Annie felt a comforting hand rubbing up and down her back and she heard the rumbling of two people talking in the distance. She finally saw the face of the man that was named Sam. He was saying something, but she couldn't make out the words yet. Everything felt tight. And confusing.
Finally as she was trying to calm herself down, she heard what he was saying.
"Breathe, Annie. It's okay. Breathe. In and out. Breathe. Everything is okay. Just breathe, honey. In and out. In and out. That's it. Good job."
He just kept repeating this mantra until finally she felt her panic subsiding and her breathing returning to normal. She looked up at Sam embarrassed and feeling the need to apologize for that display.
"Uh.. I'm sorry. Th-that happens sometimes and um.. yeah, I'm sorry." She stuttered out.
"There is no reason to be sorry, kid. There's a lot going on." Dean said from the side of her. He was trying to be as nice as possible, as to not set her off again.
Sam guided Annie back over to the couch, since she had ended up on the floor in the midst of her panic. Dean moved from his crouched position on the floor to leaning against the wall adjacent from the couch. Sam took a seat in the dining room chair he had brought over earlier, across from the couch.
No one said anything for a few minutes, and the air around the three was filled with tension. Neither brother, nor Annie knew what to say next.
Annie finally decided to break the silence, "So, uh my brothers huh?"
Dean scrubbed a hand down his face, "Yeah, it seems so."
"Look I'm sure y'all would be, uh, great older brothers and stuff and I'm really not one to... nit-pick but do y'all have any other proof besides that your dad has the same initials as the person who dropped me off? I mean there has to be tons of people with those initials? And what do you mean I was brought to you for a reason? The 'demon'... brought me to you guys?" Annie couldn't help but let her disbelief take over her tone of voice. In a normal circumstances, this would have been a lot to take in, but the Winchesters always had to go above and beyond.
Sam and Dean spared a quick glance at each other where Dean indicated that it was Sam's turn, as he had already done his fair share of explanations for the moment.
The younger brother shifted in his seat, quickly contemplating what he should say. "In our world, there are no coincidences. I can understand how you wouldn't get that, but that's just the way it is. And yes, technically tons of people should have those initials but again, coincidences just don't happen for us." He stated plainly. "And yeah.. uh, a demon did bring you. And that's what it told us. It said that you were important to us. And what could be more important than family? That along with the initials, I would have a hard time believing you aren't our sister and John Winchester is your father."
"It also helps that you look like a Winchester. Or like dad anyway." Dean added quietly from his place on the wall.
Again Annie was feeling overwhelmed. They kept throwing all these things at her and she still hadn't processed the information from almost an hour ago. "Your world? What does that even mean? Are you trying to tell me now that you aren't from Earth?" Her head was spinning as she was working thorugh her thoughts. "And aren't demons supposed to be like evil and bad? If they even exist, why would they do something nice like reunite a family? That doesn't sound very demonic to me... And what do you mean I look like a Winchester?" Annie couldn't help the questions that spilled from her mouth.
"No, we're from Earth." Dean chuckled. When Annie looked at him expectantly, he responded to the rest of what she said. "Our world is your world... we just know more about it. There's the demons, but there... are also other things...creatures, out there. And we um, well to be frank, we fight them, kill them. And we keep them from hurting innocent people." Dean waited for her to freak out about what he said but she was just staring blankly ahead, so he continued, "And we don't know why a demon would do this. You're right when you said it doesn't sound very demonic. It is something that we are going to look into and hopefully gain more insight as to why it would do this."
While Dean was talking, Sam had reached into his duffel bag and grabbed his dad's journal. He grabbed a picture of the three of them from when Sam was a baby. When Dean finished, Sam handed the picture to Annie and said, "As for looking like a Winchester, see for yourself. That's our dad and us."
Annie gently held the worn out photograph and stared intently at the man in the middle who was called John Winchester. She could definitely see the resemblance. They had the same dark brown hair, hers being way longer, but the same none the less. Olive skin tone. Dimples. Similar facial structure.
Maybe. Just maybe, this is my dad.
Sam and Dean both let her have some silence as she was contemplating this new information and the similarities between her and John Winchester's looks.
Annie held the picture back out to Sam, promising herself that she would look at it more later. "I believe you. I don't know why. And I don't fully understand the whole demons and other creatures things. But I... I don't think I care. I believe that he's my dad and that y'all are my brothers," she stated resolutely.
They might be bat shit crazy. But I don't care. I wanted a family and I got them. Now isn't the time to be picky.
Sam smiled a big dimple grin and Dean had a pleasant smile on his face. "Welcome to the family."
"So, uh what now?" Annie asked with a smile of her own.
The rest of the day was filled with questions being asked by both parties. Sam, Dean, and Annie making a silent pact that they were all going to cooperate.
Sam and Dean went back to the beginning and explained to her just what exactly "The Family Business" was and how it started with the death of Mary. They went through every major event in their lives so far, skipping a few details that would make them look bad or they just weren't sure she was ready to know or not. Though this freaked Annie out majorly, she tried to keep a calm composure as her brothers told her all about their lives. However, she was feeling everything but calm. Demons. Angels. Shape-shifters. Vampires. Werewolves. Ghosts. It sounded like their whole life was one huge nightmare.
Annie decided to push all of that to the back of her conciousness to unpack at a later date. Compartmentalization had always been her friend.
She learned more about John Winchester, his mission in life, and then his subsequent death after selling his soul. She was sad to learn that she would never meet her father, but was grateful she was getting to at least hear stories about the man she had only ever dreamed of meeting. From what she gathered, the boys had very different opinions of their father. Dean held him in reverence while Sam's recountence was usually sprinkled with what seemed to be long standing agitation. Annie had gotten good at reading people over the years and decided to tuck that away for later as well.
Part of her didn't want to share parts of herself either. Sharing meant being vulnerable but she knew that her brothers were being vulnerable with her, so she owed them that same honesty. She explained about going from foster home to foster home, though she left out a great deal of details that she had no desire to relive or allow anyone else to know. Annie explained about her previous runaway attempts and why her last one had been successful. She also noticed that they seemed impressed by her being able to survive so long on her own, though she could sense some sadness there as well.
The boys let her know in no unceratin terms that if they had known about her, they would have gotten her long before now. That gave Annie an overwhelming sense of comfort and grief rolled into one. If her brothers had just known about her, she wouldn't have had to experience all the things she had. But she knew now that she was safe. Sam and Dean would keep her safe.
Annie shared that she loved reading but hated school, and had no intentions of ever returning, much to Sam's disapproval. She also shared that she enjoyed singing to old rock bands, since that was the only music she could find in her days in foster homes. Dean was impressed she knew so many of the greats.
They talked for hours going back and forth sharing things about themselves and getting to know one another. Dean was a little hesitant about this whole ineraction because let's face it- this was a total Lifetime movie moment. But he cooperated nonetheless because he wanted answers.
After what seemed like hours and hours of talking, Dean headed out to grab a couple of pizzas for their dinner, leaving his brother alone with their new found sister.
Annie decided to break the silence, needing to know something. She figured now would be the best time as Sam seemed like the more open brother. "You guys aren't planning on leaving me somewhere or something right?"
"We," Sam was about to answer when she cut him off.
"I mean I don't have anyone else and the thought of being out there alone when I know about you guys seems horribly unfair-"
"Annie."
"And I just don't want to be alone out there and I get that what you guys do is like dangerous and very important to the safety of the world and I'm pretty sure that I won't be any help but I promise to stay out of the way and-" The longer she talked the more of a panic she worked herself up into. Sam gently cut her off by placing his large hand over her mouth.
"Annie. Breath." He said softly. "Like me."
She copied his breathing pattern and soon felt her panic receding.
"You good?" He asked. "Ready for me to answer?"
The young girl just nodded, not yet trusting her voice.
"Being a Winchester isn't for the faint of heart. Now that one demon knows of you, it's only a matter of time before you are on the radar for something or someone else. Then theres the fact that it said you were important to us." When he saw the panic in her widened eyes, he quickly continued. "I'm not saying this to freak you out, I just want you to understand the reality. The safest place for you to be, is with us. If you're with us, then we can protect you. And we will protect you. And even if our last names didn't mean anything and the supernatural didn't exist, you're still our little sister and we would still want to love and protect you."
Annie opened her mouth to say thank you but the words got caught in her throat, as they didn't seem like enough for what he was promising her. So instead, she threw her arms around her big brother hoping that this action would convey everything she wanted to say and more.
Sam seemed to get the message and hugged her right back, placing his chin on the top of her head, tightening the hug, wishing with his whole being that him and Dean could have been there for her sooner, and cursing John Winchester for once again leaving a child fatherless.
"Why don't you go take a shower, huh? By the time you get out, I'm sure Dean'll be back with dinner."
The thought of a shower sounded wonderful. She felt disgusting and grimy. Then she remembered that she didn't have any clothes. Or any of her things, for that matter. Not that she had owned much. The only thing that was important to her was around her neck. Still it would have been nice to have her backpack with her clothes and toiletries in it.
"I'd like that, but uh, I don't have any clothes."
Sam grimaced at that. "You can have one of my shirts and a pair of boxers. It'll be big on you, but that's all we have to work with at the moment. We'll figure something else out for tomorrow, okay?"
Annie smiled appreciatively and headed to the small bathroom in the motel, assuming Sam would just leave the clothes outside the door.
The youngest Winchester had only been in the shower for a few minutes when Dean walked in, carrying the two hot pies and a bag of drinks.
"Everything all right?" Dean asked as his smirk turned into a worried expression at the sight of Sam pacing.
Sam ran a hand down his face. "Yeah. Just uh, thinking about the kid."
"She in the shower?"
"Yeah." Sam answered. "Dean, she doesn't even have any clothes or anything, man."
"I thought about that on the way there."
"Have we even contemplated what our life is going to be like now?"
"Have we had time?" Dean shot back. "Everything has happend kind of fast, Sammy."
"She's only thirteen." Sam lamented.
"I know?" Dean responded with raised eyebrows. He had been there too when she had revealed her age, and he wasn't sure what Sam was trying to get at.
The middle Winchester ran a hand down his face and sighed. "Are we prepared to raise a teenager?"
"Hell no." He responded, laughing. Sam was the one that was confused now, not understanding how his brother could be so nonchalant about this whole situation. "Not like we have a choice though."
"I know, dude. It's just a lot that is going to change and I need us to talk about it."
Dean bit into a big bite of pizza and responded to his brother with his mouth full. "Sam, I raised you. How much harder could a teenage girl be?"
Sam held back a comment about how his brother was being gross, knowing it wouldn't do anything. "First off, we had Bobby too. Second, I'm betting significantly harder."
Dean nodded at the truth in Sam's words before giving his brother a shit eating grin. "Then we do what we always do, Sammy Boy."
"And what would that be, Dean?"
"Do it anyway."
Sam scoffed but agreed with his brother.
"Sam?" A voice called out from the bathroom. He had forgotten he was supposed to be grabbing her some clothes.
"Hold on, kiddo." He yelled back, before rummaging through his bag looking for a clean shirt and boxers. Once he found what he was looking for he walked to the door and put them in the outstretched pruny hand of his little sister.
"We'll get you some clothes tomorrow!" Dean yelled out to her, already thinking of how miserable the day would probably be.
Moments later she came out still dripping, being swallowed whole by the clothes her giant of a brother had given her. "Do either of you have a brush?
"We'll add that to the list?" Sam grinned sheepishly.
Dean looked at his brother weird. "Rapunzle, you forgot to pack yours?"
Annie laughed out loud at the comment, earning her a smirk from Dean and a glare from Sam. "I did forget it, unfortunately."
"That's okay."
Dean plated her a slice of pizza and handed it to her. She accepted it gratefully before getting comfortable on the bed.
Annie was zoned out, slowly eating her pizza, trying to let the days events process. This morning she woke up a scared orphan and had thought she had been kidnapped, and she was about to go to bed as a sister with a full belly and a safe place to sleep. This turn of events left her feeling weird.