The People You Leave Behind

Chapter One – The Woman in White

Everybody has something to conceal. – Humphrey Bogart

Sam sighed as he looked out his and Jess' bedroom window at his brother Dean, who was waiting outside by the Impala. Sam had thought he'd gotten free of his family and their hunts by coming to Stanford; yet here was Dean pulling him back into this life and he hated that. But he couldn't ignore Dean's plea for help in finding their father.

Sam and his father John had never really seen eye to eye; and that was what had led Sam to want to leave more than anything. He had tried so hard to get away from hunting, from his father's obsession to find the thing that had killed their mother. For Sam his mother was just a woman in a photograph; he didn't know her; hadn't ever really known her. He only knew what Dean had told him growing up.

All his childhood, Sam had been subjected to everything supernatural and he'd hated the hunts; the moving around; the leaving towns just when he'd made friends. He'd hated not being normal. He had worked hard to get where he was today, and now here he was about to dive back in headfirst to help Dean; and for what? To find the man who had told him to leave in the first place? The man that had told him if he walked out the door, he'd better stay gone?

Sam sighed again. Man, things were messed up when your last name was Winchester. Some things never change, Sam thought.

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Dean sighed as he took in the fact that his brother Sam, had just checked to see if he was still down here waiting. Dean knew Sam hated this life, and that was why he'd run away to Stanford; to avoid being a part of the Winchester family's legacy of hunting the supernatural. He was sorry he'd had to ask Sam to help, but hell he needed help finding their father and the fact was that John Winchester was their father; not just Dean's, so Sam should want to help him out. Dean needed help and he had no one else he could turn to.

Sam and their father John had constantly butted heads from the moment Sam had been able to form a complete sentence. That made for some trying times during their lives as neither man had ever seemed to understand how hard they had made Dean's life. He had always ended up in the middle of their fights trying to keep the peace and keep the family together. He'd tried so hard to keep the family together; and his father had basically pushed Sam out the door. Sam hadn't really needed the push though, just the excuse; and he'd taken it. He'd run away.

Dean had sacrificed his childhood to ensure Sam had one; the best that Dean could give him anyway. He'd accepted their lives early on even when Sammy hadn't. Sam had fought the life every step of the way; he'd always wanted normal; safe. That was why he'd left; why he'd run away to school; away from their father; away from Dean. It didn't matter that John had told Sam to leave; Dean had known Sam would have left sooner or later he'd just needed a reason to go.

Dean sighed again. Man, things were messed up when you were a Winchester. Maybe, just maybe, Dean could change things, he thought.

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Amy Hein looked at the two men as they left the diner. She turned to her friend Rachel, sitting next to her. "Those guys are not Troy's uncles." She said adamantly.

"What? How do you know?"

"Two reasons; one – Troy's family isn't smart enough to know what a pentagram truly means. Neither is mine; Troy just loved pissing them off."

"And the other reason?" Rachel asked looking at the two men as they got into a really badass looking black car.

"Troy's parents were only children; no brothers or sisters."

"If you knew that, why did you talk to them?"

Amy watched as the car pulled away from the curb. She thought about that for a minute. "Honestly, I'm not sure, but I think it's because they can do something."

"Do something? Do what exactly?" Rachel asked confusion showing on her face.

"Stop Constance. They can stop Constance Welch."

"Don't say her name. We promised we'd never say her name out loud." Rachel admonished her friend.

"You're the one who brought her up. I wasn't going to say anything. At first anyway."

"Well, maybe I shouldn't have."

"No. I think they can stop her. Nobody in town wants to admit we have a ghost problem, but you and I know different. We've seen her, remember? We know the stories; we've heard about the men who go missing around here. We know she's behind it." Amy said, sounding strong.

"Maybe we should have warned them about what she's capable of?" Rachel asked as the car disappeared at a corner light down the street.

"They know what to do. I feel it. We can trust them to finish this as long as we let them do their job."

"Job?"

Amy thought about that too. "Yeah; something tells me this is what they do. Hunt evil. They have a job to do; this is their job." She smiled as she added, "I think it's their family business."

Rachel turned to her friend. "Boy, sometimes I really wished you were more normal. The psychic stuff scares me sometimes." She smiled to take the sting out of her words. "Then again, sometimes you're better when you're a bit 'un-normal'."

"Speaking of psychic powers, the tall one with the cute puppy dog face; he's got the ability. He just hasn't fully realized it yet." Amy said, thinking about the two guys. "The other one, I'm not sure about him. There's something… he's different."

"What do you mean different? Different good or different bad?"

"Good; definitely good; they both are, but… the older one, he's got a… a destiny for lack of a better word. His road, both really, will lead them to hell and back, literally. But he… his road leads him to God eventually." She paused. "I don't know how to put it, but both of those guys are important to our life here on earth, but he will literally be the one who will bring humanity back from the brink with the ultimate sacrifice. He will save mankind and… restore mankind's faith in God. He's important."

"Wow, that's deep. And neither of them knows how important they really are do they?"

"No, but hopefully they will one day." Amy said as she rose from her seat in the booth. "Come on, let's go shopping."

"What about the rest of these flyers?" Rachel asked following her friend from the booth.

"Leave 'em. We both know they won't do any good anyway; Troy's already gone, and he isn't coming back. Constance took care of him. No more cheating." She paused. "Not saying she's good or anything, but she got it right with Troy and now I don't have to wonder who's bed he's in tonight." The two girls walked out of the diner and headed off down the street.

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Joseph Welch turned his back as the tall young man who said he was a reporter got into his black Chevy and drove away. Joe knew he was about as much a reporter as he himself was a beautician. He knew the man was trying to find out what he could on Joe's wife, Constance. Just like that other man had done last week. Joe knew he hadn't been a reporter either. No way. That man had been a soldier, no way was he a reporter.

Joe turned back as the car made the turn onto the main road from his yard's driveway. Joe had said he didn't know what a woman in white was when this guy had asked him, but he had lied; he knew. He'd heard the phrase before, from some of the people in town. Everyone thought it was Constance who was out there hurting those men, but no one talked to outsiders about it; they didn't want anyone thinking they were crazy; that the whole town was crazy, so everyone kept their opinions quiet. That was just fine with Joe. He didn't need anyone telling him what his wife had become, he already knew. And he knew it was his fault.

Joe wasn't always home and yes, he had cheated on Constance, but it was only the one time. He'd had to deal with that for the past twenty odd years. He wasn't perfect, but he knew it had started with him, so he'd stayed alone after losing his wife and children, Sort of his own self-imposed penance for his sins. He'd done wrong by Constance, so he'd remained faithful to her after her death in the hopes that she'd stop killing; but she hadn't. Even though he didn't want to admit it to the young man he'd been right about her; and Joe wished him silent good luck in his quest to find her and put her soul to rest once and for all.

Joe wasn't gonna say it out loud, but he knew who this man was; he was a Hunter and he knew that he'd succeed. He watched until he could no longer see the car as the young man headed back towards town. It'd be dark soon and Joe knew the young man would have to use Centennial Highway to get back to town. He may even run into Constance on the way.

It's time for her to be put to rest, one way or another. Joe breathed in deeply of the late afternoon air and turned back to head inside before evening fell across his yard.

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"Sheriff, we got another call shots fired – this time over off Breckinridge Road." Deputy Hein said rushing into the interrogation room where Sheriff Jasper Pierce stood looking at the empty handcuff dangling from the table.

They'd just gotten back from the false call of shots fired off Whiteford Road only to find his suspect, this Dean character missing from where he'd left him handcuffed.

"You take Rogers and Sanderson. I'm staying behind to contact the state police. This Dean guy is in the wind and probably with his partners."

"You think he had anything to do with Troy's disappearance?" The deputy asked.

"No not really, but he knew something. He knew who was behind Troy's and all the others. He took that crazy journal we found in the motel room with him." The sheriff scratched his head. "Go on, get going. Go catch some bad guys."

The sheriff watched as his three deputies left to go chase another false trail. He knew what was already happening out off Breckinridge Road; and it was best if he wasn't there. If this involved Constance… well, he needed to be outside of this. He knew it was the old Welch place where they'd be heading, and he knew what for.

Someone had finally taken his sister home. Yeah, his sister. Constance was finally going home to face her demons and he was going to let it happen. It was about time, too. She finally needed to be put to rest once and for all. Lord knows, he'd tried to contact her himself, but she only appeared to strangers; men who had somehow cheated. She was punishing those men for the same thing that Joe had done to her.

He sighed as he thought about what Constance had done; to those men; to her own children. She had never been unstable before, but she'd been a mother since she was seventeen and Joseph's cheating had pushed her over the edge. But that was no reason to kill her children and then herself; and then to come back from the dead and punish others for their misdeeds. No, it wasn't right, and he knew this needed to end now.

And he knew this Dean guy and his partners were the ones who would be ending it. He knew from that journal he'd thumbed through that this was just the kind of thing they'd be able to handle. So, he'd let them, and he'd conveniently forget to call the state police on them. He'd let them do their job and move on. He took one last look at the dangling handcuff and slowly turned to walk out of the room.

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Dean turned to see Sam standing in the glow of the flashing lights of the fire trucks by the open trunk of the Impala. Dean had thought he'd done the right thing by pulling Sam back into their family life; yet here he was watching Sam's apartment burn with Jess still inside. This was Dean's fault, messing up Sam's normal safe apple pie life.

He should have left Sam out of this and Jess would still be alive. Sam had deserved the normal apple pie life and Dean had just robbed him of it completely; all because he didn't want to be alone anymore.

Dean sighed to himself as he realized he'd have to work hard to fix this, for Sam. The only person who could help them find Jess' killer was their dad; so now they had work to do. He'd really messed this up; some things never change; Dean thought.

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Sam turned to see Dean was watching him as he stood by the open trunk of the car. Sam could see the firemen still working on his and Jess' apartment, but he knew it was useless. Jess was dead and he didn't care about anything else except getting this thing that had killed her. This was all Sam's fault; he shouldn't have left her alone.

He should have never left Jess and she would still be alive. He'd wanted a normal life with her, and this thing had just robbed him of that; all because he'd gone off to help Dean.

Sam sighed to himself because he knew Dean would blame himself and while Sam had wanted to blame him too, he knew it wasn't Dean's fault. It was the thing that killed his mom and now Jess that was to blame. Now he was back in this and he just hoped he had the strength to change things; for the better, he thought.