The drive to Stanford was relatively silent, Dean wouldn't speak to me about Sam and I knew he was trying to hide the fear of his brother not wanting to see us. He was hurt when his brother left, we had spoken about it a few times and he told me how he really felt about Sam leaving which nearly broke my heart as Dean also had the dream of doing something else with his life. Instead he chose to stay with his father and carry on the family business, protecting people and hunting things. I will admit I couldn't imagine him doing anything else and I knew full well that he would not be able to stop completely.
It was around two in the morning when we had finally arrived. We had been sitting outside for at least half an hour to ensure everyone was asleep.
"Dani if you want you can stay here" Dean stated not looking away from the house.
"Ohh hell no I'm coming with you, plus someone needs to make sure you don't kill each other" I laughed making my way out of the Impala. Dean quickly followed and we made our way towards the house. For some reason Dean thought it would be a good idea to sneak in through a window that was left open, why I don't know I could easily pick the lock to the door but being a guy he obviously wanted to make and entrance.
"Dean get out of the god damn fridge!" I whisper shouted at him. Taking no notice of me he continued to rumage through the fridge until he was satisfied there was no good food in there.
Dean looked at me and smirked, well I think it was a smirk it was too damn dark now the fridge light was off. He then made his way into what seemed to be the living room. Of course no lights were on and walking through the house was near impossible, as a result of this I managed to walk straight into the coffee table in the centre of the room. I knew this small sound would have woken Sam, he had instinctive hunter hearing which meant he was a light sleeper.
My suspicion was right when Sam lunged forward and knocked Dean over, but Dean manged to get the upper hand and had his brother pinned to the floor.
"Woah, easy tiger" Dean stated lightly chuckling.
"Dean?"
Dean simply laughed at him and slowly got off of him. I decided to wait for a little while longer to announce I was there too.
"You scared the crap out of me!"
"Thats 'cause you're out of practice" Dean stated before being grabbed by his hand and slammed in back which in turn caused him fall to the ground.
"Or not" I stated still staying hidden.
"Dani?" Sam questioned.
"Yep the one and only" I replied walking out of the shadows so that he could see me. As soon as he saw me a huge smile appeared on his face.
"Get off of me" Dean grumbled as Sam started patting his shoulder showing him he was indeed not out of practice. Sam then rolled to his feet pulling Dean up with him. I started to laugh as Dean brushes himself off looking slightly defeated.
"What the hell are you both doing here?"
Dean walked forward and smugly shook Sams shoulder once before letting go. "We'll we were looking for a beer" I rolled my eyes and lightly nudged him in the arm telling him to get on with and and tell Sam why we were really here.
Sam stood his ground and once again asked, "What the hell are you both doing here?" while looking directly at Dean, knowing full well that it was his idea.
"Okay, alright, we gotta talk" Dean replied looking from me to Sam. I knew at this point he was thinking about how to ask Sam for help, he's never been the sort of person to ask for it and I know full well that it pains him to ask.
"Uh, the phone"
In a much harsher tone than I intended to use I questioned Sam's comment. "If we had called would you have picked up Sam?".
"Sam?"
The lights turn on and a very puzzled girl appeared. All our heads turn to look at her standing there in her pyjamas. This must have been Jess, Sam's girlfriend and I automatically took a liking to her. By the look of it I wasn't the only one, Dean was also staring at her with a smirk on his face probably because she was wearing short shorts and a cropped smurfs top.
"Jess. Hey. Dani, Dean is is my girlfriend Jessica" Sam says smiling while pulling her closer to him. I smiled at her offering her my hand which she shook gladly.
Jess looked up at Sam smiling, she obviously knew who we were but was unsure. "Wait, your brother Dean and Sister Dani?". He simply nods while Dean grins at her and moves closer.
"Well technically I'm not their sister but yeah" I stated smiling at Jess.
"Oh, I love the smurfs. You know, I gotta tell you. You are completely out of my brothers league" I turned to see Dean with a huge grin on his face.
Jess awkwardly tried to exit the room embarrassed by Deans comment. "Just let me put something on".
"No no no, I wouldn't dream of it. Seriously" I lightly hit Dean on the arm warning him to shut up seeing the discomfort in Jess's face. He continued to smirk while Sam gave his best bitch face towards him.
"We gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business" Dean motioned towards Sam not taking his eyes off of Jess.
The way Dean is staring at Jess is starting to get on my nerves I dont know why but it just bugs me.
"But, uh, nice meeting you" I added after a few seconds trying to be as polite as possible.
I turned to leave when Sam stolled me in my tracks. "No, whatever you want to say, you can say it infront of her" pulling Jess back towards him Sam had a stern look on his face.
Shit hes not going to speak to us alone unless we do something. I looked towards Dean who just shrugged at me before seeming to go deep into thought. Crap what are we going to do we cant just tell Jess that we hunt the supernatural for a living and John been on a case and is now missing.
"Okay" Dean replied cooly. I hope he knows what hes doing. "Um, Dad hasn't been home in a few days"
"So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later" I sighed running my hand through my hair, Sam really isn't understanding what were trying to say here. From the corner of my eye I saw Dean lower his head knowing full well that he was trying not to get annoyed with Sam.
"Sam your dads on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days" I said after a few minutes of silence. Sam didn't even blink when I told him which shocked me slightly, I know he understood what we were saying but it's his father were talking about here. Seeing my reaction Jess looked up at Sam with a questioning look.
"Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside"
With that we all exited the house heading towards Deans car. Well I say his car it's actually his baby, he won't let anyone but himself drive the car. Sometimes in think he loves the Impala more than anyone else.
Realising how cold it had become I left the boys to talk while I headed to the trunk of the Impala to fetch my jacket. Putting it on I reached into my pocket to look at the picture I always carried with me. It was of Me, my Dad, John, Mary, Sam and Dean at the Winchesters house. Sam was still a baby then and me and Dean were only young but I can remember that day so clearly, it was a time that was much simpler and less complicated. Smiling to myself I quickly snapped out of the daydream after hearing something that caught my attention.
"Yeah I know, but still. The way we grew up, after Mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her." As I reached the two of them Dean turned towards me and gave me a small smile. I retuned this then turned towards Sam who carried on arguing his point."But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find"
Dean opened the door to the Impala and chucked his gun in the glove compartment. "We save a lot of people doing it, too" he said sternly. This made Sam pause and think for a few seconds.
"You think Mom would have wanted this for us?" Slamming the door Dean turned to face Sam. Looking at his face I could tell that the images of his mothers death still pained him. "The weapon training, and melting the silver into bullets. Man, Dean we were raised like warriors".
Dean started to walk forward before stopping and pointing his finger at Sam "So what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?"
"No, Not normal. Safe" Sam said calmly.
"And that's why you ran away"
"Dean!. Come on guys stop arguing this isn't going to solve anything. And it certainly isn't going to find your Dad is it!" I walked between the two of the looking at Dean then as Sam.
"I'm sorry Dani but I have to say this" Sam places his hand on my shoulder and looks past me towards Dean. "I was just going to college Dean. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing"
"Yeah, well, Dads in real trouble right now. If he's not already dead. I can feel it"
This isnt going to get us anywhere and Sam certainly isnt going to come with us if this carries on. I rack my brain to think of something to say, "Look Sam we can't do this alone" I stated slowly walking towards Dean giving him a solemn look.
"Yes you can"
"Well I don't want to this alone Sammy" I look at Dean who almost looked ashamed at admitting that we need his help. I give him a small reassuring smile before looking at Sam who sighed and looked down understanding that something was wrong and John needed our help.
Looking up Sam looks a little more interested knowing that his brother would never ask for help unless it was serious. "What was he hunting?".
Relaxing slightly I follow Dean to the trunk, following Sam kept a small distance away from us.
"All right, let's see, where the hell did I put that thing?" Dean mumbled opening the trunk and then the tire compartment to reveal our hunting gear. He then proped it up with a shotgun before rummaging around trying to find the paperwork.
No wonder he can't find anything it's a bloody mess!. "Dean you really need to sort your trunk out you can never find anything" I said trying to put things into some sort of order, not that I was doing much good with Dean purposefully moving stuff around searching aimlessly. I rolled my eyes knowing that he was doing it just to try and wind me up. "Jerk!".
"So when Dad left why didn't one of you go with him?"
Turning to face Sam I gave him a questioning look. "We were working on our own gig".
"Yeah This, uh voodoo thing, down in New Orleans" Dean added still looking through the trunk.
Sam seemed to be shocked by this and shifted slightly before asking "Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself ?".
"I'm twenty-six, dude"
I gave Dean a sarcastic look, "Not that you act Like it and plus we had eachother Sam" I said looking at Sam before chuckling and receiving a small nudge in the arm from Dean.
After a few more minutes Dean managed to find the folder with the information in about the case that John was working on. He then handed Sam an image of the man that had been MIA (missing in action) for the past month in Jericho, California. The man's car was found but he had vanished and the article that Dean had found said the mans name was Andrew Carey.
After reading the information we were able to gather Sam looks up "So maybe he was kidnaped".
"There was also another one in April Sam, December, 0-4, 0-3, ninty-eight, ninty-two ten of them over the past ten years" I state taking the articles off of Sam and handing them back to Dean who places them back into the folder. "All men, all on the same stretch of road"
Dean placed the file down and grabbed a small bag "It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough". Reaching inside the bag Dean pulled out a handheld tape recorder. "Then I get this voicemail". He pressed play and the staticky recording starts to play.
"Dean, Dani...something big starting to happen...I need to try and figure out what is going on...it may...be very careful, the both of you. Were all in danger" hearing enough Dean pressed the stop button.
"You know there's and EVP on that?" Sam states, I nod and smile at him, he clearly hasn't forgot how to hunt or listen out for things that untrained ears wouldn't be able to hear.
"Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?" Dean jokes smacking his arm while Sam shakes his head at him. "All right. I slowed the message down, I ran it through a gold wave, took to the hiss, and this is what I got"
Pressing the play button voice again there was a woman's voice on the EVP all she kept saying was that she can "never go home". This was the first time I had heard the recording why he hadn't shown me before today was beyond me but I know something bad is happening and that John needs our help. I'm just praying that Sam is going to help us.
"Never go home" repeats Sam in a puzzled way.
Satisfied that Sam understood Dean place the recorder into the bag and chucks everything back into the hidden compartment. He then removes the shotgun and shuts the trunk. Leaning on the trunk I wait for Sams answer. When he doesn't reply Dean speaks up. "You know, in almost two years I...well neither of us have bothered you, never asked you for a thing".
Sam looked away from us and sighed. "Please Sam we need you I know your brothers stubborn but it's your dad that were talking about here he would go looking for you" I say as a last minute attempt to sway him into coming with us.
He looked back towards us and sighed once more. "All right. I'll go. I'll help you find him". I smile and turn to see Dean nodding in reply. "But I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here". Sam turns to go back fro the house when Dean speaks up.
"What's first thing Monday?"
"I have this...I have an interview" Sam stutters trying to look away. I know it's something important to him as he wouldn't react this way if is weren't.
"What, a job interview? Skip it" I look at Dean disapprovingly, he obviously can't see how important this is to Sam.
"It's a law school interview, and it's my whole future on a plate"
"Wow Sam congrats that's brilliant" I say extatic that he has the chance to do something with his life. I walk over to him and give him a hug which he greatly returns.
"Law school?"
"So we got a deal or not?" Looking at Dean I release Sam allowing him to go and grab the things he needs and most importantly say goodbye to Jess.
Watching Sam disappear inside I sighed and walked to the back door of the Impala knowing full well that now Sam was back he would be riding shotgun. Pulling my jacket tighter around me I once again felt the chill, seeing this Dean took off his jacket and placed it over my shoulders. Giving my thanks I lean against the door and look at Dean who was starring towards the front door where Sam had disappeared into.
"Hey Dean, don't be to hard on him and that interview is obviously important to him, so please promise me you will bring him back Monday?" After a few seconds he turned giving me a look that told me he wasn't going to follow my advice.
Before I could say anything Sam walked out of the house. "Okay guys lets go". Accepting my defeat I helped Sam chuck his stuff in the trunk before sliding into the backseat handing Dean his jacket.
Sliding in the front Dean started the engine and put his cassette player on. The sound of ACDC Highway to Hell started to fill the air and then we were off, heading to Jericho, California.