Supernatural – Heart of Gold
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural. I do own Haley, and Alvira and her 'family'.
Author's Note: So, now that my brain had recovered from that serious overflow, I can start writing again.
Review Answers:
Wildcat023: Glad you loved, appreciate the comment on its greatness. Did you honestly think he wouldn't? Do you honestly think I'd kill my #1 favourite fictional character? It's actually highly possible I would, I do that sometimes. But not in this story.
EvilTC: Glad you liked it. Don't worry, Dean's going to get a lot more spotlight in the next couple of chapters. Some of it may not be what you like (evil chuckle), but oh well, you asked for it,so if he gets hurt,you'll have no one to blame but yourself.
BridgetLynn: Thanks, nice to know you think it's fantastic. Glad you like Haley, glad she seems real, that's a real good compliment.
Chapter 20 – Bitter Memories
It had been almost a week since they'd fought the poltergeist back in Lawrence. They'd spent the better part of that week recovering from the emotional scars that fight had left them with. Haley worst of all because she had to deal with Sam and Dean's on top of her own problems. They tried to keep themselves in check around her, but it was like fate was determined to make her suffer, and one way or another she was always in the same room as one or both of them when the emotions ran high.
So, in an attempt to get herself and her empathy under control, she had sent Dean and Sam out to get lunch, and then locked herself in the hotel room with the laptop, deciding to do a search to see if she could find any jobs that didn't require too much.
As it turned out, there was something not too far away. A small town where at least two or three people were vanishing every couple of nights, only to turn up days later with two holes punctured in the sides of their neck, completely drained of blood. Haley furrowed her brow in thought; more often then not those two put together equaled vampires; and more often then not, normal people didn't put those two together. Which meant people would keep on disappearing for months before anyone did anything about it. And when someone did do something about it, that someone would just move up on the dinner menu. Unless that someone was armed and knew what they were getting themselves into.
She picked up her cell phone, with the intention of calling Sam and Dean to tell them, and was scrolling down the list of numbers when it highlighted John Winchester's number. She glanced around the room, as if expecting Sam and Dean to appear out of the walls and question her as to why she had their father's number on her mobile. The moment passed, and she hit the dial button, putting the mobile to her ear.
"This is John Winchester." Said his voicemail. "If it's an emergency, call my son, Dean: 866 57 3235. He can help."
"John Winchester, if you aren't the lowest- What man willingly sits by while his sons'- who I might add are still searching for him despite the fact he treats them like dirt- sit talking in another room?" She all-but shouted into the mobile. She took a deep breath. "You're manipulating them like pieces on a chess board!" So much for calming down. "Each set of coordinates the find, they think that maybe, this time, their father will be waiting for them. And guess what? He never is!" She gave a small frustrated cry, and jabbed the end call button. She was absolutely fuming. Never in her life had she known someone to treat their children so badly.
No, not quite true. She thought. She reached into a pocket of her leather pants and pulled out an old photograph. The corners were worn, and there were a couple of tears along the edges. It showed a woman in her early twenties, with straight blond hair that reached just past her shoulders. In her arms was a baby, barely a few days old. She smiled bitterly down at the photo. It had been taken about a week before her mother had fostered her out to the family she'd grown up with.
Looking down, Haley would never know the smiling woman in the photo was contemplating the possibility of giving up her daughter if she hadn't lived it. She'd known for as long as she could remember that the family that had raised her wasn't her birth family. They'd loved her, and she'd loved them (something she wasn't sure she could say about her birth mother), but she'd always wondered: what could make a mother give up her child? Weren't there supposed to be maternal instincts and what-not? When she was younger she'd tried to come up with legitimate reasons her mother had given her up. The delusions of a child who wanted her mother to be good. Now, though…
She gave a startled jump when her mobile rang. Shaking her head, she picked up the phone and checked the caller ID: John Winchester. A somewhat bemused look on her face, she answered the call.
"Would you mind explaining to me what that was about?" John's barely-contained anger could be heard even with God-knew how many miles between them.
"I'm sorry, John, is that you?" She asked. "It's been so long since we actually talked, I barely recognized your voice." She said. "Although, now that I have you, I'd like to talk to you about what a terrible person you are."
"If you really believed that, you'd have told Sam and Dean I was there." John said.
"No, I didn't tell them because of that." Haley said. "Your son's love you, and the closest they get to any returned love from you is an emotionless voicemail message. How many messages have they left for you, huh? Do you even listen to them, or do you just delete them?"
"Of course I listen to them, Haley, what do you think I am?" John snapped.
"Honestly, I don't know," Haley said.
"I was the one who had to raise those two after their mother died. I taught them everything they know-"
"Minus four years of college for Sam." Haley cut in, but John ignored her.
"-I made them what they are. I'm their father, they know I love them!"
"Do you?" Haley asked. "Because from where I'm standing, I honestly don't know." She sighed, relenting; she didn't need empathy to know she'd hit a nerve. "You raised them like soldiers; when all Sam wanted was to be raised like a boy. You send them on job after job; Dean follows your orders without question, and you can't even take the time to call him and congratulate him once in a while, if nothing else?" She stopped for a minute, then decided to go all the way. "Maybe it's time you stopped acting like their commander and started acting like their dad." She said. There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time. Haley thought maybe he'd dropped the phone without hanging up. Then she heard his voice.
"This discussion is over." He said.
"Disc- Discussion?" She echoed. "You're acting like a talk about your sons' feelings is a battle plan!" No answer. "John Winchester, don't you dare hang up on me!" Too late. She heard the dial tone signalling he'd cut the connection. With a cry of frustration, she threw the mobile across the room to crash into the wall at the far end, falling broken to the floor.
"Haley, something wrong?"
Haley felt sure he heart jumped out of her chest when Dean's voice came from the other side of the room door.
"No, I'm fine…" She said. "How long have you been standing there?" She asked.
"Long enough to hear you throw something at the wall." Came Sam's voice. "You gonna unlock the door or do we have to break it down?" He asked.
"I'll be right there." She said, walking to the door, and picking up the remains of her mobile as she did so. She pulled the latch across, letting the brothers back into the room. Dean noticed the broken mobile in her hands almost immediately. "Don't ask." Haley said flatly.
"Don't tell." Was Dean's reply, walking past her. "We've got fries, burgers, nuggets, thick shakes."
"Is McDonalds all these places have these days?" Haley complained, though she happily took the box of nuggets Sam held out to her from the bag he was carrying.
"It was either this or a dirty looking café down the street." He said. "We thought McDonalds might be safer. And not just for our stomachs." Haley gave him a questioning look. "Don't ask."
"Don't tell." Haley said in exactly the same way Dean had to her. She opened the box and hungrily devoured one of the nuggets. "So… I think I found our next job." She said. Sam walked over to the computer, removing his glasses. His eyes had almost completely healed despite the explosion of light he'd been assaulted with back at their old house, but Dean insisted he wear them until the light didn't bother him at all. Sam had tried to argue that he would never know if it still bothered him. Of course, Dean had been going through the trunk and he'd found the hand cuffs at that exact moment (something Haley suspected wasn't a coincidence), so Sam had quickly shut up about the glasses.
"Vampires." He said almost immediately.
"Fast reader." Haley said, walking over to join him, devouring each of her nuggets one by one. Dean came over and dropped a packet of fries in front of Sam, who grabbed a few and went on reading.
"Does it say how long this has been going on?" Dean asked.
Sam scrolled down. "Three and a half months." He said. Dean nodded. "Which means if they've been recruiting as well as feeding, there's a chance there's quite a large family by now."
"Family?" Haley echoed sceptically. Sam looked up at her.
"Well, yeah, I mean, that's basically what they are, since a vampire who sires someone is then technically the mother or father vampire of the one they sired." He said.
"And you know this how?" Dean asked. Sam had a sheepish grin on his face.
"You're not the only one who watches TV shows with women fighting evil." He said. Dean laughed.
Haley looked from one brother, to the other, and then back to the first, and rolled her eyes. "Men." She muttered, shaking her head.
"Women." Sam muttered, pretending to be appalled.
"Brother's."
"Bitches." Dean said.
"Oh, that hurt." Haley and Sam said at the same time. Dean looked between the two of them.
"Okay, that whole synchronicity thing is really start to weird me out." He said. "Back to the vamps." He said.
"Well, there's nothing much to it." Sam said. "We found where they're roosting, and we wipe them out." He said. "Simple."
"Yeah, except wiping them out involves getting close enough for them to wipe us out." Dean said.
"Not necessarily." Haley said. She looked at them. "What? Are you saying you-? Oh, this is too good to be true: I actually know something about hunting that you don't?" She smiled gleefully, like a child who had just achieved something and was receiving high praise for it.
"So are you going to stand there basking in your brilliance or are you going to tell us what this information is that we don't know?" Dean said after a minute. Haley grinned.
"How much money have you got?" She asked.
"What, you want us to buy the information?" Dean asked, his face a mask of disbelief.
"No, you nitwit," Haley said, rolling her eyes. "We're going to need lots of money because we're going to need to buy lots and lots of stakes."
"Where from, 'Kills-Vampires R Us'?" Dean asked sceptically.
"No, the gardening supplies shop." Haley said, grinning. "Another thing about hunting vamps I know about that you don't."
"And are you going to tell us this first thing?" Sam asked, drawing his attention away from the computer. Haley smiled, opened her mouth, and changed her answer a split second before she said it.
"Nope," She said gleefully. "I'll tell you later after we have the stakes."
A/N: So, what do you think of Haley and John's conversation? I hope I did it okay. I was actually considering not putting it in at all, but I've got something in a future chapter that I needed the conversation for to lead up to. As always, please Review, much appreciated.