Notes: It's taken a little longer than it should have to get an update posted. Apologies to anyone out there who might have been looking for the update to happen sooner. But after the typical writing woes I usually face, a new chapter is here. There was a lot to work out flow wise, dialogue, and coming up with what should be revealed here.
It went where it went, and after a lot of editing the past couple days and fretting over whether it was post worthy, I'm sticking with it.
So here it is...
Dean was leaning back against the headboard of Manda's bed while going through her grandfather's journal. Sam had been a little hesitant to hand it over at first, citing Dean's drunkenness, but ended up giving it to him once seeing the look on his face.
To his surprise it turned out to be a cross between a hunting journal and an actual journal. After an hour or two he'd read through everything Sam had and more, learning a few things about the Chambers family he might never have known otherwise.
Bobby really hadn't exaggerated when he'd said Manda's grandfather had been one tough son of a bitch. From what he read, he wished he had gotten to meet the man just to see for himself what he was like, knowing he probably would have liked and gotten along with him. It seemed to Dean that Eliot Chambers had been a man who had found himself against a wall more often than not, and had been the kind of man who would have done anything for his family. So as he read, he found himself relating to a lot of the things written in the late hunter's journal when he'd been in so many hard spots himself and had now long lost track of the amount of times he had done anything for his own family.
But when getting to Eliot's quest on making sure his granddaughter would one day have a safe haven if ever she needed it, Dean knew where Manda had definitely gotten some of her traits from. Her grandfather also appeared to have a similar reckless streak at times. His story on learning about the existence of angels and getting his hands on their language to protect his granddaughter and his house had sucked Dean in from the start, not just from the moment it got dangerous.
It seemed the head of the Chambers family had apparently gotten some information about angels and how to find one from the psychic they knew at the same time she had warned him about Manda's possible fate. It took him some time to think about it first and then to discuss it with his son and daughter in-law since Manda was their child. Both her parents didn't quite want to believe it, and since it was only a distant possibility, stuck it on the backburner when there were years to prepare her, years to let her grow up without that looming shadow, and years to change that possibility from happening.
Eliot didn't agree, but tried to respect their choice because he loved that little girl dearly.
For years he hesitated to act on it, doing what research he could in the meantime, learning as much as possible from all sorts of sources. But as he watched his only grandchild grow older, seeing parts of the young woman she was going to become and the type of hunter she was shaping up to be, the psychic's warnings troubled him more and more.
Around the time she was eleven, he took over most of Manda's training to ensure she had all the necessary skills that might help her one day. That much, at least, he and his son had agreed on. While Eliot had always been under the belief she should know about what may be ahead for her, he had only agreed again not to tell her yet if Daniel and Margaret agreed to tell her when she was slightly older. From then on, when he was training her, he tried to prepare her in the best way he knew how – making sure she would be able to do whatever it took to survive if that day came. He wanted to her to be twice as fast, as hard, as smart, and as good as himself and both of his sons who he had also trained to be hunters so many years earlier, because angels, he had learned, were not the sweet and kind creatures all kinds of stories made them out to be.
Around that same time he also came up with a plan on how to protect Manda, wanting to give her somewhere safe to hide out if that day came, and to further make sure the family home would basically be impenetrable to all things supernatural.
Learning what he had, and with guidance from the psychic, Manda's grandfather had next gotten most of his actual information on Enochian and a little more truth on angels from a demon he specifically trapped on his own about another two or three years later. Eliot claimed he kept this demon around for a few weeks, torturing it to get the information he wanted, and when he was almost sure that resource was tapped out, he used that same demon to bait an angel.
Dean knew not only from reading about it now, but from his own experiences, that the plan had been reckless, dangerous, and completely badass. He had to give the late hunter credit for it, because despite how it might have played out for him, Eliot had gotten the angel to do his bidding and had it smite the demon out of existence, ending one side from talking about what they knew he was up to at the time.
What happened next according to Eliot's account was something Dean admired, couldn't believe, and probably would have done himself. With the demon taken care of, the plan got even more risky and showed Eliot was willing to do anything to protect his family.
Using the angel to confirm what he had forced the demon to help with and being satisfied the family home was correctly hidden from and against all angels, her grandfather then used his skills and some new knowledge regarding angels from the demon to get his hands on that angel's blade. And then he managed to kill that angel with its angel blade for good measure. That was the only way he knew would guarantee neither side could disclose where the house was or be able to find it later on. If by chance a demon or an angel did find it, he wasn't overly concerned. They wouldn't be able to set foot inside of it, and his whole family was capable of figuring a way out without being pinned down if that was the case.
So, Eliot had certainly done his part in making sure Manda had some protection against angels if there was ever a need for it. But then it became a matter of waiting for his son to warn her in the near future.
In his final entry written shortly before he died, Eliot mentioned they still hadn't told her yet, and talked about how he never doubted he'd done the right thing in having the house warded for Manda or for the family she might have one day. How he wasn't sure he'd see that day or if the ones he'd been warned about regarding her would come to pass. He was getting on in years, and the last few hadn't exactly been kind.
Two years earlier he'd lost his wife to natural causes, and then a year later his older son and daughter in-law had both been killed while hunting a djinn. For awhile after that he did impossible jobs on his own, barely pulling through some of them. He'd gotten hurt badly during one, and that was Daniel decided they were living with him full time from then on, hoping it would do Eliot some good to have his family around.
Except Daniel and Margaret were busy trying to track down a demon to stop it from killing anyone else, so a lot of the time it was just him and his granddaughter, who at the time of the entry was now sixteen, already quite the headstrong young woman, and in his opinion, was already one hell of a hunter he was proud of. No longer having to worry about training her to be a hunter, over the last few months he had been content to teach her normal things, like how to drive in his Chevelle, and how to maintain it since he planned on leaving the car to her. So she was around making sure he wasn't about to take off hunting on his own and helped put together some cases they could take on, and he was keeping an eye on her in return while she went to school and her parents weren't around.
Eliot also noted that while Manda wasn't too much trouble, she was still a pretty girl with a number of the boys calling on her all the time. How a year earlier he had already noticed a few of the younger hunters they knew had started looking at her in a way he didn't like. And while before she had briefly dated at least two sons of some other hunter friends that he knew of, and had been on a number of dates with some of those boys who came around – she hadn't been serious about any of them. But things were changing. A boy from her school kept coming by a lot, she had snuck out at night a few times to see him, and when he saw the way she looked at that kid, it made him think things the psychic had said would still come true no matter what her parents thought.
He was urging his son to tell Manda about what may happen, even wanted to take her to see their psychic friend soon to find out if this boy was the man she might lose, if angels would still come after her down the road, or if there was still a chance of stopping any of it from happening.
It said a lot to Dean that the last thing Eliot had written about was the concern over his granddaughter's destiny, and he knew the key points of what had gone down after that. Eliot had died somehow a month later, and not even a year after that Manda's boyfriend had been killed by a vampire, she carelessly chased the demon her parents had been after on her own but they'd saved her and ended up dead instead.
Dean was now sure that none of her family had told her anything about her possible future at the time, and not one of them had told her the house had been warded against angels either. It really didn't surprise him now to learn that Manda wasn't the only Chambers good at keeping things hidden either.
His eyes wandered over to the picture of Eliot and a preteen Manda sitting on the hood of the Chevelle as he put that part of it out of his head and thought about everything he'd read.
He knew exactly why the man had done what he did – because she was family, and because he loved his granddaughter. Dean loved her too. Manda was the woman he'd fallen for and would always love, his soul mate if he dared to admit it to himself, and that was exactly why he'd made Castiel carve that Enochian sigil in her ribs to hide her and to keep her safe. So he understood it completely. Years apart both he and Eliot had done what they could to protect her out of love, and now he worried that maybe it still wasn't enough.
Closing her grandfather's journal and pouring himself a much needed drink then, Dean sat there on her bed thinking about it all.
A few things were sticking out in his mind as he thought about it while nursing his whiskey.
The first was that Eliot hadn't written about what he'd done with the angel blade after killing the angel. Having poked around in all the hiding spots including where all the weapons were in the hidden room, he hadn't come across it. Neither had Sam or he would have said something. So he figured either that blade was still hidden somewhere else in the house, Manda had with her and didn't even know it, or Eliot had taken that secret with him to the grave.
The second thing he wondered about was if what the psychic had warned Eliot had finally come in to play. Were the angels after Manda and were they the reason for her disappearance? Had that always been her fate? Because if they were after her right now, did it have to do with him or was this about what her grandfather had done years ago? Or was it something else altogether? Dean wished Eliot had used more than only the psychic's first name, because maybe, just maybe, this woman was still alive, still knew Manda, or at least would know something about what was going on now.
Downing what was still in the glass with one healthy gulp, there was one more bit about of all of it that bugged him. One small detail to a piece of everything was gnawing away at him more than it should have then.
Pouring himself another drink, he thought about the other part of what the psychic had said concerning Manda's future. Had her boyfriend in her teen years been the man she loved and was going to lose? Or was it actually Dean himself? Because he knew, even through the tiny bit of doubt he had right now, she loved him, and he was, without any doubt at all, in a situation where she would lose him one way or another. If Michael got to use him, he didn't know how that would end for him. He'd be a mess, dead, or something unrecognizable in between. And if Lucifer got his way, Dean would just be dead, and that would be that.
Dean had so many questions and not enough answers. No longer knowing what to think now, he was ready to call it a night. Manda wasn't here, and while he had discovered a few things, it wasn't about to help find her. She was still gone, and he didn't want to wonder or worry any more. He just wanted her to be around as he downed a few more shots before stripping down to sleep in his t-shirt and boxer briefs.
Tired, drained, a bit drunk, and feeling completely alone without her there, Dean sighed heavily as he sank into one side of Manda's bed.
Looking at the empty spot beside him, he let out an irritated groan, and then adjusted the pillows to his liking. He laid there for a moment on his back, then rolled on his side and spread his arm out over the other half of the bed. If he could have willed her to appear under that arm just then, he would have, but he couldn't.
He sighed again, pressed his face further in the pillow, and thought for a brief second he caught a hint of the shampoo she always used on it. So Dean closed his eyes then, feeling the whiskey start to work its magic in helping him pass out as he drifted off remembering last being with her for those two nights at Bobby's.
[ - ]
Dean slept soundly for the few hours he managed to crash, dreaming of what it would be like to settle down with Manda in her house, end up having a kid or two together that they would raise together into the family business, and still be able to hunt with Sam when he wanted or needed to.
He was smiling in his slumber, living the kind of life he wanted instead of the life he actually had.
When he awoke with that dream still fresh in his mind, it took a few minutes with his slight hangover fog for his eyes to focus on his surroundings. His smile disappeared quickly once he got his bearings.
The other side of the bed was just as empty as it had been when he'd fallen asleep.
He sat up and looked around the room knowing Manda hadn't actually been there like she had just before he woke up. She wasn't likely to be downstairs making breakfast for their family he'd just seen in his dream either.
Dean let out a groan of disappointment as he got out of the bed then to head for the shower to start his morning knowing that dream had only been a reflection of what he wanted deep down. But that's all that it was – a dream and not the reality he had.
When he finally made his way downstairs after a lengthy shower, the smell of bacon and coffee surprised him. For one split second his heart skipped a beat, wondering and hoping he would round the corner to find a scene right out of his dream. But when he walked through the kitchen doorway, there was who he knew he'd find – Sam, not Manda, was flipping bacon and watching the eggs while coffee dripped from somewhere behind him in to the pot.
Sam looked at his brother, eyed the nearly empty whiskey bottle and glass in his hand, noted the journal tucked under his arm, and just nodded towards the stove top. Dean was clearly just a little hungover this morning. "You want breakfast?"
Dean nodded, tossed the journal on the table, and went to put the glass in the sink and the bottle on the counter. Then he realized they hadn't actually checked if there was any edible food in the house last night, and they hadn't brought any with them. "Dude, did you go on a supply run?"
"No. This was all here. So…" Sam started dishing the eggs out on to two plates.
"Manda was here recently." Dean held in the grin, poured himself some coffee. If it was recently, he'd take it because it meant she had probably stopped in with meeting him here soon in mind.
"Last few weeks, I think. Bacon's good for awhile, eggs aren't fresh, but they're not rotten yet either."
"Or maybe Church was here?" Dean asked before drinking some coffee, somewhat hoping Sam knew that wasn't the case. Church also had her own key to use the house whenever she wanted.
Sam put all the bacon on one plate, and then held it out towards his brother. "Not with the note and the bottle being left out for you like it was. My guess, Manda was here, Dean. Maybe after Bobby's or just before she went off the grid. Speaking of… did you find anything else last night?"
Dean nodded his silent thanks as he took the plate, and went to sit at the table. "Uh… just that Grandpa Chambers was a total badass. Maybe a little crazy, but totally badass. And he left behind a nice chunk of change for his granddaughter, Sammy. Enough that I might have to rethink settling down with her…"
Sam scoffed at how typical it was of his brother to joke about things. He grabbed a mug of coffee and the other plate, and then went to sit across from Dean. "That's great, but not what I was asking about. Was there more about how Eliot got the angel warding or Manda's future and why angels might come after her, Dean?"
"Uh-huh," Dean replied, chewing on some bacon. "Told you I wasn't too drunk to read it."
Maybe not, but whatever you found out made you hit that bottle harder. Ignoring his brother's clear enjoyment of the bacon, Sam rolled his eyes, had some of his eggs while he waited for Dean to start talking.
Sliding the journal towards Sam so he could leaf through it if he wanted to, Dean told his brother all about what Eliot had done to ensure his granddaughter's safety, and how nobody in the family had obviously told her anything about any of it.
Sam sat there, watching Dean's face for a hint of what he felt about it while he talked about some of it, and listened without asking questions as they both finished eating. He was quiet for a few more minutes as he thought it over. "So like fifteen years ago, Eliot traps a demon, lures an angel to take that demon out and then ganked that angel once he knew the warding was sound? And he did this on his own? Hmm… that is pretty badass, and more than a little crazy. Sounds a little like something you'd do. But he really didn't say what he did with the blade?"
"Definitely my kind of plan," Dean said with a small chuckle. "And no, he didn't. Don't think he hid it with all the other weapons here or we probably would have seen it last night if it was. We know what an angel blade looks like, Manda doesn't."
"Yeah… and you still think Manda never bothered to read his journal?"
"He taught her everything he knew, Sam. She didn't need his guidebook," Dean quipped. He knew she would have had her reasons not to read it. "I bet she knows zip about any of it. Her family might have made sure she was a good hunter, but she learned to keep secrets from them, just like she learned to be reckless from them."
Sam made a look that said that much was true. "Secretive, reckless, stubborn, good hunter… her granddad even iced an angel for her, and you still think she isn't your soul mate, Dean?" His tone was somewhat mocking and still curious.
Oh, I know she is, Sammy, thought Dean, but he scoffed out loud instead because they weren't talking about that. He got up from the table and took his plate and mug to the sink. "Did you find anything else last night?"
"No hits on her anywhere." Sam took his own plate to the sink after Dean walked away from it. Of course his brother was leaving him the mess to clean up. "No mention of another property, or where she might go if she needed to lay low." He started washing all the dishes then. "Didn't see a cabin or another house in any of the family pictures either."
"Okay." Dean stood there in front of the fridge, glanced at the pictures he'd put there last night, the ones of them that Manda had left out with the note and the whiskey. He wondered then that with everything there was between them why he had ever thought not being with her would keep her safe. He turned around to look at Sam again. "I'm gonna put everything we took out of the secret lair back, have another look around in there for the angel blade before we head out. You good in here?"
"I'll manage." Sam stopped washing the dishes for a moment to look Dean in the eye. "But, uh… what are you gonna do with that blade if you find it?" he asked, unsure of what that answer might be.
"Give it to Manda, what else?" Dean replied, giving his brother a look that said he'd asked a stupid question.
"We don't even know where she is, Dean."
"We will soon. She might be good, but you know I'm better, Sammy. I'll find her." He grinned confidently, hiding his doubt. "When I do, if she needs that blade, she'll have it. Gramps might not have told her anything about angels coming after her one day, but he did one thing right – he taught her to do whatever it takes if they did. Saw her do that with the demon when it came for her, and there's no doubt she'll do that with an angel if they're after her now. And if she needs to gank one of those dicks to stay alive, I won't lose sleep over it," he said, his tone completely serious and yet calm.
Sam went to say something but Dean just walked away on him. He wasn't sure his brother would have listened anyway. He knew Dean, he'd been watching him his whole life, and he knew that look on his big brother's face. It wasn't just Manda who would do whatever it would take, and that's exactly what had worried the younger Winchester now.
If Manda had disappeared because angels were now after her, and whether the reason they were had anything at all to do with Dean or not, he knew Dean wasn't going to sit around doing nothing about it. But being who they were, Sam could only hope that no matter what happened now, his brother wasn't the next Winchester doomed to watch the woman he loved die.
Notes: So that's it. How it went, and maybe it didn't go as you expected, unless it did.
Dean had to learn a little here, and while it might not be what he wanted to learn, it had to explain a few things, right? Like why Manda's house is warded, and it also gave him a little more insight in to her family and how they were. He also now knows something she doesn't yet.
Hopefully it's all still making sense and worked out okay. And hopefully I didn't make Dean too soft with his emotions for when he was alone. And that I kept him in line with how he was once he was with Sam again.
Dean and Manda will meet up again soon, probably after the next chapter. There was more I wanted to add to this one, but it just didn't work out that way, so one more to go... at least I think it's only one more before they see each other again...
Hope anyone reading is still liking the story. Comments are always welcome, as always. And of course, thanks to anyone reading for reading!