Chapter 9: Light The Night

Haven

Pinehurst, Georgia, USA

July of 1987

"I still don't get what's so special about today," Haven grumbled as she followed Dean and Sammy through the grass that was almost Sammy's height. She carried boxes in her arms as Dean had asked, though she wasn't particularly happy about it. It was the idea of being out after dark that had her following. She didn't want to be alone back at the motel, anyway.

"It's 4th of July," Dean replied, as if she didn't already know that. She wasn't dumb.

"That's just a date, though," Haven said, readjusting the boxes as she almost tripped on the tall grass.

"It's Independence Day. You know, fireworks and stuff. To celebrate us winning a war or something like a hundred years ago and becoming a country."

Haven did not think that made things much clearer. "Why? What's the point of celebrating something that happened a hundred years ago? That's a long time ago."

Dean shrugged, tugging Sammy along as the younger brother got distracted by a bird flying through the air. "I dunno. But the fireworks are cool. I'm gonna show you."

"These things?" Haven lifted the boxes slightly higher.

"Yeah. Dad said he can't be here but he showed me how to do it. We just gotta be careful and not let Sammy play with them," Dean replied.

"Will they hurt him?" Haven asked, frowning at the boxes. She didn't want Sammy to be hurt. She really hated it when he cried. He should smile all the time instead. But she was pretty sure she remembered fireworks from the first chapter of the Hobbit. Bilbo had said something about Gandalf's pretty fireworks that looked like bright flowers and floated in the sky for a long time. They had sounded cool to her then. She hadn't known they might hurt Sammy, though.

Dean said, "If we aren't careful, yeah. They can also start fires and stuff. But they're super awesome to watch."

Dean probably wouldn't wanna do anything to hurt Sammy either. He didn't like Sammy to cry either. It was something they agreed on, unlike which hero was best and who got to choose what show to watch when they got the telly to themselves. Though, they also didn't agree on what to call the telly either. Dean and everyone else here said tee-vee, which rhymed with pee and sounded stupid because of it. Then again, the Dursleys called it telly and she didn't wanna do anything they did… maybe it was better to sound stupid than to agree with the Dursleys.

Maybe.

They only went a little further before Dean let go of Sammy's hand to take the boxes from her. "Here works. Keep Sammy back while I set them off, 'kay?"

As Dean busied himself with the boxes, Haven turned to Sammy who smiled up at her. He reached out for her hand and she took it, holding it like Dean had. She didn't mind holding his hand.

"Have you ever seen fireworks?" Haven asked Sammy as she sat down a bit away from Dean, pulling Sammy to sit with her in the grass. He ran his free hand over the grass.

"No. Only on t.v."

… Sammy said it, too. That settled it.

Haven looked over at Dean and watched him open the boxes. He had a lighter with him. She wasn't supposed to touch lighters. That wasn't very fair. She didn't see what difference a year made.

"I'm lighting it! It'll be loud!" Dean announced as he clicked the lighter and quickly backed away. She thought about covering her ears, but decided to cover Sammy's instead as she waited. Was it really going to be as pretty as the fireworks Gandalf made in the book?

Boom!

It really was loud. A lot like a gunshot. But she'd gotten more used to them now, so she only flinched a little before she looked up. A bit of light soared up into the sky and exploded into red, before falling down again. She watched the little lights fall all the way down.

When they got close, she saw they looked like flowers and petals, and floated all around them, catching in the slight breeze that swirled around them.

"Woah…" Haven gasped despite herself. Dean said they were dangerous, but… She reached out as one of the firework flowers floated down to her. A pretty flower (better than any in Aunt Petunia's garden- hers were never made of light) faded into little sparks as her finger came near.

She grinned and looked at Dean. "Another! Do another one!" Sammy clapped beside her and giggled as he tried to catch one in his mouth. Haven paused to cover his mouth. Just in case. It hadn't hurt when she touched it, just tickled and felt a little warm, but she didn't think it would be safe to eat if Dean said it was dangerous. He wouldn't lie about Sammy's safety, even if he might lie to tease her.

Dean looked confused at the falling bits of light. "Uh… yeah, right."

Haven and Sammy watched eagerly as he lit off another one. This one exploded into blue and green, raining down blue petals and bright green leaves. Sammy jumped up, running to try and catch one big blue flower in his hand. He giggled as it dissolved into tiny bits of blue in his hand and trickled through his fingers before disappearing.

"More!" Haven cheered with Sammy. Dean looked over with a strange smile and nodded. Soon enough, the three of them were running through the field trailing bits of light as more flowers rained down from the night sky.

Dean was right about fireworks being cool. They were probably the best things ever. She didn't know why they were just for some stupid date when people won a war, like, forever ago. They should be for always. Or maybe Christmas. And Sammy's birthday. That was important enough for light flowers.

Dean Winchester

Pinehurst, Georgia, USA

July of 1987

Dean knew for a fact that fireworks didn't work like that at all. He'd seen them before. Maybe the place he'd gotten them from was weird? He wondered if he should tell dad, but… looking at Sammy and Haven laughing as they played with the light (Sammy laughed a lot, but Haven never laughed at all, and Dean thought now that she should do that more often), he decided to just leave it be. It made them happy and no one got hurt. Even if it was weird, or even supernatural… maybe it wasn't bad?

Late that night, after the other two were asleep, dad came home. Dean was waiting for him. Dean brought him a drink and something to eat like he did whenever he was awake for dad to get home.

But instead of staying quiet so he wouldn't wake the other two, he couldn't help but ask, "Dad? We're going to keep Haven around, right? I mean, forever?"

"Yeah," dad sighed. He didn't seem to want to say more.

"... So is she like our sister now?"

Dad was quiet, just looking at him. Dean squirmed in his chair, not sure why dad was looking at him like that. What was he thinking? Was Dean not supposed to ask that? He didn't like to bother dad about things if he could help it, but he'd been wondering about it for a while.

Then dad sighed again. "You can think of her like a sister if you want. She will be staying with us. I'm talking to some friends about getting some more permanent papers for her, so she'll be adopted then, and legally will be your sister. Just remember, she's a little older than Sammy. She's closer to your age. I don't think she would appreciate being treated like she's that young."

"She's still little," Dean muttered, thinking of how much smaller than him she was. Even if she was only a year younger. Someone needed to look after her, and it looked like the person who was gonna do it was gonna be Dean. Besides, she helped with Sammy anyway, so the least he could do was watch her back. They were both learning to be hunters too, so it all worked out.

He kind of liked the idea of her staying around with them. It was a little less lonely.

Dad smiled and patted Dean's shoulder as he got up. "Maybe. I don't think she needs the same protection Sam needs. She's learning to do that for herself."

Yeah, but she was small and angry and would fight anyone, even if there were more of them and they were bigger. She wasn't like Sammy really. He smiled and laughed and was clumsy. Haven was… she wasn't like many of the kids at school. She was small and angry, rarely smiled and never laughed. She only cried when she was given something, never when she got hurt. She had nightmares like Dean did, though he didn't know much about hers yet. She probably didn't dream of fire like Dean did, but she dreamed of something. Someone needed to look after her.

Maybe help her smile more, too. Big brothers were supposed to make little sisters smile, just like they were supposed to do for little brothers. He had plenty of practice.

As Dean fell asleep in the dark and quiet, he looked over to where he could see tiny little Haven curled even smaller, and thought, That's my little sister.

"Good night, sister," he whispered, as quiet as he could, and smiled.

Hmm, what strange fireworks... wonder what could have done that? Any ideas? Maybe Gandalf really is in my story. I wouldn't put it past me.

Also, baby Dean is a cutie and you can pry him from my cold, dead hands.