She turned the TV in her room on as she started stripping for her shower. The morning news was just starting. She jumped in the hot streaming water and began to wash her hair. Ten minutes later she came out feeling renewed, and a lot less sore, she thought to herself with a smile. She wrapped a towel around her body and walked back into her room. She started drying her hair with a towel when the story on the news stopped her. She immediately rushed out into the lounge room and sprinted to the TV.

"Sam! Dean!" She yelled out.

She turned to the right channel just as the boys came running in from the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"Watch this" She said stepping back from the screen so they could watch the news report. The back of her legs hit the coffee table.

They stood in silence as the news reporter described the disappearance of another girl. After two days of not turning up for her weekend waitress job someone finally decided to go check on her. Her apartment was abandoned, and the girl was gone without a trace. The police had not yet issued a statement but it was assumed that it was related to the other girls' disappearances.

Isabel turned the TV off, but continued to stare at it blankly. A look of despair spreading over her face "Oh my God" She breathed out.

"Leslie DaSilva" Dean said the girl's name out loud as he pulled out a notepad and started scribbling. He took a seat on the couch "Leslie DaSilva"

"I know her" Isabel said turning around to look down at Dean.

Dean stopped writing and looked up at her expectantly, so did Sam she noticed "Know her how?"

"She was my college roommate" Isabel said sitting next to him"freshman year. We sort of lost touch after I dropped out" She was starting to get cold and could feel the water dripping from her still wet hair down her shoulders. She crossed her arms as goosebumbs broke out all over her body.

"What else?" Dean asked anxiously.

She frowned at him "What do you mean? She was…I mean…is…she's a kindergarten teacher. Same age as me. Kinda shy, but really sweet" She hung her head and closed her eyes "Oh God, I haven't spoken to her in almost a year, and now it's all I seem to want to do"

"Any family?" Sam continued, looking down at his cousin.

She shook her head "No, just like me. That's why we got along so well, I guess"

"Boyfriend?"

"I don't know. Not since the last time I saw her, but like I said, it was ages ago. She was a bit of a loner"

"Where did she live?" Dean asked pulling out a map. He noticed the panicked glare Isabel shot him "Does, where does she live?" He back peddled.

"About an hour from here" She leaned over and pointed to Leslie's neighbourhood on the map, scribbling the address on his notepad "Why?"

"We should check it out" Dean said standing up.

"Just wait a second" Isabel said sharply "Check what out Dean? You're not a detective. You can't just push your way into a police investigation!"

"They might be missing something!" Dean said.

"And you're going to find it?" She asked unconvinced.

"I'm not going to sit back and wait for the evening news update!" He snapped.

She stood up and faced Sam and Dean "Look boys, we've skirted around this long enough and even though we've never said anything, I know what's going on. I know you and your dad have this Ghostbusters-X Files thing going on, but...I don't want to be a part of your travelling freak show"

Dean bristled and tilted his head toward her, his eyes narrowing "Freak show?" He asked, his tone challenging as if daring her to repeat it.

"Yeah, you heard me right" She said standing toe to toe with Dean.

Sam stood across from them and looked tiredly from his brother to his cousin, wishing Dean could be the bigger person for once and just let it go.

"And you're the poster child for mental health, are you?" Dean asked maliciously.

Isabel blanched "Don't you dare turn this around on me!" She yelled.

"Let's settle down" Sam interrupted, dreading that this little quarrel was very quickly escalating.

"I don't want you to drag me into this" She continued, oblivious to Sam "I don't care what happened to your mom or what your dad's brainwashed you to believe"

It was Sam's turn to be shocked as he stared at his cousin "What?"

"You keep her out of it" Dean threatened pointing a finger down at her.

She scoffed it off "Why don't you? Everything always comes back to it. Your entire lives come back to your mom! She's been dead for over twenty years" Even as she spoke she knew she'd gone too far, but it was like she couldn't stop herself "Isn't it time you got over it?"

Dean moved like a flash, too quick for Isabel and even too quick for Sam to stop him, before either could react he had Isabel against the wall behind her. The picture frames hanging on the wall rattled. She screamed in surprise and moved one of her arms forward attempting to push him away, her other arm went involuntarily up to her chest to hold up the towel covering her.

The silence was electric. Dean was glowering at Isabel, his face just inches from hers, as he pinned her to the wall with his forearm across her collarbone. His entire body appeared to be clenched in tension. Isabel stared back, defiant but noticeably subdued, knowing she'd hit a particularly raw nerve she shouldn't have and yet did so, on purpose.

Sam watched them from across the room as Dean took deep measured breaths, trying to control his anger, and Isabel watched him warily, wondering when the right time to speak would be. He moved forward slowly, ready to pull Dean off of her, because he looked like he was going to strangle her if she so much as breathed wrong.

"Guys" He said softly, approaching the couple cautiously "Dean?"

Dean heard his brother, acknowledging him with a deep breath "Too far" He said in an icy whisper to Isabel.

She swallowed, looking at him straight in the eye "I know. I'm sorry"

He closed his eyes and backed away from her, but only a step, enough that she could relax slightly but not enough that she could walk away.

"We've always clashed, and I can deal with that Isabel, but…there's some things we can't use against each other" He said softly but sternly "Don't bring our parents into this"

She looked at him for a minute, wondering if he was including her own parents in that statement. She knew that if he'd made a comment like that about her own parents she would have gone at him with everything in her. She nodded, acknowledging his proposition.

"Fair enough" She said shakily looking up at him "Don't scare me like that again"

He mimicked her and nodded "I'm sorry" He lifted his hand and rubbed her bare arm up and down gently "You're shivering. Go change"

He took another step back from her and allowed her enough room for her to move around him and head towards her bedroom. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it, hearing her cousins' hushed voices coming from the next room as she struggled to control her breathing.

When Dean turned he wasn't surprised to see Sam's disapproving look directed straight at him. He knew he could have handled the situation better, but even so, it wasn't like they hadn't had fights like that before.

"Maybe I should go and see what I can find out about this Leslie girl" Dean suggested before Sam had the chance to lecture him about tact and sensibility when it came to women and family, particularly with women who were family.

"Do you need me?" Sam asked, wanting to find out but also wanting to smooth things over with Isabel on Dean's behalf.

Dean shook his head "No, I can do it. You should probably stay with her" He nodded towards Isabel's room "talk to her…maybe you can…"

"Clean up your mess?" Sam suggested accusingly.

Dean let out a big breath and ran a palm over his face, so tired of having to censor his opinions and justifying himself when it came to Isabel "Don't start with me Sam"

"Me? You attacked her!" He whispered harshly "I know you got off on the wrong foot yesterday"

"Yesterday?" Dean spat out "We got off on the wrong foot twenty four years ago Sam! We have never gotten along, and we probably never will. Why can't you just accept that?"

"It doesn't have to be that way Dean. Can you for once swallow your pride and be the bigger person? Make an effort"

"I am making an effort. She doesn't want us here!" Dean said loudly pointing towards Isabel's room "And to be honest with you, I don't want to be here either"

"Keep your voice down" Sam said in an angry hushed tone, looking back in the direction of Isabel's room before returning his angry glare to Dean "She may be your cousin and a royal pain in the ass but she is also a girl and half your size, please be more sensitive and try not to smack her around"

Dean narrowed his eyes at his brother, knowing he was not seriously thinking he would physically hurt their cousin but still upset that Sam was making it sound like he had started it, when in fact, it was Isabel that had started every argument. She always had, he realised, all it would take was an ambiguous comment from Dean, which Isabel would take personally then she would turn around and bite his head off with something cruel. Something she knew would hurt him and was sure to make him snap. He was getting mad just thinking about it. He would fall for it every time, and in the end it would seem like he had picked the fight. He always came out like that bad guy.

"Look, I need to go…away…from here" Dean said grabbing his keys and walking out "I'll be back later"

Sam watched his brother drive off and sat back down on the couch, wondering if he was destined to play the peacekeeper between his brother and cousin forever. He was so tired of it. He didn't understand why they couldn't just go half an hour without snapping at each other. It was true they'd never gotten along well, but they were adults now, and he knew they had to love each other in their own way.

He closed his eyes and dropped his head against the back of the couch "He's gone" He said loud enough for Isabel to hear.

He almost smiled to himself as he heard her door squeak open slowly, and a moment later he felt her weight shift the couch. He opened his eyes and looked sideways at her.

She had changed into jeans and an oversized woolly jumper "You two have got to start getting along" He said gently but seriously "I can't do this anymore"

"I'm sorry Sam" She said "I just…I don't know what it is about him that just…infuriates me"

Sam chuckled "Probably the same thing about you that infuriates him. Do you have any idea how alike you two are?"

"I know" She said now smiling too "Mom said we both turned out like our mothers. They used to fight a lot too"

Sam, always interested in finding out anything at all about a mother he didn't remember, turned on the couch to face Isabel "They did?"

"Yeah, but they were still very close. I don't know how that works. How can you get along and fight all the time?" She frowned in confusion.

"Blood is thicker than water" Sam said, and noticed her blank expression "Family equals unconditional love. Take me and Dean. We are nothing alike, and we fight a bit, yet, there's nothing I wouldn't do for him, and vice versa"

She smiled sadly and looked away "I always wanted a brother or sister"

"I remember you once asked Santa to bring you a sister for Christmas" Sam said smiling, trying to lighten her mood.

It worked and Isabel laughed, remembering "I did. I wanted a twin sister. Just like our moms"

It had helped somewhat that Jane, Isabel's mother, had been Mary's identical twin sister. He would look at her as he grew up and know that if his mother were alive, she would look just like his aunt. It also made sense why his father had avoided visiting Isabel's family like the plague. Jane would constantly remind him of his wife. And Dean might have possibly felt the same, but because Sam didn't remember his mother, he never truly loved her and he never really missed her as a person. He loved and missed his mother for what she represented, a part of his family what would always be missing. He sometimes resented Dean for having memories of her, when he didn't. And secretly, when he was over at Aunt Jane's he would sometimes pretend she was his mother.

"Do you remember her at all?" Sam asked.

"Your mother?" She thought for a second before shaking her head "No, I don't. Although I've heard so many stories about her from my mom, sometimes I feel like I do"

"Dad hardly spoke about her" He said sadly, now wishing he had, so he could feel he knew Mary Winchester, even if through others' memories "I think it hurt him to"

"I imagine it would. My mom was sad for so long. For years she couldn't talk about her without breaking down. But eventually, she was able to remember the good stuff, and not just that she was gone" She looked at Sam seriously "Dad told me once that she was never the same after your mom died. Imagine losing your twin or your wife. Imagine losing the love of your life"

Jessica's face flashed through his mind and he had to swallow the lump in his throat. Isabel noticed and she wondered if she'd said something wrong.

"I can" He said shakily "My girlfriend Jessica…she died a few months ago"

She looked at him in surprise "Oh Sam…I'm so sorry"

He felt immediately more comforted as he felt her hand on his shoulder, and wondered why it felt so easy to confide in her about this. He could hardly speak about it with Dean, and that really had left no one else.

"I was going to marry her, you know?" His eyes had filled with tears but they didn't fall.

"How did she die?" She asked.

"Just like my mom" Sam said.

He didn't have to explain any further. They'd already had the conversation about how his mother had died when they were younger and his father and Aunt Jane had had their legendary fight about how John was rasing his boys. He'd never found out just how much of it Isabel actually believed.

She closed her eyes as it all came together now "Is that why you've left school and joined Dean? You're still trying to find that…thing?"

"We're gonna find it Isabel. We're gonna find it and we're gonna kill it" He said almost vehemently and she looked at him closely.

"And then what Sam?" She asked gently "You'll stop then? Once you've killed it? Or once there's nothing left for you to kill?"

"I don't expect you to understand"

"You think I don't? Some spoilt brat came back blind drunk from a high school dance and decided to take his daddy's Jag for a joyride. My parents died instantly and he walked away without a scratch on him. He didn't even spend one day in jail! All the anger in the world is never going to bring my parents back. Having someone to blame and go after will not bring your mom or Jessica back believe me. And once you find this thing and kill it, and I have no doubt you will, you won't miss Jessica any less"

"Are you saying we should just let it go?" Sam asked in disbelief.

She took a moment to answer, with a question of her own "Are you doing this solely for revenge?"

"It's justice. They deserve justice"

"You're becoming like your dad Sam, like Dean. Fuelled by revenge. Blinded by it. There's more to life than that, and you're missing it. Would your mom and Jessica really want that?"

He remained silent. He'd already had this argument with himself in his head. He'd had this argument with his dad, and with Dean. And he would be lying if he didn't agree with Isabel now. Of course his mother would want a different life for him. She would want for him the life he was leading before Jessica died, before Dean reappeared in his life.

"No, they wouldn't" He said honestly "but I can't stop and I won't. Not until we find our dad and finish this. You know how it feels. I've had everything taken from me Isabel"

She looked at him sadly and shook her head "Not everything. You've got your dad and you've got your brother. They love you Sam, you know they do. And no matter what's happened between us, you'll always have me too. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I do love you. And as hard as it is to believe, I love Dean too"

"Not as hard as you think" He said smiling and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to lean against him "We love you too. Even Dean"

"Now I know you're lying"

He laughed and placed a kiss on top of her head "He wanted you to come live with us, did you know?"

She sat up straight and looked at him in disbelief "What?"

"When your parents died, Dean wanted you to come live with us. Dad said no, and they had a huge fight. Huge. Dean stormed off and disappeared for over a week. The first and only time I've ever seen him stand up to dad"

"I always figured if anyone would have wanted me, it would have been you"

Sam shook his head "I didn't want you to live with us. I didn't want our life for you. I didn't even want it for myself. I stayed out of it"

"So many things unsaid" She whispered ruefully, almost to herself and leaned against him again "Think our moms would be happy if they could see us now?"

Sam smiled as he considered what she said "Yeah, they would"