I'm not sure what to do or say for that matter. Hell, I don't even know why I agreed to meet at this diner with Dean and Sam. I guess I was curious. About him, about other hunters, about this strange coincidence.
Judy and I had entered the little roadside restaurant just past 8 am, but the brothers were already there. Judy skipped on ahead, but I watched for a few moments. Dean smiled playfully at a waitress that handed him a slice of pie and then sent her a wink.
I could definitely understand why Mom fell for him.
As some point, Dean looked up and met my eyes, but I was lost between memories. I was only pulled out when he called me over with a wave of his hand.
Judy was talking with Sam about something that made him laugh. They seemed nice enough, but looks can be deceiving and three years of hiding built more than one wall.
I slid in beside Judy and in front of Dean. Judy leaned over and cupped her hands around my ear and whispered, "Is that the Dean?" she pulled back and I looked into her wide blue eyes. I shrugged because, honestly, I wasn't sure. I mean, there could be hundreds of people named Dean Winchester. . .
"Hey, kid," I met Dean's gaze and brushed my bangs back to the side where they refused to stay.
"My name's Ethan." I felt my lip curl.
"Alright, Ethan, what's up with you and hobbit girl gankin' bloodsuckin' douchebags?"
"Dean!" Sam hissed and glanced at Judy who was playing innocent like she hadn't heard anything. Dean ignored him with a shrug.
"Ain't you a little young?"
"Aren't you a little old?" I shot back. My wonderful little sister snorted beside me and Sam joined in but did better at hiding it. Dean pursed his lips and nodded before taking another bite of cherry pie. He swallowed and licked his lips.
"How long have you been at it?" he leaned back and crossed his arm with a steady scowl aim right at me. "Few months? Or was this your first? Maybe wrong place, wrong time?" he smirked and I knew he was just trying to aggravate me.
"Almost three years." I narrowed my eyes to a glare and watch a spark of surprise and somber softening his stiff brow.
"Really?" I turned to Sam. He had that same look. "What happened?" I shifted in my seat, suddenly very uncomfortable.
"One killed out Mom, so Ethan killed it and we ran away." Judy mindlessly tapped a fork against the table top and it was the only sound between the four of us for several minutes.
"So what, you decided to become a vigilantly?"
"And what would I have told the cops, Dean?" I sneered as I turned my self back towards him. "Tell them that this person was sucking the blood out of my mother's body and I killed him by cutting off his head?" I raised my eyebrow waiting for an answer that didn't come. He looked down and pursed his lips again. "And even if I lied about that, don't you think cutting off an intruders head is a bit overkill?"
"Alright, I get it." He held up a hand in surrender. I relaxed the tension in my shoulder. There were just too many emotions in my head for me to think clearly. "But what about her?" he nodded his head towards Judy.
"I think about it every day, Dean." I rubbed my face in frustration. I constantly thought about Judy and how this was effecting her. "I'm almost 18, so we'll settle down somewhere and I'll get her into school." At least that was the plan. There were plenty of issues we'd have to get through, but I knew we could do it.
"They would have taken me away from Ethan." She gripped my bicep. "I'd rather stay with him and read books than live without him." She drew her brows together and looked at the brothers steadily.
"Last night was a onetime thing." I decided to clarify. "I hunt alone, she stays in the car."
"I had a bad feeling." She defended and punched my arm. It didn't hurt, but I winced for her pleasure. "So Dean, do you have any kids?" I wanted to smack Judy, but restrained myself. She sat on her knees and leaned on the table on her forearms with a smug-curious look in her eye.
Dean smiled and got a wistful spark in his eyes. "Uhh, no."
"Doesn't really. . .work out in our line of work." Sam got that same look in his eyes. I guess it was safe to assume they shared their own set of tragedies.
"Are you sure?" Judy shifted to cradle her face in her hands. I felt my heart speed up. I'd kind of forgot my father was sitting in front of me. I was pretty sure it was really him now.
"Pretty sure, Kiddo." He smiled at her, but Judy frowned.
"What about your dad, Ethan? Surely you could have gone to him." Sam asked. Maybe the question was sparked by Judy cause it kind of came out of nowhere. I halfheartedly chuckled before responding.
"Good point, if he knew I existed. I was kind of an accident." Mom would always tell me I wasn't an accident and that I was meant to be. I guess getting past birth control, and possibly a condom, does that a great deal of luck. But nothing's happened so far in my wonderful life that's led me to believe I was meant for a higher purpose.
"Oh, that sucks." He said with a stiff expression. I guess it would be hard to come up with a response to that. "Do you know who your father is? Maybe I can track him down." He reached over to his side and pulled out a laptop from a bag I hadn't noticed. Dean smacked his brother's arm and smiled.
"Sammy here will take care of ya." After which he stood and started flirting with the waitress from earlier. Sam smiled tightly as his brother walked off and shook his head.
"Alright, what his name?" he looked up at me with his fingers poised over the key board. I gaped like I fish for several seconds before panic began to set in. I began to get up but Judy grabbed my hand and I stopped, caught by her aquamarine irises.
"Ethan, please don't run away. We already ran away once." She pleaded and tugged on my hand. I grumbled and sat back down, but didn't answer Sam. Judy gave me a cautious look before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a folded up photo. I had a pretty good idea of which one it was.
She gently unfolded it and rubbed her thumb against the crease, starring at mom longingly. She turned the photo around and slid it across the table towards Sam while looking him straight in the eye.
"My brother's full name it Ethan Winchester Gray. Winchester is his dad's last name."
Sam's eyes widened and his jaw fell open. He snapped his head around to look at Dean who was still flirting with the waitress and then back to me. "Oh my God."
I cut him off before he could sputter any more disbeliefs. "It was a week fling. By the time my mom found out she was pregnant, Dean was long gone." I sighed and toyed with Judy's fork. "I never thought I would actually meet him." I whispered, afraid my voice would crack. I looked up and watched Dean stroll over with a smug look on his face. I guess he landed the chick's number or something.
"So, find ol' baby daddy?" Dean smirked and scratched the stubble on his face.
"Yeah, Dean, we did." Sam smiled tightly and slid the photo over to Dean. I bolted from my seat and ran outside. I pulled on my hair as I slowed to a quick walk. I don't know what I'm afraid of. Rejection maybe? I don't know. I just needed to run.
I was perfectly fine with never meeting Dean. Sure I'd thought about it. Who wouldn't? But I never imagined he was a hunter, too.
I plopped down on a park bench about a block away from the diner. I'm not sure how long I sat there, but I was alright with it being forever. Sometimes I missed being a normal kid. Going to school, playing on the baseball team, I even missed the bullies. I'd rather fight them than vamps.
After a while, a person sat on the bench stretching their arms across the back. I looked at my hands, then a squirrel, then a funny looking cloud.
"I'll be honest, I don't remember your mom."
"Didn't expect you to. It's not like you two were serious." I didn't blame him. I did for a while, but not now.
"I-I mean the name rings a bell, but it was a long time ago." He leaned forwards on his knees and tried to see my face. I looked at my hands harder and found myself turning my palm over to look at the three inch scar. "How'd you get that?" I finally met his eyes but only for a split second.
"I was fifteen. I had a bat, but when that did stop it I went for a knife. I was frantic and just grabbed without looking. Then it attacked me and I thought I was going to die. The knife was just out of reach. And then Judy walked in and it went after her." I said rapidly. It just poured out.
"And then you killed it." Dean finished and I nodded. We sat in silence for several minutes.
"I don't blame you or anything." I blurted quickly. "I-I never thought I'd actually meet you. I mean, what's the chances both of us being hunters and on the same hunt?" I still couldn't believe it. Seriously, what the hell?
"I don't know." He turned his head to look at me. "But if there one thing I've learned in my screwed up life, it's that there is no such things as an accident."
"You think?"
"I do." He nodded. "At least you got my looks." He smirked and bumped my shoulder. I chuckled and brushed my hair to the side. "Come on." He started walking back to the diner and I followed.
Sam and Judy were by Dean's nice car waiting for us. We stopped a few feet away from them and I smiled at Judy.
"Does this mean we have a family again?" we chuckled but she was seriously waiting for an answer.
"You bet." Sam ruffled her curly hair.
"I'm 10 by the way." It was something she was very proud of
"Hey, you've still got two weeks, missy." I smirked when she stuck her tongue out at me.
"OK, so where are you taking us, Dean?" I wasn't nervous. I trusted Dean and Sam, but going into a forest after dark could set anybody on edge. I'm beginning to think Judy is immune to fear, or she's just trying to freak me out because she keep sing 'ring around the rosy' which we all know is about the black plague. "Seriously, Judy, stop!" she giggled and ducked my head smack.
"Aw, come on, Ethan. You ain't scared are ya?" Dean stopped and turned to me with a smirk. "Doesn't matter. This is far enough."
"It'd be great if you would explain what the hell we're doing out here anyway."
"Meeting a friend." Sam walked by to stand by Dean. I knew these guys were nuts. There's literally nobody out here. We're in the middle of a freaking forest and it's dark.
What sounded like a flap of wings caught my attention and then a voice. "Hello, Dean. Sam." I spun to face the voice.
"Who the heck are you?" I frowned at this new guy. It's like he came out of nowhere. His hair was messy and he kinda looked like a tax accountant. His tie was loose and laying funny, but even odder was the trench coat. I looked back to Dean. "Is he going to kill us?" I reached for a machete, but remembered I left it in the car. Great. I'm about to be killed by a tax accountant in the middle of a forest. Should have known I'd go out like this.
"What? No!" he looked offended.
"My name is Castiel, I'm an angel of the Lord."
"Yeah and I'm the Easter Bunny." Angel's aren't real. God's not real. Nothing good exists.
Castiel narrowed his eyes slightly and pressed two fingers to my forehead. A bright light floated through my vision. It wasn't blinding, but peaceful. For once in a very long time I felt at ease, but then he pulled his fingers away and reality crashed back it almost painfully.
"What the hell was that, you asshole?" I cradled my head and waited for the pain to pass and dropped to my knees.
"You are a very troubled young man, Ethan." He knelt to look at me with a worried look in his bright blue eyes. Not the same as mom's. His are darker, like the sky.
"How do you know my name?" I met his eyes feeling relief as the pain dissipated rather quickly.
"I know everything about you now. I told you I am an angel and a good friend of your fathers." I processed his words for a few seconds and looked over my shoulder at Dean. Our eye's locked and I saw so many emotions fighting in his green eyes: compassion, fear, worry,. . .hope.
"He's really mine?" he broke away to look at Castiel who simply nodded. I slowly stood and looked for Judy. She hadn't said anything this whole time. I found her standing by Sam.
"You're really an angel?" she approached Castiel and I knew what she was going to ask. "Do you know my mommy?" Castiel smiled lightly.
"Angela Gray. Yes, I know her. She is in heaven and very happy."
I frowned and felt my chest tighten. I don't know how, but I knew he was lying. But for the sake of my sister I said nothing. One more lie won't hurt anything.
"So what happens now?" I shoved my hands into my pockets and Judy came to stand by me. Sam looked between the five of us.
"We go home."
"This is your 'home'?" I couldn't believe any of this. It was all happening so fast. A day ago I didn't have any family and now I had a dad and an uncle. Not to mention I probably have a home now too. Judy was loving this to no end and had taken a particular liking to Sam.
"Yep." Sam smiled at me as he set his messenger bag on a table with a world map for the top. "Hey, can I ask you something?" I frowned, but nodded cautiously, nervous about what he would ask. "Why didn't you say anything about Dean being your father earlier? I mean if you knew. . .why not say anything?"
"I found out about Dean a few days after my mom died. She'd wrote a letter and I guess she was either going to tell me or give it to me, but she died before she could. I never thought I would ever meet Dean, so when you guys found us yesterday night it was a shock.
"I just figured you guys had your own lives and I didn't want to screw it up. And I might have been a little afraid of rejection." I stared at the floor and scuffed my shoe against it. "It's all just happening so fast." I whispered too low for Sam to hear.
"What about Judy?"
"Her dad left when he found out my mom was pregnant. He was only around for barely six months."
"I'm sorry." We stood in silence for a few minutes. He was about to ask us something else, but Dean cut him off.
"You two hungry?" my stomach answered for me with a deep growl. He chuckled and my cheeks flushed. "I'll take that as a yes."
"I want peanut butter and jelly!" Judy ran past me and jumped on Dean's back.
"Don't you eat anything else?" I swear that kid only had taste buds for that stupid sandwich. She turned her head and stuck her tongue out at me.
"Fine. I want a hamburger." She dropped from Dean's neck and ran to what I assumed was the kitchen. Dean sucked in a deep breath.
"Holy crap that kid's deadly." I snorted with laughter and followed Dean to the kitchen.
Judy already had her nose in a book and was a good chunk in when Dean set plates in front of us. It was amazing so I ate it slowly and savored the flavor. It'd been three year since I had a home cooked meal. Mom wasn't the best cook, but I missed everything about her. I guess it's only natural.
I was sitting in my new room later that night tossing a tennis ball against the wall and catching it over and over again.
For some reason I remembered my first day of high school. Not like it was much different from the rest of the grades, but it was when I'd tried out for the school baseball team—or after actually.
"Hey Gray, looks like you might make the team after all." A chill ran down my spine at the voice and the fist that slammed into the locker door beside my head.
"H-Hey, Drew." I quickly pulled on a clean shirt and stuffed my sweaty clothes into a duffle bag.
"What? Too afraid to look at me?" he grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, slamming me into the lockers hard. I groaned in pain and my knees felt weak.
"Can't you just leave me alone, Drew?" his grip tightened painfully on my shoulder.
"Do you always ask stupid questions?" his fist slammed into my cheek and I crumbled to the ground. "Get up, faggot." He pulled me up by the collar of my shirt and punched me again. Dazed, I looked at him and pleaded him to stop.
I'm not sure why I thought about that day, but I reached up and touched my eye. Most of the time when I was younger it was always bruised because of that asshat Drew.
I realized I'd stopped tossing the ball and started again. I know why I didn't ever fight back against him. Well, now I do. Back then I would have never admitted it.
"Hey, Ethan." I caught the yellow ball and looked at Dean in my door way.
"What?"
"Nothin', just wanted to talk." He shrugged walking toward me and sat beside me on my bed. "Uhh, how to you like your room?"
"It's nice. Thank you." Something was bugging me though. "Look, Dean, Judy and I can leave if we're—"
"Stop." I shut my mouth and felt my cheeks flush. "I get that things are probably moving a little fast for you—hell, they are for me too—but you and your sister aren't going anywhere." He stood and came to stand in front of me. I dropped my eyes to my hands and felt tears brimming in my eyes.
"Really fast." I muttered and he sighed and sat back down placing a soothing hand on my shoulder.
"What's your favorite color?"
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Green." I said mostly confused.
"Hate most?"
"Grilled cheese." I gaged at the thought. I don't understand how people eat it.
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's just so. . .gross."
"Alright then, no grilled cheeses."
His questions went on for a while and sometimes I would ask him questions. He told me how his mom was killed by a demon when he was a kid and a few other things like how he met Cas. Pulled his ass straight out of purgatory. Not sure if I believe him or not, but considering I met an angel tonight I'm not sure what's fiction and reality anymore.
After Dean left, I went and explored the bunker like Judy had done earlier. I found a library, a garage filled with more sweet ass cars, the kitchen and store room, and up a flight of stairs I found a room with a huge telescope.
When I was heading back to my room, though, I heard Dean and Sam talking in the kitchen.
"What are we going to do, Dean?"
"Sam, we'll figure it out." I couldn't see their faces, but I could make out their voices just fine.
"Yeah? And what if Crowley finds out about them, or the angels, or God knows what else! You know what happens to people who get close to us." I heard the worry, plain and clear in Sam's voice. Pain, too. How many people had they lost? I'm not sure I'm I wanted to know.
"So you want me to just kick them out? Send them back on the road? Is that what you want me to do, Sam?" Dean's voice rose in volume.
"No, of course not." Sam's voice softened.
"Like it or not, Sam, they were already heading towards us. It was only a matter of time before we ran into them or heard about them at least. We can protect them here." I frowned and really wanted to know what they were so worried about. I had the feeling Dean hadn't been telling me something earlier.
"And what if we can't, Dean?"
"We can take precautions, Sam, but the children must stay here." I hadn't realized Cas was here. He'd disappeared earlier for some reason I hadn't heard.
"We can call Charlie for one, she can stay with them when we're gone." I scoffed silently at Dean. I did not need a babysitter. I decided I should probably get back to my room before they caught me so I snuck away and passed Judy's room as I did. I stood in her door way for a while and watched her sleep.
I probably wouldn't sleep anyway. Not well anyway. I still had nightmares even after all this time.
"Ethan." I jumped out of my skin.
"Cas, seriously, give some warning next time." I struggled to get my heart beat under control and shut Judy's door.
"I apologies." He took a step back from me. "I know you were listening to us." I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly and thought of maybe lying, but if he was really an angel he'd probably know. "I also know you don't sleep well, if at all." Before I could say anything he touched two fingers to my forehead and everything went dark.
"Ethan!" I opened my eyes groggily. Someone was shaking me and saying my name frantically. When my vison cleared up I saw it was my lovely little sister.
"What is it, Judy." I groaned and shut my eyes. She shook my harder.
"Ethan, there's something wrong with me!" she hissed. I cracked an eye opened. She looked fine.
"What's wrong with you Judy?" I decided to play along. I was still only half awake.
"I'm bleeding?" I opened both eyes and sat up on my elbows.
"What?" I don't think I heard her correctly.
"I woke up this morning and I was bleeding." Her eyes started to water.
"From where?" my heart quickened. Surely not. She's only 10, I thought we would have had at least a year or two. She bit her lip and looked away.
"Down there like Mommy used to sometimes." Her cheeks were a little pink. "Am I going to die?"
"Crap. No, you're not dying." I chuckled lightly at her innocence. "You'll be just fine. Go get changed and we'll go get you some stuff." She nodded shakily and ran out of the room. I got out of bed and rubbed my face.
"Hey, Ethan, bout time you woke up. Cas said he hit you with his some of his angel mojo. Hungry?" my stomach grumbled, but Judy's problem couldn't really wait. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that smelled decent.
"Can't. I'm going out with Judy for a little bit. Gotta get some stuff." I circled my room looking for the car keys.
"Why? Can't it wait? I made pancakes." He whined. I clicked my tongue when I remembered my keys were in my jacket pocket. I pulled them out and walked past Dean.
"No, it can't wait. We'll be back in less than hour. We'll eat pancakes when we get back." I nearly ran into Judy.
"Alright, but I'm coming with you." He snatched the keys from my hand. Judy looked up at me panicked. I guess she wanted this to be just between us.
"You don't have to, Dean. We're just running to the store and back real quick." I tried to grab my keys back, but he held them above his head and out of my reach. I may have got his looks, but I got Mom's height. Dammit.
"What's so important that you have to leave right now?" I groaned in frustration. Judy tugged on my sleeve. I watched the color drain from her face just before she ran to the bathroom.
"Look, just give me the damn keys!" he was pissing me off. We argued until Judy came out still looking pale and teary eyed. "If you're coming, come on." I grabbed Judy's hand and started pulling her toward the front door, Dean right behind us.
I got into Dean's car not really happy that I lost, but Judy was more important than winning an argument with him. "Just the store?" he asked still curious about what was going on.
"Yep." I turned so I could look out the window more comfortably. "Judy, do you feel ok?" I asked as we entered town. She only nodded still pink in the cheeks. "Ya sure?"
"Yeah." She nodded quietly. Dean pulled the car to a stop outside the store. Judy was the first out of the car.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Dean asked as we walked through the sliding doors.
"Nothing good." I mentally groaned. This was just great. My adorably little sister was growing up and this was a major step in that direction if not the biggest.
"Crap."
"Yeah." I breathed.
"But isn't she, like, 10? Isn't that a bit early?"
"I don't know. I don't know when our mom started or anything. I don't know anything about this."
We followed Judy into the aisle that had the pads and such. There was a lot to choose from, but I did know tampons were out of the question. After five minutes and consulting a female worker we left with a package of assorted pads and Midol.
Such an eventful morning. I was definitely ready for those pancakes.
