Sorry it's been a while. I wanted to make sure I'd thought through the next parts!

Chapter 25

Life just carried on. That's what Serena realised in the first few days after Dean's death. When Bobby had driven her back to his house she had spent the next two days with him. While he buried himself in trying to reach Sam, she worked on locking up her emotions deep inside. She wouldn't be a burden for Bobby or anybody else. Oh she was still upset, but she would let it out when she was alone. On the third day she drove into the small town Bobby lived on the edges of. This is how she knew the world still turned. She sat in a diner and stared out the window at the people walking to the shops and work. The weather was gorgeous again, but the warmth of the sun was lost of her. It was in the diner that she decided that going to Europe was the next move. America felt wrong for her. But before she could go, there was one place she had to stop by.

She said goodbye to Bobby later that day, promising to keep in touch as much as she could. Her flight to Prague was booked for three days time out of Memphis International Airport. Prague was her first choice because she had heard that is was a haunted city, and where better for a hunter to move to? She left Bobby's at dusk, getting some joy from driving her Celica. It had been too long. Bobby had promised to collect her car from the airport when he was in Tennessee next. She accelerated when she hit the interstate and was glad she had chosen a time when the roads weren't as busy. The drive to West Plains, Missouri, would take just under eleven hours. It was uneventful all the way down there. She checked into a motel and got a few hours sleep before driving the short distance to her childhood home. Her family hadn't moved as far as she was aware. She reached her street and turned down it, pulling up on the side of the road. Taking a deep breath, she turned the engine off. The street hadn't changed very much since she had last been there. The trees were bigger obviously, the house across from hers had had an extension to the side of their house and the one directly to the right of hers had painted their house a shade of terracotta. She stepped out of the house and marched up to the front door, reminding herself she'd faced scarier things than this. She knocked on the door and waited. A gray-haired man answered the door, smiling at her politely. He looked confused when she stood there not saying anything. His eyes went passed her to the car on the road.

"Serena," he said disbelievingly.

"Hey Dad," she replied, waving a hand awkwardly. He pulled her into a quick embrace. Serena smiled slightly. After all, she knew Terry Bates hadn't wanted to kick her out all those years ago. The look on her father's face when he let go of her shocked her. It looked like hatred. "I was passing through." The look made her feel she had to justify her presence.

"Maybe you should just go," Terry Bates said. He began to shut the door on her, but she acted quickly. She put her boot in the doorway and pushed it open. Her dad was strong, but she was stronger. She walked over the threshold and looked up at him in confusion.

"What's wrong dad?" She asked. After all, if anyone was resentful, shouldn't it be her?

"You're not taking him," he told her, taking a step towards the staircase. Serena's eyes widened. Her dad thought she was there to recruit her younger brother into hunting. Just like Nate had done to her. She tilted her head.

"Is that why you think I've come? To bring an eight year old into my world?"

"He's nine," Terry corrected out of habit.

"Until just now, I didn't even know it was a boy," Serena said, her voice was unnervingly calm. "Do you think I'm a monster? Hunting is not for nine year olds, dad." Terry visibly relaxed, but the look didn't leave his face.

"Where is he then," She added.

"At school," Terry said simply. Serena nodded. She didn't keep up with term times. She moved passed her dad into the living room and collapsed onto the arm chair. It wasn't the same as the one she had claimed in her teen years, but it would do for the visit. Terry sat down on the sofa with his hands clasped before him.

"What's his name? What's he like?" She asked.

"His name is Charlie. He's a good son, has your mom's eyes, but he got my chin." Serena smiled at her dad's description. Serena had been lucky enough to look more like her mom.

"You named him after granddad," she observed.

"Look Serena, I have to ask," her dad said after a few moments of awkward silence. "Why are you here? Why now?"

"Well mom called a few weeks ago," she shrugged. "I thought I'd be grown up and put it all behind me." A dark shadow passed over his face. "Hey, where is mom?"

"She's dead Serena," Terry stated. Serena's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Four years ago," he continued. His voice was growing steadily angrier. "There was a poltergeist a few blocks over. Gabby tried calling Nate for help; we didn't have your cell number. He told her that neither of you would help, that she could do it, after all she was raised same as he was. So she went hunting. Thing is, reflexes get worse over time, especially if you don't use them. It got her killed. Then a real hunter happened to be passing through, sorted it out in an afternoon."

"Dad…" she started. Then stopped. The thing that rang her had been the Crocotta, just as it had pretended to be John Winchester. It must have given up on her as she had no inclination to go to her mom, she didn't even know she was dead. "I didn't know, he never told me. I haven't seen him in eight years." He glared at her. She was hurt by his unspoken accusations. "Do you seriously blame me for this? You kicked me out to get rid of hunting; I stayed away because you and mom didn't want Charlie involved."

"I didn't know what to think," Terry replied, the anger had gone from his voice. "I thought you were angry at us still."

"I've never been a petty person," Serena snapped, standing up. "I'd have come if I had known. But if you think I'm such a bad person I'll leave for good this time." She walked out of the door, she knew she would have to come back and part on better terms this time. But for now, she'd had enough. She had to process her mom's death, push that into her locked box of emotion. When she walked out of the door she saw a young boy walking up the path towards her. He had the same dark brown hair as she had. It must be Charlie. She slowed her walk down a little so she could get a good look at his face. When he looked up and saw her he stopped.

"Who are you?" It was said politely. Serena smiled, he had the Bates curiosity.

"I'm Jane," she lied smoothly. If her dad didn't want Charlie to be influenced, then she wouldn't mention she was his sister. "I'm a friend of you dads."

"I've never heard of you," he replied. Serena laughed and nodded.

"We're old friends," she added. "Now, shouldn't you be in school?" Charlie frowned.

"We all got sent home," he told her. "My friend, Gemma, she got hurt." Now Serena frowned, one little girl getting hurt didn't normally shut an entire school.

"Is she okay?"

"I don't know," Charlie shook his head. "Better than Ben was."

"What happened to Ben?"

"He said someone chased him, he hit his head." Serena nodded slowly. Something seemed out of place. She smiled at him.

"What school are you at Charlie?"

"West Plains Elementary."

"You better go explain it to your dad," she told him. "Tell him I'm on it."

She drove straight from her family's home to the elementary school. She wasn't surprised that Charlie went to the same school she herself had. There was probably nothing supernatural going on, but after the bombshell her dad had just dropped on her, she wanted to be absolutely sure before she left town. The school was only a five minute drive away. There was a police car pulled up outside of the main entrance. Serena checked she had the right badge; she had had to make a new one the day before yesterday as Sam had driven off before she had removed the cards kept in the Impala. She tucked it into her pocket and grabbed an EMF reader and a small iron blade out of the trunk, slipping the blade where her gun usually rested. The main entrance opened and a man in the police uniform stepped towards her.

"I'm sorry ma'm, the school is closed," he told her. She smiled politely and nodded.

"That's why I'm here, Officer…?"

"Hume," he supplied. Serena nodded again and reached for her badge.

"I'm from the Department of Public Safety Jane Bellamy," She showed him her badge. He didn't look too closely, to which Serena was glad. It was a standard state police badge for Missouri, but it didn't mention the office. "What's going on here?"

"A young girl, Gemma Marshalls, was found crying in the gym with a cut on her upper arm. Pretty deep."

"What about last week?"

"You think they're related?" Hume asked.

"You clearly do," she countered. He nodded and led her into the reception. She glanced around the area; the walls were a different colour. They had been cream in her time, now they were a bright yellow.

"Ben Thomas was also found in the gym, but he was unconscious. He woke up a few days afterwards and said he had been chased, must've fallen over and hit his head."

"Did he say who was chasing him?"

"He hit his head," Hume stated firmly. Serena recognised the tone. It meant something didn't add up, at all. She gave him a long look. "Okay, he said it was a teacher called Mr Kaplan." Serena waited, knowing there was more. She knew Mr Kaplan, he'd taught art. He wasn't popular. "We checked the records, the only Kaplan that taught here died five years ago." He was dead? Serena's eyes widened.

"Both happened in the gym? I'm going to take a look around." Hume nodded, letting her pass. She walked the hallways towards the gym. When she knew for sure she was alone, she pulled out the EMF reader and started scanning the area. The area seemed normal to her, but when she entered the gym, the reader went wild. She turned it off quickly and stepped towards the middle of the gym. It was smaller than she remembered.

"Mr Kaplan," she called out. "I'd like a chat, you know, a heart to heart?" She hoped that ghosts had a sense of humour. Mr Kaplan had been big on heart to hearts. She turned around on the spot slowly a few times. Just as she stopped moving, her old art teacher appeared in front of her. He looked at her curiously. "Mr Kaplan, what are you doing to these kids?" She also hoped that Mr Kaplan hadn't lost the love of his own voice when he lost his life. Serena didn't even know how he had died. There were no obvious wounds on his body that she could see. Then he turned his head and Serena saw a bullet wound.

"I poured my life into this place, thirty years of my life," he ranted. "And the students here drove me to this."

"Its elementary school," Serena replied. "They're hardly teenagers."

"They're worse, you can't do anything about it. No one believes you."

"Well, I'm just gonna have to stop you," Serena said fairly. "And I have a plane to catch so…" Mr Kaplan lunged at her. Serena reacted quickly, pulling the iron blade out of her jeans and swiping at her old teacher. Her healing wound twanged slightly as she did so, but she ignored it. She ran out of the gym and hurried out of the building calling back to Hume that she had a lead to follow.

She drove straight back to the motel and searched on the internet for where Mr Kaplan had been buried. She swore when she read he had been cremated. That made things a bit more complicated. She thought over her confrontation with him, what had he said about pouring himself into the school? It said on the page that he had shot himself in his art room.

"Am I gonna have to burn down the school?" Serena said aloud to herself. She knew that whatever tied him to the world still would have to be nearby. She searched for his home address and drove round there, this time she would be a journalist. The Kaplan's lived the other side of West Plains. Before leaving, she picked up her greatest disguise, her handbag. Not something she carried around except for cases. Serena jumped out of her Celica and knocked on the door. The door opened revealing Mrs Kaplan.

"Good afternoon," Serena greeted. "Serena Howard. I'm doing a memorial piece on former teachers in West Plains, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions? Of course it will reflect Mr Kaplan in a positive light." She had fished her press card out of the back of her car before getting out of the car.

"You'll have to make it quick; I'm on my way out." She ushered Serena into the house and shut the door behind her. She led the way into the living room and continued to put her make up on in the big mirror on the far wall.

"Are you going somewhere nice?" Serena asked politely, she sat down on the sofa and pulled out a small notebook.

"Visiting a friend in the next town over," Mrs Kaplan told her. Serena made a mental note, she could take a look around later.

"I know his career ended tragically," Serena said sensitively. "But could you tell me about his first years teaching? Did he enjoy it?"

"Yes, he gave his soul to teaching," Mrs Kaplan smiled fondly. "He loved it. But then kids started being…well you know how kids are now. No respect." Serena nodded encouragingly. It worried her that she had used the same kind of phrasing.

"I saw that he got an award for it in '84," Serena said.

"Yes," Mrs Kaplan pointed out of the room. "It's in there. For outstanding teaching. The kids were rebellious that year, but his teaching soothed them according to the school board."

"May I have a look?" Serena walked in the direction Mrs Kaplan had pointed. It led her into a small study room. She pulled the EMF reader out of her pocket and scanned the room. There was a slight piquing in one corner. Serena quickly had a look and found a leather bound diary. She picked it up and slid it into her handbag. She walked back out of the room and continued asking Mrs Kaplan questions about her husbands teaching career. She didn't care for the answers, they weren't relevant.

Let me know what you think! Pretty please!