"He actually did it. Holy shit." Gabrielle thought as she looked around the apartment. They'd snuck through the window, something the older two Winchesters exchanged annoyed looks at, and were now sneaking around the apartment. Gabrielle, though angry at her brother for letting his hunter's instincts get rusty, was actually kind of proud of him for managing to get a normal life. Of course Gabrielle only knew what normal looked like on TV so she had to take the state of the apartment as a sign. It was a pretty damn good sign. There were obviously a girl living there. "Sammy boy you finally got some confidence and landed a chick. Good for you bud." Gabrielle thought proudly.
"Make some noise." Gabrielle hissed at her older brother.
Dean gave her a look before running into like three things like an idiot. "Happy Princess?" He hissed back at her. Gabrielle stuck her tongue out at him angrily but a small smile appeared on her face. She was about to make a comment about him being "Queen Dean" when they heard Sam walking out of his room.
Gabrielle shook her head lightly as she found a door frame and leaned against it. "Oh Sam, you great big bull." She thought. Her tone was somewhere between, annoyed, disappointed, worried, and amused. "I can hear you coming from ten blocks away." She mentally scolded him.
Dean suddenly smiled and he gave his sister one of those "watch this" looks that always led to trouble. Gabrielle smiled back and watched as Dean did absolutely nothing to make himself not seem like the typical burglar. Which of course meant dear old baby brother Sam attacked him.
As a kid Gabrielle hated to see her brothers fight but she loved to see them spar. They'd treat it seriously for the first half but then it would turn into a cheap shot kind of fight that would leave them all laughing. Gabrielle knew Sam was actually literally attacking Dean but the way Dean was smiling slightly made her think that hell this might as well just be another spar.
Dean managed to get Sam on the floor pretty easily and kept him pinned with one hand. "Whoa easy tiger." He said, his voice laced with amusement though he sounded a little out of breath from the fight.
Sam stared up at him for a minute, confusion appearing on his face. "Dean?" He asked, sounding somewhere between mad and confused. He was breathing heavily; it had been a very long time since he'd fought anybody like that. Dean grinned wildly and laughed. "You scared the crap out of me." Sam said. Gabrielle smiled at the familiar tone of annoyance in his voice.
"I's cause you're out of practice." Dean said, giving him a somewhat chastising look. To prove him wrong, Sam knocked Dean off of him. Not without injury either, Sam practically slammed his foot down on Dean's back. Gabrielle stifled a laugh and watched as Sam took up Dean's position, holding down his brother by the neck. "Or not." Dean said, laughing. He looked a little annoyed that baby brother Sam had one upped him. "Get off me." He ordered their little brother.
As Sam helped their brother up Gabrielle caught his attention by waving cheerfully. "Elle?" He asked in surprise.
Gabrielle grinned at him. "Hey baby brother. You miss me?" She asked him. Her tone was light and joking but her question was serious. Gabrielle had texted him a few times while over the years but that was just to tell him how they were. She'd texted him when Dean broke a rib, when she won a thousand bucks from the lottery, when they were anywhere nearby. He'd text back sometimes; tell her he was glad they were okay and that he was fine. That was it though. They'd never actually talk. They never said they missed each other either. So it was a perfectly valid question.
"Course I did Elle." Sam told her sincerely. Gabrielle grinned wildly and Dean gave her an "I told you so" look. "What the hell are you guys doing here?" He asked. Gabrielle frowned slightly, way to pop the happy bubble Sammy.
"Well we were looking for a beer." Dean said, smiling and clapping his hands down on Sammy's shoulders. He figured Sam would be a little less inclined to get pissed off if he was drinking. Sam was a pretty cheerful drunk and even his crash when he got all depressing would be easier for Dean to handle than the idiot's anger.
That seemed to piss Sam off though. "What the hell are you guys doing here?" He repeated a bit slower than before. He sounded mad.
Gabrielle pushed herself off the doorway she was leaning against and walked over, joining Dean at his side. "Sam don't get mad at us. It's not like we're here to steal anything." She told him. Dean nudged her slightly, telling her to go ahead and tell Sam why they were there. She always could tell him bad news without him getting pissed. "Listen, Sammy, we got to talk." Gabrielle began.
"You couldn't have called?" Sam asked before she could continue.
"Like you would have answered." Gabrielle said angrily, giving him one of those looks that always made either Winchester boy feel guilty. "I sent you texts, telling you to call me, but you never answered. So you know what? We did the one thing that would get you to talk to us. We drove here and broke into your place." She said, gesturing to the room they were in.
"Sam?" A female voice asked. Suddenly the light flicked on and the three siblings became visible to each other. Gabrielle examined her brother first, noticing happily how he hadn't changed one bit, before looking over at the girl. She was blonde and extremely pretty and Gabrielle hoped to high heaven the girl had a brain because if her brother had switched to going after dumb sex toys she was going to kill him.
"Jess. Hey uh." Sam said awkwardly, looking over at his siblings. They were staring at Jess in shock, both of them confused by the presence of the blonde. "Dean, Gabrielle, this is my girlfriend Jessica." He told them.
Jess looked a little confused. "Wait, these are your siblings?" She asked before smiling at them.
Gabrielle smiled, so her brother had told the girl about them. Awesome, that meant he didn't hate them. Not entirely anyways. Dean smiled too and, since he had the biggest libido in the world, eyed her rack. "I love the Smurfs." He said, gesturing to Jess's shirt. It was extremely low cut, something Gabrielle had chosen to ignore but obviously Dean hadn't. "You know, I got to tell you, you are completely out of our brother's league." Dean said as he walked over to her, a bright smile on his face. There was some of his charm in his voice but not much. He was surprised Sammy had managed to do so well.
"Just let me put something on." Jess said, turning away.
"No, no, no, no. I wouldn't dream of it." Dean said, stopping her. His eyes drifted down. "Seriously." He said.
Jess looked over at Sam, obviously telling him to do something about his brother. Gabrielle smiled a little and walked over, grabbing her brother's arm once she was by him. "Dean, don't hit on our brother's girlfriend." She ordered him, pulling him back over to Sam. "My apologies Jess. Our big brother's just got a massive libido is all." Gabrielle told the blonde once the three siblings were by each other again.
"Shut up Princess." Dean told his sister angrily. Gabrielle just gave him a smug look, one that matched his perfectly, and didn't reply. Dean rolled his eyes and turned to Jess. "Anyways, we got to borrow your boyfriend here to talk about some private family business but uh, nice meeting you." He said, finishing up with a classic Dean smile and a flirty tone.
Jess smiled back, looking willing to let the three siblings have some privacy. Sam stared at her, thinking he had the best girl in the world if she was going to put up with all this. His siblings breaking into their apartment, Dean hitting on her, and basically getting told to get the hell out. Sam turned back to his siblings. "No." He said, sounding determined to get his way. Jess was one of the best girls in the world and she deserved to hear whatever his siblings had to tell him. He walked over to her and placed an arm around her. "No, whatever you want to say you can say in front of her." Sam said.
"Okay." Dean said. His voice was basically free of emotion and Gabrielle knew he was mad. She made sure there was no way either of the others could see her before lightly placing a hand on Dean's arm. It wasn't much but it was comforting. Dean gently shook it off but she knew he appreciated it. She could tell by the slightest bit of tension that had left his shoulders. "Dad hasn't been home in a few days." Dean told their little brother.
Jess looked up at Sam, probably expecting to see worry. Gabrielle didn't hope for something like that. Sam didn't worry about their dad. "So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later." Sam said, sounding annoyed. If that was the only reason they were here he was going to be…well he'd be pretty damn mad. Still, if that was the case then they wouldn't be here. Gabrielle could always convince Dean nothing was wrong and unless his sister had lost her edge, which he highly doubted, they wouldn't be here.
"Sam." Gabrielle snapped in her best mom voice. It was a really good mom voice too, somehow loving even when it was mad which just made the chastising worse. Sometimes when Dean was drunk he'd tease her about it while she forced him to go to bed. Then he'd tell her how much she was like mom. How much she looked like her, sounded like her, acted like her. Gabrielle smiled every time he told her that.
"Don't start Elle." Sam told her. Gabrielle heard the pleading tone in his voice, she was the only one that did, and she frowned. She didn't like hearing that tone. "You know how he is." Sam added. Gabrielle easily read between the lines. He didn't want to get involved with dad again and he certainly didn't want the first time he saw his dad in two years to be in a bar.
"You don't understand Sam." Gabrielle told him.
"Dad's on a hunting trip." Dean said, cutting off his sister. If he let her go on his two younger siblings would end up having a heart to heart and he really didn't feel like dealing with one of those right now. "And he hasn't been home in a few days." Dean finished.
Sam's expression instantly became emotionless. "Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside." He told his girlfriend, his voice just as emotionless as his face.
Jess looked between her boyfriend and his siblings, looking somewhere between worried, annoyed, and confused. "Sam can I speak to you real quick?" She asked him.
Sam looked uncertain and Dean looked annoyed but Gabrielle just waved her hand dismissively. "Go ahead Sam, talk to her. We'll be waiting at the door." She told him. She grabbed Dean's arm and started pulling him towards the apartment door. He reluctantly allowed her to pull him along, grumbling about her being a pushy brat while he did. "Oh and get changed baby brother! You'll regret it if you don't, it's cold as heck outside!" Gabrielle called over her shoulder.
Once the couple were in their room it actually didn't take Sam and Jess that long to talk. Jess just asked him if he was okay and Sam didn't lie to her. He told her he wasn't going with his siblings; he was just going to talk to them. Gabrielle knew that's what he said too cause she was listening in at his door. When she heard him coming towards the door she quickly scurried back to Dean, an angry hurt look on her face. When Sam saw it he opened his mouth to ask if she was alright but Dean cut him off, knowing Gabrielle didn't want to answer.
"So you ready to go Sammy?" Dean asked cheerfully.
Sam looked shocked. "Uh, no." He said as his shocked expression slipped into a glare. "I'm not going with you guys." He told him.
Gabrielle opened the door and slipped out into the hallway. "Of course you are Sammy." She said as Dean followed her out.
"No I'm not." Sam said angrily. Ignoring him, the two older Winchesters walked briskly down the hallway, knowing Sam would follow them purely so he could continue to drive his point home. "I mean, come on." He said as they entered the back stairwell. "You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you." Sam said as they headed down the stairs.
"You're not hearing us Sammy." Dean said, sounding annoyed. Gabrielle gave him a warning look, telling him that he better not start a fight with Sam. She hated, absolutely hated, when her brothers fought and she didn't want that to be what they did after two freaking years of being apart. Dean nodded somewhat, telling her he'd try not to get mad. "Dad's missing. We need your help to find him." Dean told their younger brother.
"You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gate in Clifton?" Sam asked as they reached the bottom landing. "He's always missing and he's always fine." Sam said.
Dean stopped and turned to look at their brother. Gabrielle stopped too and watched her brothers. "Not for this long." He said seriously. It was true, their dad would be gone for a week maybe two at the most. Two days ago he'd been gone for three weeks exactly. That was when they started driving to Sam. "So are you coming with us or not?" Dean asked, as if he expected that one statement to convince Sam.
"I'm not." Sam said firmly. He looked dead set on not going with them. Hell, Gabrielle thought he even looked a little scared. Had he hated their life that much?
"Why not?" Dean asked angrily.
"I swore I was done hunting." Sam said. That didn't surprise either of his siblings. He had never liked hunting. It was like he didn't realize they were saving people's lives. That they were heroes. Personally Gabrielle thought any unhappiness they got from the Life was worth it if they were saving people. "For good." Sam added.
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "Yeah, as if we need reminding Sammy." She thought angrily.
"Come on it wasn't easy but it wasn't that bad." Dean said before walking off. Gabrielle of course followed her brother immediately and Sam, in disbelieving anger, followed them too.
"Yeah?" Same said, sounding angry. "When I told dad I was scared of the thing in my closet he gave me a forty five." Sam said.
Dean stopped at the door and Gabrielle stopped too, leaning against a wall. She could feel the argument coming on. Growing up a Winchester made it impossibly easy for Gabrielle to recognize when two people were about to get into it. "Well what was he supposed to do?" Dean asked angrily, staring at their brother.
"I was nine years old!" Sam said, just as angry. "He was supposed to say 'don't be afraid of the dark.'"
"I told you that." Gabrielle said quietly but of course both boys heard her. She could remember every detail of that night, mostly because her and their dad had had a huge fight that night. She'd gotten pissed when she saw little Sammy holding that gun. Gabrielle was twelve years old at the time but by then she was already grown up. She had never ever wanted that to happen to Sam at that point so she'd gotten mad. When their dad left to blow off steam she'd sat down with Sam and talked to him. Dean hadn't spoken to her for a whole week after that.
Dean shot her an annoyed glare. "You never should have told him that. There's always a reason to be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there." He told her angrily. Gabrielle just rolled her eyes and Dean took that as his cue to look back at Sam.
Sam gave Dean an annoyed look. "Dean, we all know what's out there but that's not the point." He said angrily. "The way we grew up after mom was killed, and dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her." Gabrielle's hand shot up to her necklace at the mention of their mother. "But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find." Sam said angrily.
"We save a lot of people doing it too." Dean said, his voice emotionless again. The calm before the storm.
For a minute they just stood there as Sam tried to think up a response. Finally he seemed to find a good one. "You think mom would have wanted this for us?" He asked.
Dean wanted to say something. Dammit he wanted to yell at his brother and tell him to shut the hell up but he knew Gabrielle would get mad. So he pushed open the door and walked out. His sister followed out quickly, her hand clamped firmly around her necklace. Sam knew he shouldn't have brought up mom but he couldn't take it back now. He followed his siblings, pushing the apology he wanted to give at least his sister to the back of his mind.
"The weapon training and melting the silver into bullets." Sam said as they walked up the short flight of stairs to reach the parking lot. "We were raised like warriors." Sam said, as if that was a bad thing.
"We are warriors Sammy." Gabrielle said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"My point!" Sam said.
Gabrielle let out a frustrated growl and looked pointedly away from her brother. Dean took his chance to argue with their brother. "So what are you going to do? You going to live some normal apple pie life? Is that it?" He asked. He stopped at the Impala's trunk and so did his siblings. Gabrielle affectionately ran her hand over the Impala, trying to not get mad at her brother.
"No, not normal." Sam said. Gabrielle looked up at him, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Safe." Sam said, stressing the word to get his point across.
"And that's why you ran away." Dean said angrily, sounding like he didn't really believe that that was Sam's reason. He scoffed angrily and looked away, his eyes searching for something, anything, he could look at other than their brother.
Sam looked at Dean in disbelief. Dean was still pissed about him leaving? Sam looked over at Gabrielle but she wouldn't look back at him. He knew she didn't hate him for going to college but it seemed like she hated him for staying gone. Sam let out a huff and looked back at Dean. "I was just going to college." He told their older brother. Dean let out a humorless laugh at that. "It was Dad who said if I was going to go I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing." He said.
Gabrielle couldn't help it, she had to get some stuff off her chest and dear brother Sam just gave her the perfect opportunity. "You know what Sam, I get that. Hell, deep down Dean does too, but you couldn't at least see us." She said angrily, pointing between her and Dean. Sam's cheeks instantly, instantly, turned red with shame. "We didn't tell you not to come back. We didn't cut all connection from you. Hell, I texted you all the freaking time! You could have kept us in your life Sam but you didn't. So you know what, don't start acting like we pushed you away 'kay?"
For a second or two none of them said anything. Gabrielle turned away from her brothers and popped the trunk, wanting desperately something to distract her. Dammit she hated when she got emotional. She said stupid ass shit when she did. Gabrielle shoved their bags o the very back of the trunk and lifted up the fake bottom, displaying the many weapons they owned.
"Elle I'm sorry." Sam said sadly, watching as his sister used a gun to keep the fake bottom propped up.
"You should be." Gabrielle snapped at him without looking over. They hadn't reloaded their weapons since their last hunt, they'd been too busy, so she started doing just that.
Dean shifted angrily; he hated it when their sister was mad. One, because she was his sister and he wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. And two, she looked and sounded so much like their mom that she always brought up memories. Good ones when she was happy. Bad as hell ones when she was hurt or mad. Dean looked at their brother, wanting nothing more than to tell him off for hurting their sister but somehow managing to keep his cool. "I know you're out Sam but we need you on this one. Dad's in big trouble if he's not dead. I can feel it." He told their annoying ass little brother. Sam didn't say anything, just stared at Dean. "We can't do this alone." Dean told him.
"Yes you can." Sam said. He wasn't just saying that to get out of helping either. Dean and Gabrielle were the best hunters he knew. He thought they were better than their dad. They could find him.
"Yeah well we don't want to." Dean admitted, not looking at their brother.
Sam looked at his brother and then at his sister, neither one looking back at him as he did. Which of course just confirmed that they really truly didn't want to do this on their own. There was no way in hell Dean would have admitted that if it wasn't true. Gabrielle would be denying it if it was a lie too. Also, Sam knew them better than anyone. Neither one would ever, ever, look this vulnerable if it was just a lie.
Sam sighed heavily. He knew he was going to regret asking this, hell he hadn't even asked it yet and he was regretting it, but he still cared about his siblings and they needed him. "What was he hunting?" He asked. He sounded close to emotionless but God he was practically forcing out each word. He didn't want to go back. He didn't want to return to that Life, even if it was only for a while. The Life…it had a way of sinking its claws into you and never letting go. You dip in, you're stuck. Sam barely got out and here he was again asking about a damn hu-
"Where the hell did I put that thing?" Dean asked their sister as he looked through their arsenal, his sudden speech snapping Sam out of his thoughts.
"You think I know? I'm still trying to find the gun we used on that chupacabra last month. We never did reload it…" Gabrielle let her voice trail off as she sought out the stupid gun.
"Damn, we're getting sloppy." Dean mumbled, pushing aside a few knives. Where the hell was that folder?
Gabrielle shook her head. "No, we're getting tired. Yesterday was our first good sleep in months." She told him. She found the gun, a nine millimeter, and let out a triumphant shout before searching desperately for the damn bullets.
Sam leaned against the car, staring at his siblings. His two older siblings had always been close and it still amazed him sometimes how easily they interacted. Seriously, they never argued. At least he didn't think they did. It wasn't like he knew details of what had happened the past two years. A question nagged at the back of his head, demanding he ask it. Finally he did. "So when dad left why didn't you go with him?" He asked his siblings.
"Well I was working my own gig." Dean said, not looking over at Sam. "This voodoo thing down in New Orleans." He said.
"Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?" Sam asked, sounding skeptical.
Dean looked over at Sam, giving him one of those "dude come on" looks. "I'm twenty six dude." He said, mildly annoyed.
Sam chuckled and looked over at Gabrielle who had just managed to find the right box of ammo. "So I'm assuming you were at Bobby's." He said, trying to start up a conversation with his distracted silent sister.
Gabrielle's head snapped up and her eyes practically bore into Sam's. Dean chuckled though he shot Sam a slightly pitying look. "You think they sent me off to Bobby's?" She asked angrily.
Sam shifted awkwardly. "Well that's what dad used to do remember? He'd ship us off to Bobby's every time Dean couldn't watch us." He said awkwardly.
"Yeah and that was when we were kids." Gabrielle said angrily. She started loading the bullets into the magazine and Sam stared at the weapon nervously, thinking she was probably going to shoot him. "If you hadn't noticed Sammy, I'm not your little sister and I'm not that much younger than Dean. I can take care of myself." She shot bother her brothers pointed looks at that. They always treated her like the youngest and like she was frail and it pissed her off. "So while Dean was playing with a voodoo mama I was dealing with ghouls in Florida. Those little assholes tried to take a bite out of me." Gabrielle cocked the now loaded pistol, staring at it thoughtfully. "Pretty good hunt though till I got back and dad was gone. Met a hunter there." She admitted. She didn't mention that she was texting that hunter all the damn time. That would piss her brothers off. They had always been protective of her.
"Sorry Elle." Sam mumbled awkwardly.
"You better be." Was Gabrielle's quick reply. She pointed the pistol a few inches from Sam's left ear, a lazy look on her face. It was on safety but she didn't want to take any chances which was why she didn't point it right at him. "Or I'll blow your brains out." She said, a joking smile stretching across her face. Sam chuckled nervously, wondering if his sister really was joking. She used to playfully threaten him and Dean all the time but maybe her threats had gotten serious while he was gone.
Dean chuckled and nudged their sister's arm. "Don't scare him too badly Elle. We need him remember?" He said, smiling. Gabrielle smiled back and quickly lowered the gun, placing it back inside their arsenal. "Finally!" He exclaimed suddenly, pushing aside a few boxes of ammo. He pulled a folder out from beneath them and from there pulled out a small stack of papers. He began sorting through them, looking for the right paper. "Alright so dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy." Dean handed a newspaper article over to Sam who immediately began reading it. "They found his car but he vanished. Completely MIA." Dean said.
"So maybe he was kidnapped." Sam said, always one to suggest the normal solution. It wasn't a bad trait, it had kept them from going after some pretty bogus jobs before, but it was still kind of annoying.
"Yeah well here's another one in April." Dean said, putting down another newspaper article. "Another one in December o four. O three. Ninety eight. Ninety two." He placed a different article down each time he spoke. "Ten of them over the past twenty years." Dean snatched the article back from Sam and started putting the papers away. "All men. All the same five mile stretch of road." He said. Gabrielle snatched the papers and file from him and resorted them, hating how Dean always screwed up the perfect order she kept the research in. Dean rolled his eyes at her and grabbed a bag from the top half of the arsenal. "It started happening more and more so dad went to go dig around." He said as he opened up the bag. "That was about three weeks ago." The older two Winchesters looked over at Sam. "We haven't heard from him since which is bad enough. Then I get this voicemail yesterday." Dean said.
Dean grabbed a tape recorder out of the bag and held it up. He pressed the play button and immediately the recording started playing. It was staticky and the signal was breaking up real bad. "Dean. Something big is starting to happen. I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may-" Suddenly the static became too much and they couldn't make out what their dad was saying. Gabrielle bit her lip and waited for the static to clear. She'd listened to this thing about seven times now and she still hated it. The worry in their dad's voice…it scared the crap out of her. "Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger." Dean pressed the stop button and looked over at Sam, waiting for a reaction.
"You know there's EVP on that?" Sam said, looking up at their brother with slight concern.
"Not bad Sammy." Dean said, a small smile on his face. "Kinda like riding a bike isn't it?" He asked knowingly.
Sam shook his head but smiled slightly. "Seriously Sammy, good job. I was starting to think you were losing your touch." Gabrielle said approvingly, placing the folder back under the boxes of ammo. Sam smiled at her until he saw the scolding look appear on Gabrielle's face. "I mean, the window. Really dude? That's like hunter one-o-one." She said disapprovingly.
"I'm not exactly on the bottom floor Elle. I didn't expect anyone to sneak through the window." Sam said, sounding angry and annoyed.
"Good, I'm glad he's mad." Gabrielle thought angrily. "Sam you know there are plenty of things that can crawl through a window that high up. You need to be more careful." She told him.
"Oh yeah?" Sam asked, glaring now.
"Yeah!" Gabrielle snapped at him. She was glaring back now and her arms were crossed over her chest. She was leaning against the Impala too, not a good sign. For some reason the girl always felt more confident when she was close to the Impala which made her a bitch to argue with when they were driving. "Dammit Sammy do you want to get killed? I swear, if you do I'll do it myself because I am not going to read in some newspaper article about my baby brother getting his heart ripped out!" Gabrielle shouted at him.
Dean gave Gabrielle a sharp look while Sam looked taken aback. "Gabriele that's enough." He told her, using her full name to make his point. Gabrielle grumbled something along the lines of him being an asshole but didn't say anything else. Dean sighed, shaking his head, and turned back to Sam. "Anyways. I slowed the message down, ran it through a gold wave, and took out the hiss." Dean said.
"You mean, I did all that." Gabrielle said, smiling slightly though she still sounded angry. Dean gave her a "shut up" look that she ignored. "He's still awful at that sort of thing Sammy. Research too. I have to do practically all of it." She told their little brother who chuckled.
"If you're done making fun of me," Dean said sounding annoyed, "can we please listen to the recording?"
Gabrielle gestured grandly for her brother to go ahead. "By all means press play big brother." She said, grinning.
"You just love to piss me off don't you?" Dean asked.
"You know it." Gabrielle said cheerfully, grinning away.
Dean shook his head and grumbled something about her being a brat before pressing play on the tape recorder. For a second or two there was nothing but then a soft female voice drifted out of the speakers. "I can never go home." She sounded sad and undeniably creepy. Dean shut off the tape recorder and looked over at Sam.
Sam stared at the recorder, thinking. "Never go home." He said, sounding a tad thoughtful.
Dean tossed down the recorder and reached for the shotgun holding up the top half of the arsenal. Gabrielle pushed herself away from the trunk as her brother placed the shotgun down, knowing he was going to shut the trunk. She walked around the Impala and leaned against the passenger door, her eyes fixed on her brothers. Dean shut the trunk and sat down against it, looking over at Sam.
"You know in almost two years we haven't bothered you. Haven't asked you for a thing." Dean said. Gabrielle instantly knew what he was doing, guilt tripping Sammy. Gabrielle didn't mind his methods, she wanted Sammy with them too.
Sam looked away and sighed. He didn't want to go. I mean he really didn't want to go. But how the hell was he supposed to say no? They were actually asking for his help, something neither of them would do unless they really needed it. He kind of owed them too. Or at least he owed Gabrielle. She was right; he had cut them off when he shouldn't have. They hadn't told him to go, dad had. Sam turned back to his siblings and stared at them. "Alright." He finally said. "I'll go. I'll help you find him." Dean nodded and Gabrielle grinned wildly, glad he had agreed to come along. "But I have to get back first thing Monday." Sam quickly added. Gabrielle couldn't help but curse a little then, he always had to have conditions. "Just wait here." Sam told them, turning to go back to his apartment.
"What's first thing Monday?" Dean asked curiously.
Sam stopped and turned back to them. He didn't want to tell them but he didn't have a good enough excuse not to and he couldn't think up a quick lie they'd actually believe. "I have this…I have an interview." Sam told them.
"What a job interview? Skip it." Dean said. Gabrielle chuckled at that, Dean never was big on any job besides hunting. She swore if they had had a normal life he would have been a lazy bum. Maybe a mechanic…maybe.
Sam smirked a bit and let out a soft chuckle. "It's a law school interview and it's my whole future on a plate." He said seriously. He gave them one of those looks that meant business but the two older Winchesters always found Sammy's serious looks kind of funny so they weren't fazed by it.
Gabrielle chuckled a little. "Law school?" Dean asked, smirking slightly.
"So do we got a deal or not?" Sam asked.
Dean looked back at Gabrielle and they had one of those quick silent conversations only Winchesters seemed to be capable of having. Her expression told Dean there was absolutely no way Sam was going to go if they said he couldn't go to his interview. His face told her "yeah, I know" and that was about it. Finally they turned back to Sam. "Yeah Sammy, we got a deal. Go pack." Dean told their younger brother.
Sam nodded and glanced over at Gabrielle before walking back into the apartment building. Gabrielle waited for the door to swing shut before letting out a snort like laugh. "He's gonna be a lawyer." She said, chuckling.
Dean smirked and pushed himself up off the Impala. "Right? He'll have to wear one of those monkey suits every day." He said and chuckled with her as he walked to the driver's side of the Impala.
"Did you ever expect him to end up like this?" Gabrielle asked, staring at the door their brother had disappeared through.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked, looking over his shoulder at the door.
Gabrielle shrugged, not entirely sure what she meant. "I don't know. It's just…" She let out a deep sigh and realized she'd been holding it in for quite a while. "When he left…I wasn't that surprised. I mean, he always talked about it so it wasn't a big deal to me. But when he didn't come back it was a shocker. I thought he'd get bored of it; realize life outside the Life wasn't for him." Gabrielle grabbed a fistful of her hair and sighed again. "He proved me wrong though. Damn, he proved me wrong big time. I mean, look at him!" She said, gesturing to where her brother had gone wildly. "He's got an apartment. He's got a girl. He's going to be a respectable freaking lawyer! He managed to get out Dean!"
Dean ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "You don't sound too happy for him." He commented.
"I am happy for him but I just…I can't wrap my mind around it Dean!" Gabrielle said. She placed her forehead on the roof of the Impala and gripped the side of it with both hands. "I feel like we lost him." She practically whispered.
"That's why we came to get him though Elle." Dean said, watching her. She looked up at him, a sad expression on her face. Their mom had always worn that exact same expression whenever she got done fighting with their dad. "We haven't lost him Elle. We just got to remind him how awesome life with us is." Dean said, trying to lighten the mood with a joke.
Gabrielle looked up at him, sniffling slightly as she smiled at him. Her eyes were shining with the threat of tears that she would hate herself if she shed. "We are pretty awesome aren't we?" She said, chuckling slightly.
"Hell yeah we are." Dean said, grinning.
Gabrielle shook her head and chuckled. "You're such a loser Dean." She told him.
Dean shrugged and looked around. "Still cooler than you." He said which earned him a laugh.
It took Sam about twenty minutes to get back down to the parking lot and his siblings could tell by the look on his face he had been lying to his girlfriend. He just had on one of those looks. A mixture of annoyance, sadness, and anger. Lots and lots of anger. He barely looked at them as he walked to the back of the Impala and opened the trunk. He tossed his bag in with theirs before slamming the trunk shut, something Gabrielle would have gotten mad about if her brother wasn't on the border of staying and going. Sam looked up at them, silently asking if they were ready to go.
"Well get in." Dean ordered them, opening up the driver's side door.
While Dean climbed in Sam walked around the side of the Impala. Gabrielle stretched out her back before grabbing the door handle to the back of the Impala. "Dude I need sleep. You get shotgun." She told him, climbing into the back.
Sam stared at her in shock. "You're kidding." He said.
Gabrielle would have laughed at the shocked look on his face but she was tired as hell. "Nope." She said, popping the p. "Now get in before I change my mind." She told him before slamming the door shut. Sam climbed in as Gabrielle got comfy in the back and Dean started up the Impala. Gabrielle laid down across the backseat though she didn't really fit. Chest was too big and since she got the tall gene from their dad her legs were too long. Still, she always got the best sleep lying across the back seat. As Dean drove out of the parking lot Gabrielle opened an eye and looked at her two brothers in the front seats, both of them focused on the road ahead. She let out a happy hum as she closed her eye again. "Just like old times." She mumbled before passing out.
There you are, two chapters. I hope you like it. I think if enough people like this I might write out all of season one. If I don't I'll pick different episodes to do. I've got a plan for Gabrielle in season five...Anyways, chocolate for all! Don't forget to salt your windows and doorways people and brush up on your exorcisms, it might save your life!