitant step towards Christina who gulped and took a small step back away from him. "Amanda...Do you see what I see?"
"What are you talking about Jeremy?" Amanda asked going over to her husband's side and looked at the three Winchesters. "I see our new helpers on the farm."
Jeremy continued to stare at Christina making her extremely uncomfortable. She gripped at Dean's wrist as a sign she was wanting to leave very soon. Dean thankfully took the hint and smiled calmly. "I'm sorry about all the confusion going on. But we need to get going. We have to get ourselves ready for work tomorrow."
"That's just fine you three. See you all tomorrow." Amanda smiled and shook Sam and Dean's hand before turning towards Christina who just nodded and quickly left after her brothers.
~Family Ties~
Christina continued to let the water soak into her skin. Her head almost completely submerged in the water. She could feel her body refusing to relax. She wanted nothing more then to crawl inside a small dark hole and stay there until the apocalypse came.
"Christy," Dean called gently knocking on the bathroom door. "It has been twenty minutes are you okay in there?"
"Yeah I'm fine." Christina replied turning off the shower and stepping out. She stood there wondering whether she should get dried off and dressed or climb back inside the tub and sleep there curled up against the porcelain. She opted for the first choice and quickly dried off and dressed into her pajamas. She didn't feel like leaving anywhere. Not even to head to the bar as Dean had suggested.
She walked out tossing her backpack onto the foot of her bed before she climbed into Dean's empty bed. It was clear something was bothering their sister as she would tend to act like a child seeking comfort by an older sibling.
"What's wrong with you?" Dean asked sitting down and pulling off his shoes. The room stunk with funky foot odor for a brief minute before it disappeared. "What's got you scared out of your mind?"
"I don't know how to answer that." Christina admitted sitting and pulling her knees close so she could rest her chin on them. "Not sure how you're going to take what I have to say?"
Dean and Sam looked at each other and Sam stood up. He took his place on the other side of their sister and placed a hand on her shoulder. It was the first time they saw her flinch at his touch. Dean knew instantly something dark and troubling was involved in what was happening.
"Looks like I'm ordering pizza and beer." He said grabbing his phone and dialing. Christina and Sam sat and listened as Dean began to order their food before returning to sit next to his two siblings. "Alright when food gets here you are to talk." Christina nodded and gently started to tremble.