Hey, thanks a lot for all the nice reviews. I decided to update earlier, when I had some free time, because it's pretty cruel to make you all wait! Chapter eight, though, will unfortunately take longer, but I will try my hardest to update as soon as I can.
The parking lot was thankfully clear, thanks to the early morning hours, making it easier for Dean and Sam to attempt and locate Jake's family. Dean held him as Sam walked behind, still somewhat surprised by his older brother's gentle behavior.
"Do you remember where your mommy parked, Jake?" asked Dean.
Jake shook his head, causing his blonde curls to fall in his eyes. "No, but our car is blue. It's named Ben."
Sam gave Dean a look of pure confusion, but Dean simply gave him a nod, indicating that he understood the situation. "Do you mean that's it's a Mercedes Benz, buddy? A blue one?"
When Jake nodded his head, Sam threw his arms in the air in utter bewilderment. How in hell had Dean managed to figure that out so quickly? Suddenly, he spotted a group about fifty feet ahead, talking to a police officer. Dean hadn't yet seen the gathering, as he was looking at Jake and attempting to get more information out of the young boy. "Hey, Dean!" exclaimed Sam. "I think that may be them, standing over there."
Dean immediately looked in the direction Sam was pointing, and Jake raised his head hopefully from his shoulder. "Yeah, that's my mommy and daddy!"
"Okay, little man, I'll walk you over so I can talk to them."
"Yeah!" exclaimed the boy. "And then you can meet Veronica, too. I think you'll like her."
Dean grinned, ruffling Jake's hair and picking up his pace to reach the undoubtedly distraught family. He knew how it felt to be worried about a family member.
As he approached the standing group of individuals, the woman (who Dean assumed was the mother), gave a loud shriek, immediately running towards the eldest Winchester and scooping Jake out of his arms.
"Mommy!" he said with absolute glee.
"Oh, Jake, Jake..." she said shakily. She seemed unable to say much else, simply holding her son with relief and clutching him to her chest. The woman then placed him down on the ground, kneeling down before the boy in order to talk to him.
"Haven't I told you never to walk off by yourself? I was so worried about you! What if something had happened!"
"Nothing happened mommy," replied Jake quietly. "I just wanted to see the pretty cars."
The mother smiled despite the situation at this remark, amused as she always was at her son's innocent comments. "Okay, Jake. But promise me never to do anything like that again, alright? We're in an unfamiliar place. Always stay close to either me, daddy, or Veronica."
"Okay."
"Good," said the mother, giggling now. "Now did you see any pretty cars, sweetie?"
"Yeah!" exclaimed Jake excitedly. I saw a REALLY cool black one. It's Dean's and Sammy's."
The woman stood up then, obviously having made the correct and also obvious assumption that the two men who had brought her boy where Sam and Dean. She offered her hand for either one to shake it. Dean took it first.
"Hi, I'm Carol," she greeted warmly. "I'm guessing you found my little Jakey, here. Thank you so much for bringing him to me."
"Oh, it wasn't a problem," said Dean with a friendly grin. "I love kids. Come here, Sammy," insisted Dean, motioning for his brother. Sam walked over, flashing his characteristic white smile and brushing a long stand of hair out of his brown, puppy-dog eyes. "This is my brother, Sam."
"Hi Sam," she said enthusiastically, "Nice to meet you."
"You too," he replied politely. She was what you could call attractive, if slightly plump. She had golden blonde hair to match her son's, blue eyes, and startlingly white teeth. "Hey, Joe!" she called, evidently summoning her husband. The man was talking to the police officer, holding another young boy in his arms and standing beside a young woman, apparently Veronica. "Joe, come here! These two men found Jake!"
The father immediately ran over, nodding to the police officer that everything was fine. He knelt and held out his arms, which Jake immediately ran into.
"Daddy!"
"Jake, don't do that again, okay?" He nuzzled his face in his son's hair, and rocked him side to side.
"I already know, mommy told me. I won't, daddy, 'kay?"
"Alright, son."
Dean shifted uncomfortably. Although he willed himself not too, he wished despite himself that he had had someone to worry about him and be relieved to see him when he was younger, instead of simply scolding him for screwing things up. He turned his eyes away from the embracing father and son, instead focusing on the young woman standing behind her mother. To his surprise, though, she seemed to be looking at Sam.
Sam noticed. Shyly, he introduced himself to her. "Hey, I'm Sam. You're Veronica, right?" He couldn't help but think of the irony of the situation. Dean had just finished telling Sam that all the women preferred him, and yet this beautiful blonde haired girl had walked over to HIM, not Dean.
"Yeah, uh...yeah." The young woman seemed flustered, for some reason, as she talked to Sam. "So..." she fumbled, apparently deciding she should say something else, "you guys found my brother?"
"Well, he kinda found us," Sam admitted. "He seemed to take a liking to Dean over there."
She smiled. "Yeah, he really looks up to older guys."
"I hope you all don't mind, but Dean promised he could show Jake our car after we found you. He really took an interest in it."
"Oh, that won't be a problem! We probably have time to kill anyway, right, before the mansion opens? I wasn't really sure, because our computer crashed at home. We came this early because Billy and Jake were so excited, they just wanted to see what it looked like." She looked over to where the rest of the group were standing. Jake was situated beside his obviously younger brother, looking up and smiling at Dean. Carol and Joe were grinning, amused at Jake's excitement over meeting his new 'friend.'
"It's the same thing with my brother. He's just a big kid – he couldn't wait to get over here either. But yeah, you guys are gonna have to wait. Tours don't start till nine."
"Well, why don't you wait with us? I'm sure Jake would love that."
"Uh, we're actually planning on coming back later tonight. We have plans today, we just wanted to see it."
She nodded, mild disappointment evident on her face. Sam tried to continue the conversation. "So, Jake told us you go to college. Where to you go?"
"Oh," she said, brightening. "I'll be a senior at UCLA when term starts in the fall."
"Wow, UCLA? Do you like it there?"
"Yeah, I love it. Do you go to college, Sam?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Where?"
"Oh, uh, Stanford."
"Stanford! You must be really smart!" she grinned at him, evidently impressed. "Did you graduate, or..."
"Yeah, yeah, uh...about six months ago. I studied law, but I'm really not sure I'll be a lawyer or not." It was easier to tell her that he graduated than to tell her that he stopped school to hunt demons.
"I study law, too! What a coincidence, huh?"
"Yeah." Sam felt somewhat uncomfortable with the situation. Veronica was really nice, but he was sure that at some point the conversation would turn to whether either of them were currently dating someone. He wasn't sure if he wanted to mention Jessica to her or not, but that wasn't the only reason he felt like he did. It seemed that he could never be himself with women, could never tell them the full truth about his life and what he did. He felt as if he understood now why Dean pursued casual relationships. They could never settle down, never stop hunting-at least not in the near future – and growing close to someone only led to having to hurt them when they left.
Sure enough, the next thing Veronica said was in regard to relationships.
"I don't want to sound forward, Sam, but I was just wondering...do you have a girlfriend? Because it wouldn't matter if you did, I just, I don't know, that was a stupid thing for me to ask, wasn't it! Oh god, you must think I'm an idiot."
"No, no!" insisted Sam, laughing slightly. He couldn't understand why Veronica had gotten so flustered over a simple question. "No, you're not an idiot." He paused, unsure of how to mention Jessica. It still hurt to think about her.
"I did have a girlfriend," he finally said, choosing his words carefully.
"You did?"
"Yeah, um, throughout the entire four years at Stanford, but..."
She stepped closer, looking at him with concern. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want. I don't want to pry."
"No," said Sam. "No, it's probably better that I talk about it anyway. She died."
"I'm so sorry." she said quietly, drawing her hand to her mouth. "What...what happened?"
"She was murdered. They don't know who did it, but I'm gonna find out." Sam was surprised that he was saying this much to practically a complete stranger. For some reason, though, he felt comfortable doing so.
"I don't know what to say." Veronica was quiet, staring at him with wide eyes.
"You don't have to say anything, it's okay." Sam gave her a small smile, and she patted his back reassuringly.
"I hope you find whoever did it."
"Me too."
"Wow," she said in awe, looking up at the mansion. "It's huge, isn't it? I never really looked at it before. It's beautiful."
Sam ignored the fact that the subject was so abruptly changed, grateful that they were off the topic of Jessica. His eyes followed her gaze to the mansion, when, for the first time, he really took in its grandeur. There was a huge expanse of rust-red roof, what Sam assumed must be miles in length. The house itself was a golden yellow color, with neat white trim. He lost count of the many winding spires and chimneys that projected from the top. It was quite a sight.
"Yeah, it really is beautiful." He looked over at Veronica, who blushed.
Their conversation was interrupted when Jake, very excited about something, ran over to Sam. He was clutching Billy's hand in his, a small boy of about two with dark, wavy hair and brown eyes. Seemingly not as enthusiastic as his older brother, he had the thumb of his untaken hand stuffed in his mouth, and was gazing uncertainly at Sam.
"Hey, Jakey," said Veronica, kissing him and Billy on the forehead. "Was there something you wanted to tell Sam?"
"Sammy," corrected Jake. "That's his name. Dean said so." Sam groaned inwardly. He hated his nickname. He glanced over at Dean, who was standing a few feet away with a smiling Joe and Carol. Apparently they had gotten along well. When Dean sensed his gaze, he gave him a glare – probably unnoticed by anyone else but Sam – that clearly expressed his frustration at losing out with Veronica.
"Yeah! Dean said that we could see the car now, and that I should come and get you. Billy wants to see it too, right, Billy?"
The young boy nodded his head almost indistinctly.
"Okay," said Sam, "let's go. I'll let you sit in the driver's seat, okay?"
"Cool!" shouted Jake. "Hey, Dean!" Dean walked over, appearing to be slightly confused.
"What is it, little man?"
"Sammy said that I could sit in the driver's seat! Isn't that cool?"
Sam laughed openly, holding his side. He knew Dean would be mad...the driver's seat was his sacred ground. Dean looked up at Sam, a forced grin on his face.
"Yeah, Jake," he said, the fake smile never leaving his face, "that's just great, buddy."
As Veronica walked away with the two boys towards their parents, Dean leaned in towards Sam.
"I'm gonna get you for this, man," he whispered. "And for stealing Veronica, too."
"Stealing?" whispered Sam in surprise. "She walked over to me, dude."
"Yeah, right, Sammy. You knew I had dibs."
"Oh, but Dean. I thought you said you could get any girl you want. I mean, she's probably creeped out by my freaky height anyway. I'm sure if you just walked over there, she'd instantly be drawn in by your rugged manliness."
"Shut up, Sammy."
TBC
Ahhh! This site wouldn't let me upload anything for the longest time. It took forever to get this on here! I don't have to tell you to read and review, do I?
