Seven.
"What do you mean you've been having them for a while now?" the anger in Dean's voice was palpable and Haley stared up at him.
"Since a week or so ago," she responded, although she knew this would only set him off even more. And it did, so much so that he shouted out and swept all of the mess from the table on to the floor. "I didn't want to tell you until I thought it meant something!"
"Tell me again exactly what you saw," Sam said calmly from where he sat opposite her.
"I was looking into a mirror. And it's like there was something inside me, like I was myself but not in control," Haley laced her fingers together under the table "And then I had a gun and I-" she hesitated and stared down at the carpet on the floor "I shot Sam in the head."
Dean's sharp intake of breath told her that he didn't think that this was just a dream. She'd almost hoped that they'd both just dismiss it as some kind of nightmare, just a bad nights sleep. But the look they that exchanged said something entirely different. "But I'm not Sam, I don't have those kind of abilities, so it isn't true," she glanced from Dean to Sam and back again "Right?"
The silence in the room answered her question and as Dean turned away, her stomach lurched. Was it really a premonition? No, she'd never hurt Sam. Looking at him now, the way his dark hair curled into his eyes, her throat constricted painfully. "I'm going out for some air," she whispered, out the door in a flash and jogging down into the parking lot. Cars cruised past on the highway, headlights illuminating the grass land surrounding the motel. Curling her hands into fists she dug her fingernails into soft palms, and they shook even though she tried to hold them still. Anger welled in her mouth and she wanted to scream how unfair it was, she wanted comfort, she wanted… John. Where the hell was he when they needed him? She needed his gruff voice telling them exactly what to do, just his presence would have soothed the unease that she felt.
"Haley," she turned surprised to find Dean behind her, and hastily wiped her eyes, wet with stinging tears.
She smiled curtly "I know I'm being a girl, go ahead and laugh at me."
He shook his head and as he stepped closer, she could see his emotion written across his face "Then I'd be calling myself a girl, wouldn't I," he almost laughed but thought better of it.
"It's not real Dean," she shook her head fiercely, tendrils of her honey blonde hair flying out in the wind "I won't do it."
"We've been doing this for a long time now," he fixed her stormy eyes with his own "And you know I don't believe in destiny or fate so I'm gonna fight whatever takes control of you or whatever the fuck it is to the very death."
"I'd rather die," she murmured "Than hurt him, and I would."
"I know," he smiled sadly, hugging her to his chest "Me too Hales, me too."
The next day they all focused on the task in hand, the Haywood case, to distract themselves. Sam buried himself in online research, Dean visited the family again and Haley bounced between checking facts at the library and secretly worrying. How can you undo a vision that hasn't even happened yet? How do you avert the theoretical future?
Back at the motel, she made up a story about going out for supplies but instead she ended up sprawled out across the backseat of the Impala, staring up at the worn interior. Dean really did need to get it redo, even though he'd never admit that his baby was anything less than picture perfect. At least Sam's impending death had brought the brothers back together, all awkwardness eradicated in the new era of danger. If anything, she was the one with a newfound weirdness around the boys. She was careful around them, especially Sam, when every moment could be her last with him. When she thought about- No, she refused to think about that. She'd cried more over the past few days than she had her entire life and she was becoming the 'little woman' in the movies that she always hated. The one who got weepy eyed at the very mention of danger. Slamming an open palm against the seat she lay on, she pushed her toes into the leather.
Maybe she'd just pull a Dean, go out, get raucously drunk and then spend the night in a strangers bed. Frankly, it sounded like the best idea she'd had all day.
Author's Note; a little bit of Daley, a little bit of Saley, thought I'd mix it up a bit. And Haley planning to get drunk? Priceless.
