Chapter 3

Confession

It was almost midnight when Brooke and Haley arrived at Lucas and Peyton's house. They quickly got out of Haley's car and walked toward the front porch.

Haley sighs, "I just can't sleep without knowing if Lucas and Peyton are okay. Thank goodness Skills didn't mind watching Jamie for me. I mean, if they were going somewhere, why didn't they just tell us?"

Brooke tries to reassure Haley, "I'm sure they're fine." She nudges Haley's arm and jokingly says, "Maybe they eloped."

Haley gives a sarcastic laugh, "I'll beat Lucas' ass if they did!"

Haley knocks on the door. After a minute passes and no one answers the door, she knocks louder, "Lucas! It's Haley and Brooke!"

Brooke walks over to one of the windows on the porch and cups her hands around her eyes to try and see in. She notices the kitchen light is on, "Well they must not have been planning on going too far. The kitchen light is on."

Haley sighs in frustration, "Did you notice their cars when we pulled in?"

Brooke shakes her head, "I didn't see anything, but they might be in the garage."

Haley nods, "Let's go look."

Brooke and Haley link arms as they start walking down the porch steps. As soon as they reach the ground, they hear a noise.

Crack!

They both stop abruptly. Brooke whispers, "Did you hear that?"

Haley nods, "Sounded like it came from around the back of the house."

Brooke and Haley stand there in silence, waiting to hear something else. Nothing happens so they start walking again. As soon as they start to go around the corner, they run into two tall figures. They both scream and Brooke reacts by hitting one of them on the side of the head.

Brooke realizes it's two men when the taller one with shaggy, brown hair steps forward and lightly grabs her by the arms, "Hey, hey! It's okay."

She tries to struggle free when she glances over and sees the other one bent over, clutching his head. He groans, "Dammit!"

Brooke realizes she recognizes the voice.

"Dean?!"

He grumbles and slowly walks forward, still touching his bruised temple, "Yeah…."

Brooke quickly steps forward, "I'm so sorry! I couldn't see anything!"

Haley glances from Brooke to Dean, "Wait, so this is Dean?"

Dean looks at Brooke and smirks, "You've been talking about me, huh?" He winces in pain as Brooke lightly touches his head.

"I can't believe you got whacked by a girl."

Brooke looks over at the other guy, who is trying not to laugh, "You must be Sam."

The guy smiles and extends his hand, "Yes, that would be correct."

Brooke smiles and shakes his hand. She glances back at Haley, "This is my friend, Haley."

Haley smiles and slowly waves. Brooke suddenly feels uneasy as she realizes something. She slowly turns back to Dean with a confused look on her face, "Wait a second. What are you doing here? How did you know where Lucas and Peyton lived?"

Dean worriedly glances at Sam. They had come there that night, never thinking they would run into anyone. Especially not Brooke.

"Well, uh…we were just driving by and saw you two standing on the porch. I decided to stop and see if there was an update on your friends."

Brooke stares at him, unconvinced, "We didn't hear your car pull up."

Dean knows from the look Brooke is giving him, she doesn't believe a word he's saying.

Haley looks at Brooke, and then glances at Dean. There was a great amount of tension building between the two. She clears her throat to break the silence, "Well thanks for your concern. I'm sure Brooke will keep you updated."

Dean continues to stare at Brooke, who looks away. She had only known Dean for two days and he was already lying to her. Something just wasn't right. She feels Haley touch her arm, "You ready to go? I need to get back home. Nathan will probably be calling soon."

Brooke nods, "Sure."

She glances at Dean as they start walking to Haley's car. Dean feels an urge to stop her. He couldn't let her leave like that.

He suddenly blurts out without thinking, "We can take Brooke home."

Sam's eyes widen at Dean's suggestion, "Dean…"

Dean looks back at Sam, but ignores his concern.

Brooke stops suddenly and looks back at Dean. What was he up to? Haley looks at Brooke, unsure of what Brooke is feeling. "Uh, are you okay with that Brooke?"

Brooke stares at Dean, trying to understand his expression. He seemed very anxious. She wasn't sure if it was the best idea or not, but she wanted answers. And this might just be the perfect opportunity for that.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." She hugs Haley and gives her a reassuring smile as Haley gets into her car.

Ten minutes later, Dean pulls into Brooke's driveway. She opens the passenger side door and looks toward the backseat at Sam with a soft smile, "It was nice meeting you."

Sam smiles back, "You too."

Brooke gets out and shuts the door. Dean sighs as he takes the keys out of the ignition, "I'll be back in a minute."

"Dean! Don't do anything…." Dean shuts the car door before Sam can finish, "Stupid."

Brooke unlocks her front door and walks in. Dean hesitantly follows. Brooke lays her keys down on the side table, never turning to face Dean.

Dean stands there a few moments, feeling a bit awkward, "I'm sorry you still haven't heard from your friends. I'm sure they're okay. Maybe they…"

Brooke suddenly turns around with a fierce look on her face, "What were you doing there tonight? And no bullshit story about how you saw us on the porch and decided to stop. I want the truth!"

Dean is taken aback by Brooke's sudden anger.

"I never heard a car pull up and when we ran into you, you were both coming from around the back of the house!"

"Brooke, I don't think now is the best time to…."

"Oh, I think now is the perfect time to discuss this! If you want to continue to see me, you will tell me how you knew where my friends lived and what the hell you were doing there snooping around their house! You said you and your brother are in the "family business". Well I'm really starting to wonder just what kind of family business it actually is!"

Dean stares at Brooke, seeing the persistence she had at the moment. She wasn't going to back down from this. He sighs as he hangs his head and lightly rubs his forehead, "You want the truth, huh?"

Brooke looks at Dean, waiting impatiently for his answer.

"Fine." Dean looks directly into Brooke's eyes, "My brother and I are hunters."

"Hunters." Brooke slightly shakes her head and mockingly says, "And what exactly is it that you hunt?"

Dean shuts his eyes for a second, preparing himself for what would come after his next answer. This wasn't going to be fun. He looks directly at Brooke again, "We hunt demons….and the supernatural."

All Brooke can do is stare blankly at Dean. She had no expression whatsoever. Dean wasn't sure how to respond to that. Finally she sighs and hangs her head. She says softly, "Dean. I said I didn't want anymore lies."

"Brooke, I'm being as honest as I can be!"

Brooke looks back up at Dean with an incredulous look in her eyes, "You expect me to believe this?! That there are actually such things as monsters and ghosts and demons! And you and your brother hunt them?"

Dean takes a step toward Brooke and his voice becomes more stern, "I know it sounds insane, Brooke! I thought the same thing until I saw one with my own eyes when I was only four years old! I was told time and time again that there were no monsters under my bed or in my closet. Then one night my mom is murdered by one!"

"Dean, I just can't…."

Dean lightly wraps his hands around Brooke's arms and looks directly into her eyes, "I was sent here for a reason. I wasn't sure why, but now your friends are missing…."

Brooke scoffs and rolls her eyes at Dean's remark. How dare he bring her friends into this madness!

"Sam and I are beginning to think it's supernatural related. That's why we were investigating at the house tonight. You're not safe, Brooke. Something could happen to you!"

Brooke jerks away from Dean and looks at him with her eyes wide open, "Are you threatening me?"

Confusion sets in on Dean's face and he quickly shakes his head, "Oh God, no! Brooke, I would never do that. I'm trying to protect you…"

Brooke shakes her head in disbelief and looks at Dean with disgust, "I can't believe you! You know for once I thought I had met a decent guy. Yeah, I could tell you had quite a past, but I never in my wildest imagination believed that you're actually insane! Just my luck, right?!"

Dean looks away from Brooke. He couldn't take the way she was looking at him. Yes, people had looked at him like that before, but it never hurt as much as it did this night.

"You need to go."

Dean glances at Brooke. He notices her eyes are filled with tears, but she's fighting them back as hard as she can. She won't even look him in the eyes.

"I'm serious. You need to get out of my house!" She finally looks back at Dean and says in a low, serious tone, "And just so we're clear, you stay far away from me and my friends!"

Dean slowly nods and tries to fight back the lump that's forming in his throat. He turns around and walks toward the open door. He looks back one last time, "You won't see me again."

He walks out and shuts the door behind him. Brooke quickly walks up to the door and locks it. She presses her head up against it and sighs. Tears start to fall down her cheeks.

Dean angrily walks back to the car and gets in. Sam stares at him from the passenger seat. He had heard bits and pieces of the conversation from the door being open.

"She knows doesn't she?"

Dean puts the keys in the ignition and starts to turn it, but he suddenly draws back and starts aggressively hitting the steering wheel, "Dammit!"

Sam watches Dean. It had been a long time since he had seen his brother become so undone like this. After a few moments, Dean slowly starts to regain his composure. He leans his head down on his hand that's gripping the steering wheel.

"Are we leaving Tree Hill?"

After a minute of silence, Dean finally lifts his head back up, but stares straight ahead, "No. We're not going anywhere. We'll keep a low profile and she'll never know we're here. I want to make sure she stays safe."

Sam nods.

"There's something going on here, Sam, and we're going to find out what it is." Dean looks at Sam with intensity and determination in his eyes, "I'll be damned if I let anything happen to her."