The Smell Of Burnt Matches.
Chapter One.
"What do you mean – 'she said she was our sister'?" Dean asked in a hushed voice. Both brothers stood a few feet away from the Impala but Dean refused to take his eyes away from the girl curled up on the back seat – making sure she was still asleep.
Sam shrugged. "That was the last thing she said before collapsing", he said, knowing he had already told Dean this around 25 times already.
"So, because she passed out right in front of you – you're going to believe her?" Dean asked. Sam rolled his eyes. "If she had told you that grass was actually pink and then passed out – would you believe her?" Dean lectured. Sam chose not to listen to him.
"Have you never seen pink muhly grass? On the East Coast?"
Sam and Dean turned to the car together, the girl leant on the bonnet of the car. Sam stayed where he was but Dean took a step back. She looked like a hunter – her converse and the bottom of her jeans were covered in mud, there were specks splattered across her leather jacket and her hair was tied in a plait over her right shoulder. She looked at them with expectant eyes – wondering if either of them had actually heard of pink muhly grass. Eventually she dropped the smirk and sighed – mumbling something about never being able to make good impressions.
She stepped forward but Dean gave her a warning look. She rolled her eyes and carried on walking towards them – with no intention to kill them, or possess them like he thought she did. "Listen – I know you don't trust me, and I know this is totally unbelievable, but I have money for a DNA test and if you think I'm a demon throw some salt on me, trap me, do what you want. I'm not going to melt into the pits of Hell." Her eyes pleaded with the brothers, and she pulled out a pile of notes to proof she had money for a test.
Dean seemed to relax, and stepped forward – next to Sam. "What's your name?" He asked her.
"Scarlett," She told them, but they carried on looking at her expectantly. "Scarlett Winchester – I wanted to change it but I didn't have to money," Scarlett clarified. Dean and Sam looked at each other, and then her. Dean looked her up and down. She looked like them.
She looked like their Mom.
She looked more like their Mom than either of them did.
"How old are you?" Sam then asked.
"Eighteen," she answered simply.
"Why are you not in school then?" he asked her. Dean turned to him and raised both eyebrows – Sam saw and shrugged. Scarlett looked between them.
"I dropped out when I was 16, I had more important things to deal with," she told them, her voice partly threatening, mostly sad. Sam and Dean wondered the same thing – was she a hunter? Had Dad dragged her into this too? Dean surprisingly, gave in to Scarlett first.
"If we drive through the night we should reach the roadhouse. Sam, you call Ellen and tell her we'll be there in the morning," he ordered. Scarlett nodded in agreement and smiled ever so slightly before not wasting any time getting back in the car. By the time Sam had rung Ellen and Dean had started the engine, she was vast asleep.
"You change your opinion quick," Sam commented. Dean tried his best to avoid the question, but Sam carried on staring. The eldest rolled his eyes and looked in the rear view mirror at Scarlett, who was using her hood and hands as a pillow. Her chest raised up and down slowly, she was definitely asleep.
"Look at her," Dean told Sam.
"Yeah, she looks just like us," Sam pointed out. Dean shook his head and took a deep breath.
"She looks like Mom," Dean said quietly. Sam looked at his brother and then turned to Scarlett – he didn't want to admit Dean was right. Both brothers were silent, soon enough Sam fell asleep as well. Dean sat in the car with the radio playing quietly, tapping along to the drum beat as he drifted along the road. Neither Sam nor Scarlett woke up once throughout the night, only starting to wake up when they were a few miles from the roadhouse.
Ellen, and surprisingly Jo – who had returned from her adventures – were both waiting for them. Part of Dean wished he had a camera for their faces when they saw it wasn't just him and Sam coming for a visit. But instead, Dean turned to Ellen and said: "Please tell me you know something about this."
Ellen stared at Scarlett, who was still half asleep and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. The brothers looked at her expectantly, but she just shook her head slightly. "You better come in then," she told them, nodding her head towards the door.
Dean and Jo exchanged glances as he walked past her while she was waiting for Scarlett to walk through before closing and locking the door behind her. Ellen was already pouring drinks and handing them to Dean, Sam and Scarlett. "God, you do look like them," she said as she slid a drink across the bar to Scarlett.
Dean and Sam again, exchanged glances. "Are you saying she's telling the truth?" Dean asked. Scarlett rolled her eyes.
"I'm not saying she definitely being truthful," Ellen defended, after which Scarlett sighed noticeably loud.
"Then what are you saying?" Dean bit back.
Ellen took a deep breath. "A long, long time ago – your Dad came in after a hunt. He got drunk, ended up being the only one in the bar. He started rambling on about some woman he met, telling me she'd let him stay for a few days while he was hunting in San Diego-" Ellen was cut off by a quiet gasp. Everyone looked over to Scarlett.
"Don't tell me, you're from San Diego?" Dean asked. Scarlett didn't bother answering, knowing it would make the situation worse – but nodded.
"Anyway," Ellen continued, "he was going on about this woman, and he just kept on mentioning how she reminded him of your Mom."