Author's Note: Look at me updating on 3-4 days after my last chapter. I promised I'd try! And here we are. Thank you so much to Deangirl93 and GGOTHSPNfan for reviewing the last chapter. I know I say that every chapter, but y'all really don't know how much it means to me. I love hearing feedback and really, just knowing that people are actually reading and ENJOYING the story. So, to sweeten the deal, for those that review this chapter, I will send you a sneak preview of the next chapter. A scene... or two, but most likely one (a kick ass one, might I add!). The next chapter WILL deal with Victoria hunting with John Winchester - and no, not her brother. Happy reading!
The week had flown by and Friday was upon the Winchesters. Victoria had gotten home from school and all she wanted to do was sleep. Not only was running on very little sleep over the week harder than she thought it would be, but the fact that she had had very little sleep the weekend before made it even harder.
"Hi," Victoria said, surprised as she stumbled upon her parents and her uncle sitting at the kitchen table together looking over some files. "Everything okay? You guys are acting like someone just died."
Sam had an alarmed look on his face while Meredith shot her a "be very gentle" look. Dean on the other hand had an uncomfortable look plastered on his face that made Victoria chuckle a little.
"Sorry... is this about the whole... breaking of seals thing?" Victoria asked.
"Yes. Sorry, sweetie. We've been looking into it but no concrete news yet for you or Flynn," Meredith replied. She and Dean were waiting to tell their kids more about it until they had solid facts.
"It's okay. I get it," Victoria nodded, simply.
"How was school?" Dean asked, changing the subject quickly.
"Good. I'm going to go take a nap. I'll see you guys later," Victoria said, itching to escape the awkward tension in the room. She hurried upstairs, water bottle in hand as she went to seek out the comfort of her bed.
She knew she had closed the door to her bedroom when she had left this morning. Why was it open now? She froze, stunned to see a man in a tan trench coat, looking out her bedroom window. "What the-… Cas?"
She had only encountered Castiel, the family friend-angel, on occasion but it was still a shock and she couldn't help her reflexes that said: it's a demon!
"Victoria," he nodded, acknowledging her before turning around, a business only look in his eyes.
"Cas, you can't sneak up on a person like that!" she gasped, putting her hand to her chest to feel her racing heartbeat out of surprise.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"What're you doing here?" she asked. "Do you need my parents or-."
"No, I'm here for you," Cas said, before making his way towards her. Victoria opened her mouth to say something, not quite sure what he could possibly need from her before he interrupted her. "You need to go back and see where it all started."
"Where what all started?" she asked, confused. Before he answered, Cas' hand touched her forehead, and everything went dark.
HONK!
"Hey, get out of the way!" someone yelled out from their car as their car screeched to a halt, avoiding the possible accident. Victoria gasped, reeling from what had just happened.
"Thanks, Cas," she mumbled, looking up at the sky. She looked around the street, her surroundings all too familiar. Her eyes widened as she began to piece together where she was. It was Sioux Falls High School only different. The sun was shining yet it was pretty chilly out. Victoria hugged her paper-thin cardigan to her body. The grungy hair, the 90s haircuts, and the bad clothes... she could swear that she had gone-.
"Can you believe it?" Victoria heard a voice ask, causing her to jump. She turned around, still in shock. One minute he was sending her back in time, disappearing on her, and then reappearing. She couldn't keep up with this angel!
"Cas, where the hell am I?!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide, her mind racing and heart pounding. She stood in awe, gawking at the scenery. This wasn't possible, was it?
"February 1996. I can only retrieve you when you've done what I sent you here to do," Cas said.
"But what is that?" Victoria asked.
"Find out where it all began," Cas replied, cryptically.
"Okay, yeah, you said that but what does that mean?" Victoria asked. "Cas? Cas?" He was gone. "Damn it." Victoria took in a deep breath. She could kill him right now. She could barely get over the fact that she had time traveled let alone had to do school all over again. But if he wanted her to find out, she would. It was the only way to get out.
She looked both ways in order to not piss off yet another driver as she crossed the street over to the school. 1996. Victoria hated math but she wasn't bad at it. Her parents must've been... 16, 17? They were her age... now. What were the odds that they would be here? Tricky, Cas. Tricky.
Victoria pulled the door open to Sioux Falls High School and stepped in. Boy had it been different back in the 90s. The front office was to the right of the entrance and she made her way there. Victoria had been stirring up a plan in her head. She had to find her mother and stick with her in order to find whatever Cas was talking about. She knew she had to think and work quickly. She took a deep breath before pulling her hair up into a ponytail and buttoning her cardigan up higher. She wanted to look more like a goody-two-shoes first.
"Um, excuse me?" she asked, the pitch of her voice raised.
"Yes?" the woman at the front desk asked back.
"I just thought you should know, but a fight broke out all the way down in the East Wing of the school," Victoria started, innocently. "No one would tell a teacher so I went straight to the administration."
"Oh no... alright. Let me go see what's going on. I'll alert our disciplinary faculty," the woman said, shaking her head as she got up from her desk, and leaving her office. Victoria looked around. She knew she wouldn't have much time so she hurried. She went behind the desk quickly looking up a schedule.
Meredith Winchester.
Nothing.
Duh! Of course not.
She then began to type: Meredith Summers.
There!
Victoria's eyes scanned the schedule. 1st period US History, 2nd period English, 3rd Psychology, 4th Period Math, 5th Period Latin, 6th Period Elective: Creative writing. Bingo. She then quickly changed the name on the schedule before printing it out and escaping the front office.
The classroom numbers hadn't changed one bit so she knew exactly where to go. She made her way to the classroom that was her mother's first period class. Find out how what began...? Was Cas talking about this whole breaking seals thing? If so, she knew the only way to do it was to find familiar ground. She had to find her mother and... was she going to be able to meet Bobby?
Her heart began to pound in her chest at the thought. Well, that and the idea that she'd meet her mom at sixteen. That'd be... weird. As Victoria approached the classroom, she prepared herself for what she was about to see. She took a deep breath and headed into the classroom.
"Did you get number nine on the homework?" Victoria heard someone ask.
A group of guys erupted in laughter and girls were gossiping in the corner. Yep. This was definitely high school.
"Do you mind if I sit here? I'm new here. I actually just transferred in. A little late in the year, right? That's what I told my dad but he said it would be better for me here," Victoria asked, innocently.
"No, of course not," the blonde girl said, moving her purse from the desk in front of her. she had long, wavy, sandy blonde hair and was still stunning as always.
"I'm Meredith," the other girl said, sitting in the desk next to the blonde girl. "Meredith Summers."
"Molly," the blonde girl added.
"Victoria..." Victoria introduced herself, her eyes scanning the room. She then spotted the presidential chart of all the past presidents, striking an idea in her. "Victoria Roosevelt."
"Nice to meet you," Meredith said.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had another long lost sister, Mer," Molly joked, looking from Victoria to Meredith. "You have to admit, she looks kind of like you." Meredith shot her a look. "What? Too soon? Sorry..."
"No, it's fine. I-, sorry, Victoria. I just recently found out I had a long lost sister which you so don't want to know about… Sorry, again," Meredith said.
"Small town, big drama, huh?" Victoria asked.
Meredith and Molly both exchanged glances, "Yeah."
"So what brings you to Sioux Falls?" Meredith began to ask.
"Dad got a new job," Victoria replied. "He-." But before she could continue, the teacher walked in, slamming the door behind him, ready to start class.
"Alright class. It's 8 am. Get your books out and let's begin class," Mr. Capulet announced. Victoria had a feeling that this was going to be interesting.
Victoria pinched herself under the table, still in disbelief that this was happening. She watched as her beautiful, sixteen-year-old mother threw her head back, laughing at a joke that her best friend, Molly had made. Everything written in her mother's diary was exactly on point. Molly was stunning and sparkly - the it girl that everyone wanted to be. She was flawless without even trying. Meredith on the other hand was beautiful, kind, passionate, and impulsive - although friendly, she noticed her mother was quite a pistol. Ethan was goofy, fun, and handsome as ever! Victoria was almost scared to meet her father at this age.
Speaking of…
At that moment, a tall, handsome, guy of sixteen with dirty blonde hair approached the table sliding right into the seat next to Meredith.
"Hey, baby," he smirked, leaning in to kiss her. Victoria tried not to react in any way as they kissed each other.
"Dean, public, remember?" Meredith giggled, pulling away.
"So?" he shrugged.
Wow. Some things never changed, did they? Victoria snickered a little, trying not to draw attention to herself.
"Dean, I want you to meet someone. This is Victoria. She's actually a transfer. Molly and I met her in our first period class and it's so weird! We just happen to have the exact same schedule so we've gotten to know each other quite a bit," Meredith introduced. "Victoria, this is my boyfriend, Dean."
"Ahh, the infamous Dean," Victoria chuckled. This was so surreal! "It's nice to finally meet you."
"You've been talking about me?" Dean smirked, looking over at his girlfriend.
"So?" Meredith asked back, mocking his pervious 'so.'
"Good things, I hope," he said.
Meredith only rolled her eyes, chuckling.
"Victoria, what did you say your father did again?" Meredith asked, curiously.
"He's a-," Victoria trailed off. She knew she wanted hint at being a hunter in hopes that they picked it up. Maybe they'd trust her and let her in. That's the only way she'd find out where 'it' began, right? "He's a traveling salesman." She watched as Meredith and Dean both exchanged glances. Bingo. She knew that'd tip them off.
Dean raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, uh, our family's in the same business. We're just temporary living with uh… um, well, he's sort of like an uncle to us."
"He sounds nice. Meredith told me about him," Victoria replied. "Bobby, right?"
"Yeah, actually," Dean said.
"You know, I'd love to meet him," Victoria started.
"Well-," Dean stammered.
"You know, that actually wouldn't be such a bad idea. I think he'd like you," Meredith shrugged, looking at Dean for approval.
Dean began to nod, "Yeah, it wouldn't do any harm, right?"
"Right," Meredith answered.
"So how do you like it here so far?" Dean asked, curiously.
"It's a lot better than I thought it would be. You know, moving schools all the time… it really sucks. Being the new kid becomes somewhat of a permanent thing, but I've felt really welcome here for once," Victoria started.
"I know how that is," Dean agreed.
"Meredith's really taken me under her wing today, so thanks," Victoria said.
"Oh, it's no problem. This one here went through the same thing so I'm used to it," Meredith said back, referring to Dean. "Sometimes I feel like the universal mother bird that takes in those of… traveling salesman…." She joked.
"Please, you love it," Dean teased.
"Are those common? You know… traveling salesmen through these towns?" Victoria asked, curiously.
"Kind of," Meredith answered, uneasily.
"Yes, Mer is like the mother bird and she and Dean are practically married," Molly interjected in the conversation, causing both Dean and Meredith to laugh.
"Molly always says that," Meredith explained with a laugh.
"What is it that everyone used to say? That we were going to get married at some point? When we started dating, it didn't surprise anyone," Dean added.
"Please, you two are so married," Molly pointed out.
"Someday," Victoria muttered to herself.
"What?" Meredith asked, shooting her a funny look.
"Nothing. It's just you two remind me a lot of my parents. That's all," Victoria said, innocently.
"Alright, well this is a lot of commitment for one day. No offense, baby. You know I love you, but marriage? Not right now," Dean announced.
"Oh my God, no! We're sixteen. Gross," Meredith agreed.
"Glad we're on the same page," he said.
"Mhm," she said back. He leaned in kissing her as she kissed back. He pulled her into a deeper kissed before she giggled and pulled away again. "Really?" She giggled at how into it he wanted to get right out in the open.
"What? I can't help it. We're on the same page… and that's so sexy…" he smirked.
Victoria averted her eyes, chuckling uncomfortably.
Some things really never do change.
"Hey, we're home!" Meredith called as soon as they got into the house. Victoria marveled at the place. It was no palace but it looked like a home – well lived in and reminded her of the center's library. She had butterflies in her stomach. She was finally going to meet THE Bobby.
"Kitchen!" a voice called back.
"I gotta take a leak," Dean said, before heading upstairs. Meredith and Victoria both exchanged glances, laughing as Dean took off.
"Hey," a short, brunette boy said, seeing both Meredith and Victoria. Victoria looked down.
"This is Sam. Sam, this is Victoria. She's new in town. Sam got home early from a field trip," Meredith introduced.
"Wow," Victoria said, her eyes wide.
"Hi," Sam said back, shooting her a funny look.
"I'll be back. I'm going to let Bobby know that you're here but you two stay and talk," Meredith said.
"Sure," Victoria nodded as Meredith disappeared down the hall towards the kitchen where Bobby had said he was. "Hi."
"Hi," Sam replied, uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry. I'm being weird, I know. I just… you're really short," she said in disbelief. She covered her mouth as soon as she realized what she had said. "I'm-, that's not what I meant! I mean, you're not short. You're totally normal for you age it's just that-."
Sam chuckled, "It's okay. I know. But the doctor said I'm supposed to be at least 6 feet by the time I stop growing."
"More like 6 4". I mean, not that I know that but my uncle was shorter when he was younger and now is like a giant," Victoria stammered, embarrassed that she had even said that.
"Oh, so now you're calling me a giant?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No. No! That's not what I meant," Victoria attempted to explain.
"I'm just kidding," Sam said.
"Oh," Victoria chuckled, uncomfortably.
"Alright who's this new friend here?" Victoria heard a gruff, man's voice ask as a bearded man in plaid and baseball cap appeared with Meredith at his side. This was it. Victoria was afraid that she wouldn't actually be able to get any real words out when it was her turn to talk. This man had been such a big part of her parents' lives and even Jude talked about him.
She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.
"I-, uh, um," she managed to sound. "I'm Victoria."
"It's nice to meet you. You can call me Bobby. It's good to see Meredith making some new friends," Bobby said, glancing over at Meredith.
"Hey! My friends are just fine," she protested, jokingly.
"Just let me know if you need anything. I'm trying to fix the damn sink in here," Bobby said.
"It's nice to meet you too," Victoria said, her whole body feeling light as a feather. She didn't know what to say or do or anything… she just wanted to hug him.
"Victoria, why don't we go upstairs to my room?" Meredith suggested.
"Sure," Victoria mindlessly agreed.
"Come on," Meredith smiled showing her the way upstairs.
"This house is incredible," Victoria marveled, taking in every little detail of the house.
"You think?" Meredith asked.
"Yeah!" Victoria exclaimed, with a small laugh.
"This is my room," Meredith stated, as she and Victoria got to her room. She closed the door behind her. Victoria just stood, examining each aspect of the room in wonder. She could barely believe that she was standing in her mother's high school bedroom. "So I lied to you. Sort of."
"Huh?" Victoria asked.
"I know what traveling salesman is code for. You're a hunter, aren't you?" Meredith asked, excitement in her eyes.
Victoria knew she had to play the part so she looked surprised and began to mumble, "How-, how did you know?"
"I can tell. I've grown up around hunters. It's hard not to spot them anymore," Meredith shrugged. "Look, I kind of invited you over because I knew it. Not because I don't like you. I mean, you seem really cool but I thought that maybe, if you are staying in town for longer, you'd like to get to know some other hunters."
Victoria examined her mother's face. She was so kind, so passionate, loving, "Thanks. I-, I appreciate it. A lot, actually."
"I'll have to take you to the Falcon! The owner is practically like a mom to me and well she also used to hunt so-," Meredith started.
"Wait, how many hunters live in this town?" Victoria asked, amused.
"A lot, but most of them are retired," Meredith sighed happily. "This place is kind of a mecca for hunters."
"You seem… happy about it," Victoria noticed.
Meredith shrugged, "I mean, it keeps Dean here. And that's kind of his life right now. Any chance I get to be a part of it, I'll take."
"You and Dean seem really in love," Victoria said.
"Yeah, we are. It's hard when he has to go away on hunts. Sometimes I just feel like I'm waiting for him to leave for good… but he always comes back," Meredith said back, blissfully happy.
Just then, the two of them heard voices downstairs. Doors were opening and there seemed to be some sort of celebration.
"What's that?" Victoria asked.
"Let's go find out," Meredith suggested, giddily. Victoria exchanged glances, shooting a smile at her mother before the two of them raced downstairs to see what was going on.
"Dad!" Dean exclaimed as his dad pulled him into a short hug.
"I'm not staying for long but I just wanted to stop in for the night before going out again," the man replied. Victoria recognized him from pictures and her stomach did another flip. This was John Winchester.
"You can't stay?" Sam asked, disappointedly.
"I'll just be a couple more days," John replied.
Hm… could this be what Cas had sent her back to find out about? John's case?
"It's good to have you home, Dad," Dean chimed in, shooting Sam a 'be happy he's even here' look. Victoria watched, noticing the odd family dynamic. Damn, her family had this whole past that she barely even knew about. She had read about it in her mother's old diaries but seeing it was a whole different experience.
"Meredith," John smiled.
"Hi," she smiled back, giving him a hug.
"Kids, do you mind if I have a word with Bobby for a minute? After that, why don't we make lunch or something because I'm starving," John asked.
"Yeah," Dean complied, eagerly.
"Sure," Sam mumbled.
"Where's Sawyer?" John asked, looking around the room. At that moment, he noticed Victoria in the room.
"She went home with a friend. She's going to a sleepover," Bobby informed. "I've got the book you wanted, John. It's in the study.
"Good to know she's adjusting here then," John mumbled. "And who might this be?"
"Oh, Dad, this is-," Dean started.
"I'm Victoria... Roosevelt," she replied, a wide grin on her face as she reached out to shake John Winchester's hand. She couldn't believe she was meeting her grandfather! She had heard her parents and uncle talk about John - the good and the bad - and he was in Meredith's diary. This was all too surreal. She felt like such a fan girl but it was John Winchester! "My dad's a hunter and we stopped in town for a little bit."
"Huh, well good to meet you," John smiled back, shaking her hand. He let go and she just stood there, gawking back at him. She tried to make herself snap out of it because she knew she looked ridiculous, but it was no use. Bobby grunted, nodding towards the study before he and John left to go find the book.
"That's my dad," Dean grinned, proudly, as he introduced Victoria to his dad.
"Wow," Victoria marveled.
"Yeah, he's pretty cool," Dean chuckled. Sam only looked disappointed.
"Hey, why don't we go back upstairs? I had something I wanted to show you, Victoria. Dean? Sam?" Meredith asked, breaking the tension.
"Cool," Dean agreed.
"Okay," Sam said.
"Hey, I'm just going to get a glass of water, first, if that's okay," Victoria said.
"Yeah, sure," Meredith replied. "Here, I'll show you where-."
"Oh, no. It's fine. I'll figure it out," Victoria said.
"Okay," Meredith said back, exchanging glances with her boyfriend.
"I'll meet you guys up there," Victoria replied, heading in the direction where she saw Bobby come out of when she first met him. She made her way that way, getting some water and walking towards the study.
"I found some weird stuff, Bobby. Really weird. I'm going back out tomorrow to follow it," John started.
"What is it? A demon?" Bobby asked curiously.
"Something like that, yeah," John replied.
This was it. This had to be it. Victoria could feel it. Tomorrow morning, she'd follow John Winchester wherever he was going.