Chapter Thirty One

Family Ties

A/N: Hey guys, so my last year was terrible and I'm so, so sorry for your long, long wait for this chapter. I will be trying my damn hardest to update every week from now on. I pinkie promise.

I really hope everyone enjoys the chapter. I have started the next chapter (yay!) and I hope to finish it in the next couple of days.

As always I own nothing from either Supernatural or Twilight, I like to play though.

I woke with a smile on my face for the first time in the last few days. I could feel Deans arms wrapped around me, his breath tickling the hairs on the back of my neck, his hard chest pressed against the curve of my spine. I was just where I wanted to be. Safe, warm and unbelievably happy.

Until I'd met the Winchesters I had never had anyone like them in my life before, they filled a hole in me that I hadn't realised that I'd had. They looked after me, which no-one bar the Cullen's had ever done, but unlike the family of vampires who had taken me in, the Winchesters had let me be myself, had let me test myself and try things for myself. In short the Winchesters cared about me and at the same time wanted me to be independent as well.

Dean filled more than just that though. He was everything. When I was with him it was like I was smiling on the inside, when he took me in his arms butterflies woke up in my stomach, when he kissed me it felt like I was melting into him. When we argued I felt like he listened to me, when we spoke I knew that he was hearing what I was saying, that he valued what I was saying. Dean was the perfect man for me, he made me complete. Corny as hell, but true. Not that I'd ever tell him of course; he'd bust a gut from laughing.

"Morning B." Dean whispered into my ear before placing a brief and chaste kiss to my shoulder that made my heart swell and a small shudder of love and want tremble through me.

I rolled over to face him, my eyes taking in every detail of his handsome face, a smile covering mine in response to the twinkle shining in his eye. "Morning D." I whispered back to him placing a longer but still chaste kiss to his soft lips.

"Morning Sam." Came the sarcastic reply from the table where apparently Sam was already awake and ready for the day ahead. "Oh and thanks for breakfast by the way, you didn't have too. It's okay guys, don't mention it."

"Someone woke up on the sarcastic side of the bed today." Dean said while turning away from me to face his brother, still with his grin in place.

"Someone had to deal with Charlie already this morning." Sam replied while pulling a face. My good mood was instantly gone, once more I was on the wrong side of furious.

"For the love of…" I growled out before jumping out of the bed. I was dealing with this once and for all. And if Charlie didn't like it then he could take another fucking hike.

"B…" Dean said hesitantly as I grabbed some clothes for the day, though I was half tempted to storm out in my night-clothes. Fuck it, I was so mad that I really didn't care, I'd go out in my tank and sweats.

Without getting dressed I started storming for the door.

"B…" Dean tried again, this time though his voice was more insistent.

"I've had enough of this bullshit Dean! Charlie and me have already had this conversation. I'm a fucking adult, I'm happy, I feel right. If he was any kind of father surely he'd be happy for me! Not trying to make me who he wants me to be. That meek fucking girl from Forks who didn't have the balls to do what she wanted to do, who was miserable!" I ranted before once more storming towards the door.

"I just wanted to know if you me to come with you B?" Dean said, a crease above his eyes as he cautiously watched me stomp around.

"Yeah, actually that's a great idea! In fact let's all come, he obviously didn't listen to me when I was on my own!" I was practically shouting now, but my temper – which I'd always been able to keep in check before – had now been well and truly lost.

"Err… Bells?" Sam sounded a bit scared as he spoke.

"What?"

"Never mind." He looked almost petrified now as well, and he was supposed to be a badass hunter? Dude was twice the size of me.

"Well come on then!" I spat at the brothers, door open in front of me, waiting for the men I considered family to join me.

Sam and Dean exchanged a look that I couldn't interpret before both getting up from their respective places and following me out of the chipped and battered motel door.

I started marching towards my dad's and Ellen's room, fury still present in every step that I took, it was a white-hot, burning anger that I'd never felt before. The brothers had been right in the first place; Dean had been right in the first place – hunting changed you, it changed who you were from the core out. Thankfully I liked the changes that were taking place in me.

It was a second's walk to my father's front door, one that looked as beaten and battered as ours. It trembled violently under my fist as I hammered on it. Flecks of paint from the door frame falling onto the concrete floor in front of me.

The door flew open, Charlie stood fully dressed, his face hard and ready, his gun drawn, just in case.

"Bella! What's happened!? What is it!?" His voice was panicked, his eyes scouting first my face then the area behind us. A good hunter, I could now recognise the signs.

"Good morning father. May I come in?" My voice was sickly sweet as I pushed past him without waiting for an answer or to see if Sam and Dean followed me inside. I had a feeling they would somehow.

"Bella?" Ellen asked, sounding worried but also a bit apprehensive, as though somehow she knew what was coming. Knew that I'd had as much as I could take.

"Hi Ellen, how are you?" My voice was stills sugary goodness, but the anger was burning fiercely in the pit of my stomach.

"Fine… What the hell's wrong sugar?"

"I just wanted a good heart to heart with daddy here." I smiled.

"What's going on Bells? You basically knock my damn door down at nine in the morning and say you want a chat?" Charlie sounded angry now as well. Well good. He could get a small taste of how I was felling.

"What's going on dad is that I'm pissed. That's what's going on. How old am I?" I asked, the sweetness and light tone now gone completely from my voice to be replaced with the anger I was feeling.

"What…?"

"How old am I dad?" I wasn't going to be side-tracked.

"I know how old you are Bells and I'm damn sure you know too, so where's this going?"

"If you know my age then you'll know that I'm an adult. And as such you should respect the fact that I can make my own choices, my own mistakes, and my own life! I do not need you to comment on every little thing I do. I will make my own decisions on my life and you will respect them!" My voice was rising in volume. Not quite shouting yet but getting damn close. "That means; no commenting who I ride with, where I sleep, how I hunt or the fact that I am hunting. No knocking on my door every half to find out what I'm doing. No telling me what to do, who to see, where to go. None of it!"

"I'm your father…" Charlie tried interrupting me.

"And as my father maybe you should be supporting me! Be glad to see that I'm happy, that I feel like I belong for once! To see I'm not a meek little girl who'll be walked all over anymore!" Now I was shouting. "I have had enough of it dad, and it's not just me who's had enough of it! We're travelling with four other people, all of which are getting fed up with having to listen to you bitch and complain about what I'm doing or how I'm doing it!"

"I…" Again with the interrupting.

"I nothing! I've had it dad! I've had enough of it! Now you either listen to what I've said and accept it or we're really going to fall out!"

"Bella…"

"Damn it Charlie, you listen to Bella. She's only saying what I've been trying to tell you all along. You listen to your girl or you're going to end up losing her." Ellen's voice was almost as scalding as mine had been, and when Charlie opened his mouth to interrupt her she just raised an eyebrow which made him close it sharpish. I needed lessons off this woman. "I know you're her daddy, I know you worry about her. And that's fine, that's good. But she's old enough so that you can't control her. She's one smart, tough cookie Charlie. Have some faith in her. You don't want what happened with Jo and me to happen with you. I know you don't. So listen up." Wow. I hoped Ellen would be my new step mommy, she was freakin' awesome.

Charlie looked from Ellen to me, his face angry but also upset and hurt. Without saying a word he got up and left the room.

"Thank you-" I started saying to Ellen gratefully, while a gnawing pit in my stomach at seeing my father hurt opened up.

"Don't thank me. I don't want it. You're right. What you said was right. But no matter how stubborn and controlling that man out there may be, he's your daddy and he's the only one you're gonna get. You talk to him with more respect than that." Ellen's voice had turned ice cold on me making me feel worse.

"I've tried…." I started defending myself.

"I know and Lord knows I've tried everything but beating sense into that man. But still… He does what he does because he cares about you, because he worries about you. Because you are now his worst nightmare. His hunting daughter. Everything he never wanted for you and here you are doing it. It's going to take more than a little time for him to be okay with that. But he ain't never gonna like it sugar. Never. Now I suggest that you think on what I've said and go back to your room till we head out. Okay?" It wasn't a question or even a suggestion, it was an order.

I traipsed out of the room feeling like a small child who had been told off for being naughty. Head hung down, eyes burning slightly with tears that I was trying to hold back, I must have looked as young and hurt as I felt.

"Oh, and you two boys?" I stopped to listen to what Ellen could possibly have to say to them. "Charlie does appreciate what you've done for the girl, even if he can't say it. Don't listen to him and carry on looking out for her like you've been doing. But Dean, you remember exactly what I've said to you about looking after her, 'cause I ain't worried about kicking your ass into the next year. Got it?" Dean nodded looking slightly sheepish. " Good. Now get lost, I've got crap to do." With a threatening and angry-looking Ellen slammed the door shut behind us.

~0~

The mood was subdued to say the least as all of us climbed out of the convoy of cars we'd taken out to the Campbell family library an hour later. Dad hadn't said one word to me since I'd confronted him, neither had Ellen. Not one word had been uttered about the incident by Sam or Dean either, though Dean had wrapped me in a tight, comforting hug when we'd got back to our room.

The Campbell library was housed in what looked like a large, ramshackle shed apparently and had taken is only ten minutes to reach from the motel. Two thumbs up for being convenient at least. Next door to it stood a small house that was supposedly empty. That one was a little too good to be true and although I wasn't usually one to look a gift horse in the mouth, coincidences in our line of work were rarely a good thing.

"This is it?" Dean asked Bobby incredulously as all stood outside, none of us making a move to head in. "Not much to look at is it?

"We ain't here to take ideas on interior design are we?" Bobby barked out his retort, which I tried not to snigger at. And failed.

"Here goes then." Sam said in a quiet voice as he stepped toward the frankly unsafe looking shack. I heard caution – which was normal – but also sadness and fatigue colouring Sam's words.

My fighting with Charlie had made me forget, had taken over everything and right then I felt like a crummy friend and girlfriend. This was part of their family history; Sam and Dean's inheritance if you will. They didn't have much else in the way of family ties. This, being here, must have been hard on the Winchesters. I should have thought, I should have picked up the body language, the tones from the brothers that now I was looking for them were blatantly obvious.

I took a step closer to Dean and rubbed my hand slowly down his arm in a gesture that meant; I'm here for you, you aren't alone. He must have understood because he took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before walking after Sam. The rest of us all stood back from the brothers as Sam picked the lock and carefully swung the door open. Each one of us holding our breaths, stood to attention and willing to act as quickly as possible…

Nothing. Nothing happened at all. Every single one of us was expecting a booby trap of some sort. Hunters were a paranoid group after all and not every ward could keep everything out. Or not that we knew of yet anyway. So when nothing happened it was like we all collectively let loose the breaths we had been holding.

Sam poked his head just inside the door, Dean stood behind him with a knife out, waiting, just in case. Waiting to protect his little brother if he needed too.

"There's no library in here. There's not even a ward that I can see." Sam informed us. His voice full of disappointment.

"The journal I read said it was here in this shed. Must have hidden it. Look for a hidden door or something." Bobby growled out while striding forward, Ellen right behind him.

I, however, hung back. There was something about the house being empty that didn't sit quite right with me. And I'd learnt while being with the brothers to trust my instincts. Some times that was the only thing that had kept me alive or at least kept me from missing any of my limbs.

"I'm gonna check the house!" I called back to the hunters that had disappeared into the gloomy looking shed. At the same time Charlie declared; "I'm gonna take a look around the house! See if I can find anything!"

Bobby stuck his head out, gave us both a searching glare before nodding at us and popping back inside.

Charlie glanced at me the same time I'd looked at him. Together we gave a curt nod before looking away from each other and headed for the house.

We awkwardly reached the porch which was a faded white and which once, a while ago, would have been beautiful during a warm summers evening. Now though it set my heart thudding a little faster. Adrenaline starting up inside of me, just as it always did during a hunt. As one Charlie and I pulled our guns, giving a half-smile to each other as we did. At least Charlie could see I had been trained well if he and I were pulling the same move at the same time. Maybe this might even be good for us?

Silently we walked up the porch to the battered front door together. The wood luckily silent under our feet as we moved. Again the door was a faded white with peeling paint and a tarnished silver handle. Nothing was out of the ordinary except for the three different locks. Damn. Those were gonna be a bitch.

"Sam said you taught him how to pick locks the quickest way. Maybe you should take them?" I offered my dad in a voice a little louder than a breath. He nodded and smiled slightly, his moustache twitching as he reached into his wind breaker and pulled out the kit that I now recognised as a lock picking kit.

Quicker than even the youngest Winchester could Charlie had the locks picked and the door swinging open. He'd done it silently as well. Impressive.

"Okay… You're going to have to teach me that one." I said as quietly as I could manage with a small smile and a nod towards the door.

Charlie gave me a searching look before smiling smugly and speaking, his voice barely there it was so quite. "Tell you what, we all live through this and I'll teach you."

"Well considering this is supposed to be a research only trip then you're on." I grinned back.

Together we raised our guns and peered into the gloomy house. It seemed dark and dank ion comparison to the bright sunshine outside.

I motioned for Charlie to take point, letting him know with my hands and my head that I'd cover his back. He looked surprised but then gave another nod and took point as I'd suggested.

He moved into the house, I watched for any sign of movement or noise. Except for the almost silent sound of Charlie's boots on the bare wooden floor boards there was nothing. I silently followed, looking around but keeping my sense on high alert as I did. I wasn't going to make a rookie move and get jumped in here. Charlie would never let me forget it and it would be one more thing in the 'Bella shouldn't be a hunter because' list.

When my eye sight adjusted properly to the gloom I could see that we were in a small hallway, the stairs leading up to the second floor were to one side carpeted in a dusty beige carpet and two unremarkable doors stood on the other side. The only thing of interest in the hall was a sideboard that was thick with dust, the draws hanging open showing that they were empty. I didn't think that anyone had been in here, let alone lived in here for at least a year, maybe two if the previous occupants had cleaned before they'd left. Though judging by the left over furniture and the way the draws were slung open I doubted it.

Charlie motioned with his head that he was going to take upstairs, I nodded a reply and took the first door set in the hallway.

With a deep breath I carefully opened the door, waiting a second to make sure that nothing was coming through the other side before entering the room, gun at the ready.

I quickly scanned the room for any signs of movement. Again there was nothing. However as the room was furnished I wasn't going to take any chances. I looked behind the dark brown couches, in the cupboard, anywhere anything could hide. When I was satisfied that nothing was hiding, or that there was nothing supernatural in the generously sized room I moved out and took the next door in the hall.

Two rooms later and the small downstairs toilet and I was fairly confident that there was nothing supernatural or un-toward down there. Not even a blip on the EMF. Though I still felt uneasy that the house was empty. Something was still nagging at that part of my brain that normal people ignored.

Walking back into the hallway and the reason became fairly obvious. How could I have missed it?

The side of the stairs was panelled, one of the panels though was somehow different. It was sat about ten millimetres out from the rest of the panels. Not something you'd notice unless you were looking for something to notice, and I'd been looking.

I bent down and carefully pulled at the panel. It gave after a minute of pulling revealing a dark staircase heading down. Ding, ding, ding! We had a winner! Though there was no way that I'd be going down a secret staircase in an empty house without any back-up. I was occasionally stupid but I wasn't suicidal.

Speaking of back-up where the hell was Charlie? He'd been gone a while.

My heart sped up slightly once more as I listened for any movement. Surely if something had happened I'd have heard at least one gunshot; right? My heart was beating so loud I couldn't hear properly. Was that a footstep or the thudding of my heart?

Damn it.

I quickly but almost silently made my way up the stairs, thankful for the dusty old beige carpet hiding my footsteps, all my sense once more on high alert. The EMF continued to be as quiet as I was trying to be, and I could smell no sulphur, well at least we weren't dealing with a ghost or demon. Though that still left a wide variety of things that went bump in the night.

I reached the top of the stair just as Charlie came out of one of the four doors in the hallway. He raised his gun a quick move towards me as I jumped back onto the stairs with my own gun raised, my heart pounding the adrenaline through my body as it took me a minute to realise that it was my father and not the boogy man who had materialised in the hall.

"Nothing up here Bells." Charlie said in his normal voice, which now sounded exceedingly loud as it echoed in the empty house.

"You might want to take a look down here then." I replied as Charlie came back into view, his gun now reholstered.

"You find something kid?"

"Hidden stairs leading to a basement." I said as we both started making our way back down the stairs, my own gun still out and ready. I might have been being paranoid but I'd rather be paranoid and alive then putting my gun up and getting attacked. Had happened before, wasn't going to let it happen again.

Charlie examined the hidden stairs from the top. "Good eyes to have caught this Bells." He complimented me.

"Thanks dad." I smiled, I'd started to thaw towards Charlie and it looked like the same was happening on his side.

For me it was watching the emotion the brothers were having over a shed in the middle of nowhere. They had no-one left but each other.

They had no parents, no one to guide them and look out for them but each other. They might have Bobby and me sure, but it wasn't the same and after months of looking for Charlie I knew that. No-one would ever, could ever, replace their parents. I was lucky to have Charlie, no matter how over bearing and protective he was being and I knew that. So I was going to try and build bridges. Have a relationship with my father. A real one. Not one shadowed in lies and deceit as our previous one had been.

I pulled out my phone and hit the torch button illuminating the stairs while looking for a light switch, though I was pretty sure that the electricity would have been cut by now. Finding the light switch I flicked it only to found out I was right; damn.

I turned round to see dad with his gun back out and his own phone out in his hand. He nodded at me, so I turned back around, slowly and carefully I started making my way down the stone steps. Knowing that Charlie was covering my back.

A/N: I really, really hoped that you liked the chapter and I really hope to have the next chapter out next week. I have got plans to carry on and finish my other stories, however with so much going on in my life I'm going to focus on one at a time and right now it's this one.

Please leave me a review and let me know if you loved it or hated or just let me know that you're still with me on this

Until next time,

Tametiger x