The Other Winchester – Part 5

Sam and Dean stood at the bottom of the stairs, neither saying a word as they watched their sister disappear up the stairs.

Bobby joined them. He nodded towards the empty staircase. "She gonna be okay?"

Saying nothing, Sam walked into the sitting room and sat down on the old sofa, unable to speak as his sister's pain washed over him. The misery and hurt flowing through his bond with Haley suffocating in its intensity.

Dean looked over to where Sam was sitting and felt helpless.

I'm gonna kill the person responsible for hurting her Bobby. If my dad was here ..." He trailed off, his thoughts murderous."Christ I'm sorry I pushed her, I..."

"She's not going alone Dean." Sam said quietly, interrupting Dean's rant, "I don't care how we do it or what she says. I'm going with her."

"No passports Sammy. We're dead remember? We can't exactly use the tiki hut fake id's we have."

Sam looked urgently at his brother.

"I'm going Dean, so we'd better find a way. I don't care what it takes."

"You're both overlooking the obvious answer." Bobby said "Who do we know who could get us there in an instant no need for passports or planes."

Dean grinned. "Cas."

Picking up on Bobby's comment Sam said. "We?"

"Yeah we! You don't think I'm letting you two idgits go to a foreign country with that girl alone do ya?"

Slapping his hands on his knees, Dean got up. "I'm gonna call Cas."

Sam nodded and settled in to wait for Haley to come down and for Dean to come back with Cas.

xxOOxx

Dean walked slowly to a quiet spot in the yard and sat on the bonnet of one of the old cars; his emotions at odds with the stillness of his body. Anger radiated through him, almost overwhelming in its intensity. He knew that he had to get himself under control before he saw his sister.

He thought of his beautiful younger sister so strong in many ways but broken inside. He hated to think what twenty years of isolation from her family had done to her. It was obvious no one was going to believe a little girl when she insisted that she had a father and two brothers.

Fists clenched he stood suddenly, turned and punched straight through the window of the nearest car. Pain radiated through his hand and blood poured from a gash in his knuckles, but did little to ease the rage coursing through his blood. He looked up and shouted.

"Cas... Cas I need your help."

"You know Dean; I am not at your beck and call. There are matters which need attending to in Heaven." Castiel said, appearing before Dean.

Dean sent an angry glance in Castiel's direction. "I don't care; we need you here and after everything that we did, you owe us."

Sensing Dean's pain, Castiel moved to stand before him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "what do you need my friend?"

Dean had a sense that Castiel knew exactly what was going on. "Do you know what's wrong with Haley?"

Unblinkingly Castiel simply answered "Yes."

Dean frowned at the Angels simple answer, "care to share?"

"No, I cannot. This is something that Haley will share with you when the time is right. Haley is a fine hunter, one of the best, but the pain from the childhood stolen from her is deeply rooted in her soul. Her childhood was difficult and she will need you to be strong for her."

Dean knew that there was no way that Castiel was going to tell him anything. He huffed in frustration.

"We need to get to Ireland, Haley's adoptive Grandmother is sick and she needs us to go with her. We don't think Sam and I will be able to get to Ireland with the id's we have. Can you get the four of us there?"

"Yes, do you wish to go now?"

"No, tomorrow, Haley's-" He paused to take a shaky breath. "... her parents aren't expecting her till tomorrow night. The journey time from here to there by plane is more than a few hours, so we can't exactly pop up now. Not when they know that she is here in the US."

Looking out of her bedroom window; Haley could see Dean talking to Castiel outside, every movement screamed out his feelings. He wasn't happy and that was her fault. She knew that she should have kept the emotions from overflowing whilst they were around, knew that by taking that phone call she had opened a gate in her soul and she didn't know if she could close it.

She lay on her bed; how could she face them after that spectacular break down?

She was so embarrassed, her brothers were so strong despite everything that they had gone though. For crying out loud they'd both been to hell and back and survived it and here she was crying like a girl over a phone call from her mother. Suddenly exhausted she closed her eyes. She decided to forego her shower and sleep. Maybe she'd wake up feeling better, more able to face what lay ahead.

Downstairs, Sam sat unmoving on the sofa lost in thought. He stood as he heard Dean return. "Well, is Cas in?"

"Yeah, he'll be back tomorrow to take us."

Once again Sam gaze flickered to the stairs, Haley had yet to make an appearance. The longer she stayed away the more worried he became.

"She'll need some time to get herself together, Sammy." Dean said. It wasn't hard to tell what his brother was thinking about.

They sat silently together; each of the brothers pondering on what they would find out when they got to Ireland. They hated that they were going in blind; only one person could tell them what to expect and at the moment and she wasn't talking.

"We just have to treat this like another monster hunt Sammy." Dean said. He could feel his brothers gaze turn thoughtfully on him. "Go in, find the bad guys then gank them, simple as that."

Again, Sam simply nodded unable to pull his thoughts away from his sister. He got up and headed towards the stairs, Dean knew that Sam needed to see if his sister was okay; it's what he always did when they were little.

Sam listened at Haley's door for any sign that she was moving about. Not hearing anything he carefully opened the door and popped his head inside. Seeing Haley asleep in the centre of the bed, her small frame made even smaller as she curled into herself Sam stepped into the room.

He looked helplessly at his sister, considered simply leaving and letting her sleep in peace. Instead, he found himself walking further into the room. Kicking off his shoes he said quietly, "Hales, make room," in the way he did when they were kids. He chuckled softly to himself as Haley, never waking, shuffled over to the other side of the bed.

"Wow, it still works," he thought with a grin.

Laying down beside his sister, he pulled her into his arms so that she was safely encased on his chest. He relaxed finally as he felt the rhythmic beat of her heart against his chest. With a soft sigh, he laid his head on hers and closed his eyes. "Sleep well Hales."

xxOOxx

Downstairs Dean sat with Bobby at the kitchen table. They sat in silence neither knowing how to put their thoughts into words. They knew that there was a battle coming, and not of the supernatural nature, but they also knew that Haley was at the centre of it. The fight was on again to bring one of their own home.

A short while later, Dean unable to sit and wait any longer headed up the stairs to Haley's room. Peering round the door he saw that Sam was on the bed with Haley and that they were both asleep wrapped tightly around each other. He shook his head at the sight. He couldn't help but be taken back to the times when he had found them sleeping exactly that same way in the back of the Impala, so close that you couldn't tell where one finished and the other began. More often than not they would end up in the same bed together even if they had started off alone. Of course things were a little different now; Haley looked so small against Sam, who had grown considerably bigger than her over the years. With a small smile he turned to leave, maybe this is what they needed just now, some time for them to reconnect and re-establish that bond between them.

"Dean?"

Dean turned to see Haley peering up at him. "Sorry Hales, go back to sleep I was just making sure both of you were okay."

"I fell asleep alone," she whispered quietly. "I don't remember Sammy coming in."

Dean walked into the room and sat on the chair beside Haley's bed. He smiled as he took her hand. "You always slept like that when you were kids, there was no coming between you. I could never get you to sleep in your own bed."

"We're a little big for that now don't you think?" Haley replied softly.

"Well Sam maybe, you not so much."

Haley couldn't help but notice that Dean's smile didn't quite reach his eyes, his green eyes were serious and worried. She knew that she had to tell them what happened to her growing up.

She shook Sam. "Sammy wake up."

Sam was immediately awake. "Hales?"

"I'm okay... just let me up please." Sam released her and Haley sat up. She indicated to Dean that he should join them on the bed. "I need to talk to you both."

Dean kicked off his boots and sat on the bed.

Haley moved to sit cross legged at the end of the bed in a position which would let her look at both her brothers. She could see the twin looks of worry on their faces and knew that this was going to be the most difficult conversation that she had ever had.

"I always thought that if I ever found both of you again that things would be different, that the past twenty years would have broken the bond that we had as kids, but after a rocky start, there you were Dean still my big brother and Sammy my amazing twin. Both of you accepted me back so easily. It shouldn't have been possible that we would immediately be so comfortable with each other and so connected. I love you both so much and I know that I'm hurting you and I hate that it's me that's putting that look on your faces. I guess I can't pretend that things are okay..." Haley trailed off. She took a shuddering breath knowing that she had to be brave, that it was important that she do this.

Sammy reached out for Haley hating the look of quiet desperation on her face, but she shook her head.

"No Sammy, you can't touch me right now or I won't be able to get this out."

Sitting back Sam looked at Dean and knew that Haley was going to tell them about her childhood, that she was entrusting them with her deepest secrets and fears.

Dean couldn't place this version of his sister with the sassy confident woman that he loved getting to know. He hated seeing her looking so small and vulnerable.

They sat quietly for a few minutes simply waiting for Haley to continue, knowing that they couldn't push and that they couldn't say anything until she was done.

Haley looked at her hands nervously as she began to speak.

"I remember the day that dad said he was taking me on a trip, I was devastated that you weren't coming with me and was crying all the way to the airport. Dad said that I was going on an adventure just for me that it was going to be great. He said that I was going to a castle far away where only princess's stayed and little princes' weren't allowed to go to. We got to Ireland and I got the first look at the place which would become my home, my prison for the next twenty years only I didn't know that then and yes it looked like a castle.

The huge house with lots of windows, it even had a tower. I remember dad telling me that I couldn't tell anyone about him and you, that if I did that bad people would come and try and steal me away. He gave me the pendent and said that I had to wear it every day that I could never ever take it off, not until he came back for me. I said that I wouldn't..."

She paused, searching for the words to continue. "...After a few weeks, I couldn't take it. I started asking the O'Donnell's when my dad was coming back for me and when I would see my brothers again. I didn't know that whilst dad had told me that I couldn't tell anyone about my family...He had told them that I had lost my family in a fire, that in my grief for the loss of my family that I had latched onto his. They simply said that I was staying with them now and that no one was coming to get me.

From that point on I ran away at every opportunity desperate to find you. I couldn't understand why dad didn't want me. Each time I ran away, the found me and I became hysterical screaming that I had to find my family, that my little brother needed me and that my big brother would be looking for me.

They took me to a psychologist who said that I had post traumatic stress from the loss of my family and that I had become so deeply rooted in the delusion of the Winchesters that it was unlikely that I would be able to function without medication.

That was just before my ninth birthday, I saw the psychologist weekly after that. Over the next couple of years I learned not to mention the name Winchester and they thought that I was getting better..."

Haley sighed softly. She hadn't looked up from the point on the quilt that she had been staring at since she started talking, her fingers pulling softly at a small snag. She didn't see the twin looks of desperation and anger passing between her brothers. She only knew that she had to continue, tell them everything as best she could.

"My father, Kieran O'Donnell is a hunter too, except he has a lot of money and does it for sport. Dad had told him that it was important that I kept up my training, that no matter what I was vital to an upcoming battle and that I had to be ready to fight when the time came. He paid for instructor after instructor to come to the house and train me, martial arts, sword fighting, kick boxing and any other form of defence that he thought would help me fight better. In my head I thought that if I trained hard and got really good that dad would come and take me home, so I trained, every day I learned to fight and studied every book I could find on the supernatural. Still dad never came back and I never heard from him. When I was thirteen I started hunting with my father and then at fifteen I started hunting alone. Never once did I mention the name Winchester and never once did I think to take off the pendent.

It was whilst I was out hunting alone that I was attacked one night. I was hunting Balor, the Irish God of Death."

She looked up at Dean's shocked intake of breath. "I know stupid, but I didn't care. I was reckless and was thrown off of a cliff into the sea near where I lived. When I was pulled from the sea, I was suffering from concussion and had a few broken ribs, nothing serious, but I started talking about my family, the Winchesters and screaming that I needed to get back to America, that I needed to find them.

My parents were shocked, because they had thought that I had gotten past this delusion that I had came to accept them as my family. I was admitted into an institution for troubled children; my parents gave permission for them to do some experimental treatments on me."

Tears running down her face unnoticed Haley cried softly. "They hurt me a lot, said that it would help me get better, but I knew that there was nothing wrong with me. No one believed me. For six months, day after day they prodded and probed at me until eventually I was telling them everything they needed to hear to make them to stop.

After I got out I was a model teenager, I still trained, but also took etiquette lessons, learned ballet, took piano lessons and studied hard at school. When I was eighteen they finally trusted that I was well enough to go to school and I moved to Oxford to go to university. It was then that I started getting letters from dad, I thought I was going crazy again and at the end of every letter he always said 'Haley you have to burn these letters and never let anyone know that I sent them', so that's what I did. The letters came maybe every six months after that until I was twenty four when they stopped. I never heard from him again, until I received the letter telling me that I had to come help you."

Finally Haley looked up and shrugged. "Now you know everything."

Dean and Sam looked at her, neither knowing what to say, each silently promising that she would never be apart from them again. Haley crawled into Dean's lap and held on tight swearing that she was done crying over the past now that she had a future to look forward to with her brothers. She knew that the next few weeks were going to be hard but with her brothers at her side she could do anything.

Looking down at Haley; Dean latched onto the one thing from her story that was likely to make her laugh "Ballet, Haley that I've gotta see!"

Burying her head in his shoulder she whispered "Ass."

TBC