Eye of the Storm

Disclaimer: Don't own Supernatural in any way. I do own Haley Winchester and Laura Whitman.

Review Answers: Forgot the last few times. I will answer from now on. Sorry to anyone who didn't get answered.

Spuffyshipper – Thankyou. Here it is. Thankyou.

Chapter 3: Secrets Unspoken

Haley was resting peacefully almost from the minute her head hit the pillow. Sam would've been happy to just sit there and watch her while she slept, but got the feeling that if he didn't leave the room on his own, Missouri was going to pull him out by his ear. The fact that she didn't correct him when he thought that only strengthened his suspicions, so he left Haley without argument, returning to the living room with Missouri and Dean.

No one had really moved while they were gone, except Jim and Laura were now on the couch, and John was sitting in the chair Jim had occupied.

"So, what have we missed while we've been getting here?" Dean asked, choosing to stand beside his father rather then sit on the couch where Laura was. Sam, however, had no such problem, and took a seat beside her.

"Well, nothing much to tell the truth." John admitted.

"Except we know that the demons are picking us off one by one." Caleb said. "We were expecting at least four others to have joined us by now. We think the demons have already gotten to them. We were actually starting to get worried that they'd killed the three of you as well."

"Well, they tried." Sam said. Everyone turned their gaze on him, and he suddenly felt very self conscious. "One of them showed up at the motel." He said.

"And you survived?" Elkins asked, sounding doubtful.

"Haley threw him through a window." Sam said. Now Elkins looked interested, but Sam wasn't going to go into any more detail. In fact, he looked just about ready to get up and go back to Haley. A warning look from Missouri told him to stay put.

"Okay, so I think it's safe to say they're trying to kill us off one by one," John said. "The question is, who are they going after next?"

Everyone was silent. It wasn't really a question of who to warn, because anyone left who was worth going after was right there in the living room. It was more of a question of what to do: should they wait for the demons to realize they were all hiding out in the same place, or should they go and meet the demon's head on.

"I don't think all of us would need to go." Elkins said after a while. "These demons, they may be strong, but whoever they're going after; you can bet they'd only be prepared for that person."

"You're talking about, what? One or two normal people alone against a demon." Caleb said. Elkins turned to look at the younger man. The look alone seemed enough to make him back off, though no one else saw it.

"Besides, they're not just strong." Sam said. "These demons are… telekinetic. Or something close to it… the one we fought…" He noticed a warning look from Dean just in time. "… used it to attack us." He left out the bit where Haley had done the exact same thing to fight it off.

"So we take away its power." Everyone turned to look at Bobby. "It's not as hard as you might think. There are… protective circles… that can be used to neutralize a demon. Get one inside one of those circles, it's trapped, completely powerless."

"But we're talking about a building, not a small circle; and you can bet the demons will be on the look out for something like that." Jim said.

"Well, I've been working on something." Bobby said. "Not as effective as the protective circles created in the olden days, but it should be enough to make the demon at least fightable."

The discussion became a lot more heated after that, mostly about just how reliable Bobby's new trick was and just who it was that would have to wait for the demon to come. They eventually came to the conclusion that it was Pastor Jim who would be the next target, so that meant he was definitely staying out of it. Then all that was left to decide was who would be going, and just how much of a chance there was that they'd be coming back.

-;-

Haley smiled when she heard the door open. She sat up, turning towards the door.

"So, how did the planning -" She looked around the room, seeing the open door but no Sam. No anybody for that matter. "- go." She finished, looking around the room. A shiver ran up her spine, and she felt the room temperature rise. Her breathing became more laboured as she got to her feet, with the intention of… well, she wasn't really sure what she intended to do, but leaving the room was a high priority on her list.

She'd barely taken three steps before she fell to her hands and knees, eyes wide and blank. And then her whole body swung backwards, as if hit by an invisible force, and she was sitting up against the bed. Her breathing became deeper, and a familiar feeling swept over her, a feeling of strong, formless emotion. No one in particular, it was just there. Like a figure without any features.

"Haley!" She gasped, hand reaching out to no one in particular. Except she had neither spoken her name nor moved her hand. Something else had.

Her whole body stiffened as she felt a wave of emotion wash over her. She closed her eyes, putting her hands to her head as she tried to fight it off; whatever it was, she didn't like it, and she didn't want it, especially if it was going to start speaking through her; that came a little too close to possession for Haley's liking.

When she opened her eyes again, she felt like screaming, or running, or doing something other then sitting there, frozen in terror.

As she stared, fire seemed to rise up from the floor, moving slowly towards her.

-;-

To say that they had discussed the best course of action like rational adults would be like saying a five-year-old had rid the world of demons. Not a chance.

It was mostly Elkins and Bobby who provided the fuel for the fire, both of them convinced that one man (or woman, as Laura pointed out) could fight off a demon if given the proper tools to do it with. John was open to suggestion, Laura seemed all for the idea, while Jim, Caleb and Missouri seemed dead-set against it. Dean was, as yet, undecided as to what could be done, and Sam seemed preoccupied with something else (that something was no doubt residing in another room).

All arguments ceased when Sam got to his feet, staring straight at the door that led to the room Haley was in. Several pairs of eyes locked onto him as he stood there, seemingly frozen.

"Sam?" Dean said softly, wondering what had caused his brother to suddenly… act the way he was.

Sam didn't give any sign that he had heard Dean. Truth be told, the only hint that he was anything more then a frozen statue was the periodic rise and fall of his chest as he stood, motionless, in front of the door.

"Haley." Was all he said; and then he was gone, racing through the doorway and down the hall to the room Missouri had set aside for he and Haley. Behind him, he thought he heard some of the others getting to their feet, but he ignored them.

When he came to the door to the room, he found it sealed shut, held that way by some unseen force.

"Haley!" He shouted, slamming his shoulder into the door in an attempt to dislodge it. He took a step back, and kicked it with all the strength he could muster.

The hinges sounded like they broke. But the door remained in place, not budging an inch no matter how many times he (and moments later, Dean) kicked or hit it.

-;-

"Haley!" She looked up at Sam's voice, taking her eyes off the fire for mere seconds. She wanted to call out to him, but something was making it all-but impossible to move any part of her body aside from her eyes.

"Haley…" The voice that seemed to come from the flames was weak and raspy, like whoever was speaking hadn't done so in a long time. Haley narrowed her eyes at the fire as it stopped moving along the floor, and the wave of emotions emanating from fire (well, the entity within the fire) dulled it's bombardment against her mind, for just a few seconds.

And then, like that had been the calm before the storm, a fierce, ear-splitting scream filled the room, and Haley through her head back as she felt like her head was going to explode, as much from the noise as from the sea of raw emotion she was drowning in.

And then the fire vanished in a final burst of combustive power, throwing Haley backward against the bed -

And then the door fell forwards, in two pieces, and Sam and Dean burst into the room, followed closely by Missouri and John. Sam was at Haley's side within a second of entering the room, cradling her in his arms.

"Haley. Haley? Wake up, come on, wake up." He whispered this over and over again. After almost half a minute, she groaned, and her eyes flickered open.

"Sam, please shut up." She said hoarsely, leaning up in his hold. Before she could make another move, he'd pulled into a tight (and somewhat uncomfortable) hug.

"I tried to get in to help you." He whispered. "I -"

"- Heard you." Haley said. She glanced over in the direction of Dean, John and Missouri (and behind them, possibly everyone else who was in the house), and then noticed the broken door on the floor. She smiled and turned back around to him. "Thank you." She said, kissing him fleetingly on the lips.

"What was it?" Everyone turned around. It had been Elkins who had spoken, and Sam turned a somewhat irritated glare on the older man.

"Give her a minute, she only just woke up." He snapped. Haley smiled gratefully as she leaned her head on his shoulder, facing away from everyone else. She really didn't feel up to talking about her experience right at that moment. Ever, actually, if she had a choice. It was doubtful she was going to have one though.

"I agree." Missouri said. "Everyone out, come on," She said, winking at Sam. He smiled gratefully at her as she shooed everyone out of the room, and then closed the door behind her, leaving Sam alone with Haley.

He helped her to her feet (something that was becoming increasingly difficult as of late, with her ever-growing belly), and led her back to the bed.

"Thanks." She said, as she lay back down. Sam sat down on the bed beside her, and she knew then that she wasn't going to get out of telling him what happened.

As if he reading her thoughts, he smiled down at her. "Think of it this way: If you tell me, I can tell every one else and you won't have to feel like you're being interrogated." She stared up at him, annoyed by the logic he presented, and feeling a sudden need to knock that smile off his face. She settled for a sigh of resignation and lay back against the pillows, relaxing as she tried to recall everything that had happened.

"I thought you were coming to bed." She said. "When I heard the door open. And I sat up to ask you …" She tried to remember. "… Something." She decided. "But you weren't there." She then went into a semi-detailed explanation of the feeling that had come over her when she'd tried to leave the room, something like being possessed, without the entity actually being in her body.

"Like what Heartsbane did to me?" Sam asked. Haley frowned, and shook her head.

"No," She said. "Heartsbane was making you think the things you were doing were what you wanted." She said. "This was… different. I knew it wasn't me. I think… I think it was trying to talk to me, and my empathy opened a door for it to come through." Sam bit his lip.

"Explain." He said.

"I said my name. And I moved, but it wasn't me doing it." She said. "It was like any normal empathic channel. It wasn't me doing it, it was…" She trailed off, unsure what to call whatever it was that had visited. "I was acting how it was acting. Or wanted to act. I think it knew I was empathic and was trying to communicate to me, through me, if that makes sense." Sam gave a small laugh.

"Yeah, in a strange sort of way." He said. He put his hands on her shoulder, smiling warmly at her. "Don't worry. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Haley rolled her eyes.

"I can take care of myself you know." She said, but she smiling lovingly back at him. "Thank you." She said after a minute. "Now come to bed. I don't want to sleep on my own again." She said it in such a way that there was no room for argument. Not that Sam wanted to. He climbed to his feet, stripped down to his boxers, and then climbed into bed beside Haley.

-;-

Missouri turned away from the door after a long minute, nodding at the group of hunters sitting around her living. "They're asleep." She said.

"Can I just say: I do not approve of discussing this without Sam and Haley?" Dean said.

"Duly noted." Laura droned.

"It has as much to do with them as any of us." Dean said. "More, probably."

"We know where you stand, Dean." John said. "However, if you would prefer to sit out of the meeting and therefore not have anything to relay to Sam and Haley when they get up tomorrow, by all means…" He gestured towards the door.

Dean made an irritated noise in the back of his throat, but sat down beside Bobby on the couch, crossing his arms. He wasn't really going to tell Sam and Haley anything. That was what angered him so much; that they were discussing Sam and Haley and he couldn't even tell them about it, because his father had ordered him not to. He really hated being the obedient son sometimes.

"You said you had some information about the demon," Elkins said to John, seemingly oblivious to Dean's previous statement.

"Yes." John said, glancing momentarily at Dean before continuing. "More to do with the people it goes after then anything else."

"Meaning Sam and Haley." Dean interrupted. Several pairs of eyes turned his way for a few seconds, before returning attention to John.

"Essentially, yes." He agreed. "It's about their gifts." That got everyone's attention. With the exception of Missouri, and possibly Pastor Jim, no one outside of the Winchester family knew about Sam and Haley's gifts, so this was news to almost everyone in the room. "I found something out… about the demon. About why it goes after the babies, like it did Sam and Haley."

"I thought we'd already figured that out." Dean said. "It feeds off their energy."

"Most of the time, yes." John said. "But what it does, you could call it a test. If the babies somehow survive to adulthood, like Sam and Haley did, the demon…" He paused. "About five percent of its minions aren't actual demons. They're humans possessed by demons. The people who survived it's attack when they were babies."

"Wait, are you saying… what I think you're saying?" Dean asked.

"The night Jessica- Sam's girlfriend-" He clarified for the people in the room who didn't know, "Was killed, the demon hadn't been after her. It had been trying to possess Sam itself."

"So, why didn't it, I mean, if an average demon can possess any of these… people," Elkin said, "Why couldn't this demon possess Sam?" John glanced at his old mentor for a moment before answering.

"I don't think it was powerful enough." He said finally. "Strong, it may be. But you have to remember, it's nothing more then a parasite now, and Sam…" He thought for a minute. "He isn't exactly your average psychic, either." So far, all the 'Gifted' (as John had come to call them) that John had heard about had only had one gift. It could've been anything from telekinesis, to mind reading, to visions, but it had only been one gift. Sam, so far, had displayed two gifts: visions, and telekinesis on two different occasions. Both of which, he'd learned, had been directly linked to Dean being in some kind of danger. Another supernatural quirk to his sons' relationship that he would've preferred not happened.

Elkins seemed a little… irritated, and leaned back in his chair. Missouri and Pastor Jim didn't look surprised; they'd already known most of what John had said. Laura seemed somewhat disturbed by the idea, while Caleb and Bobby were just sitting there, like they'd been expecting this.

Dean just sat there, not looking at all pleased, and John had a feeling why. He decided to continue before Dean could say anything that he'd regret.

"But just because the demon couldn't possess Sam… well, as I said, it's nothing more then a parasite now… and I think an 'average demon', as Daniel just called them, could possess him. And Haley for that matter. No matter how strong they are. So… be on the look out for any signs. Especially you Bobby." He added, knowing the other hunter could spot a possession a mile away.

Everyone was silent for a long minute. And then Dean got to his feet, heading for the door.

"Dean, don't you breathe a word of this to either of them." John ordered. Dean kept walking. "Dean." He repeated firmly, turning to face his son, he was determinedly not turning around to face him.

"Yes, sir." Dean said, and John noted the venom in his voice. John had seen Dean this way before, but only a couple of times. It happened every time following an order from John meant 'betraying' Sam, as Dean saw it. Thankfully, it never lasted long.

-;-

Fire rose up from the ground in front of him; fire and shadow. And as always, it took form, the vague shape of a man, swathed in shadow, only its sickly yellow eyes truly visible.

"It's time to end this." He said. It stared at him, like a man stares at an insect. Like he wasn't worth the time of day.

He lunged forward, swinging his sword in a wide arc, as if to behead it. Faster then any human could've, the demon too had a sword in hand. It caught the blade of his own sword in one hand, and before he could so much as think, the black sword was driven straight through his stomach-

Haley's eyes snapped open, and with a shocked gasp, she sat bolt upright, eyes wide with terror as she expected to feel blood gushing from the wound in her belly. She stared down, panic in her eyes, and it took her almost ten seconds to realize that there was no gaping sword wound. She breathed a sigh of relief, falling back and resting her head on the pillows, eyes closed.

"Haley…" She opened them again a second later, and for one heart-stopping second, almost expected to find Sam staring down at her from the ceiling. To her utmost relief, the ceiling was clear.

Relief became a strange sense of surprise when she realized that the space at the end of the bed wasn't.

-;-

A/N: And the chapter is finally finished. Phew, that was hard. Firstly, I'm hoping Dean's behaviour didn't seem too out-of-character, I've got a little plot planned out for Dean and it's necessary for him to feel bad about following his father's orders for that plot to eventuate. Let's just say a little rebellion is in order, and leave it at that.

Secondly, I hope the dream wasn't too cheesy (if that's the right word), I was having a lot of trouble with it. Hopefully, it turned out okay. Can anyone guess what the dream was about? Why not review and let me know.