Chapter Two:
Dean and Deanna walked up familiar steps behind Missouri, Sam following closely after his two older siblings.
Two siblings.
That was the part Sam was stuck on. The 'two' concept.
Sam had always known that Dean was only one half of a whole. Always. Dean himself had even been the one to explain that concept to him when he was little, telling him everything he could remember about Mary and Deanna. Sam remembered he'd been fascinated with the idea of Dean not being a complete person. If his larger than life big brother could fix anything, and do anything when he wasn't even a complete version of himself, what would he have been capable of if the other half had been there.
Complete and whole, Sam hadn't even been able to fathom his older brother as such.
Growing up in each other's hip pockets, Sam had long since stopped thinking of himself as less than a him and more of a them. It had always been Dean'N'Sam. Sam'N'Dean. There really was no difference, and people more than once got them confused with one another. Even at Stanford, he hadn't been able to shake the feeling that he should be saying 'we' instead of 'I'.
Dean had told him, a long time ago, when Sam was maybe fourteen or fifteen, while high on pain medication, that sometimes he could feel the empty spaces where Deanna used to be. Watching the two of them, Sam understood now what he hadn't understood then. How could you feel an 'empty space'?
Sam watched the two-two!- of them in quiet amazement. Dean, who was always tense, even while relaxed, balancing on his toes and ready for the next thing life threw at him, was more relaxed and calm than Sam had ever seen him. Deanna even seemed loose and relaxed, smiling and laughing with Sari when she'd poked her head in the kitchen with Jenny, promising to come back and check out the picture she was working on.
They moved in quiet tandem, almost orbiting each other. When he moved, she moved, and vice versa. He could tell they were tracking each other, even when they weren't looking.
But that wasn't what had caught Sam's attention. Even while still back at Missouri's house, it was their eyes that Sam had latched on to. Dean's green eyes showed his every emotion, even when he didn't want them to. They were bright, and shone even in the dark.
And no matter what, even when Sam didn't deserve it, he could always see the fierce love and protection every time Dean looked at him.
Deanna's eyes were the same.
As if sensing she was being watched, Deanna turned and met his gaze. She smiled at him, a smile soft and kind that he had vague memories of. He wanted the three of them to be able to sit down and talk, to ask and answer questions that should have been discussed years ago. He knew that wouldn't happen until they dealt with whatever was in the house though.
Sam gave her a tentative smile back, slowing letting her presence wash over him, marveling at the fact he could sense her just as well as he could Dean.
Then again, maybe it was the three concept instead of the two he was having a hard time wrapping his mind around.
Missouri was talking softly to them, and Sam finally pulled his gaze from studying Dean and Deanna.
"What?" he asked, looking at Missouri.
Missouri just moved down the hallway, and into a little girl's room. She gently moved her hand along the wall.
"I said, if there's a dark energy around here, this room should be the center of it."
"Why?" Sam asked, stepping around the twins and into the room. Both of them had hesitated at the doorway, and Sam watched out of the corner of his eye as they seemed to force themselves to follow.
"This used to be your nursery, Sam." Missouri said. "This is where it all happened."
Sam involuntarily looked up at the ceiling. He shivered slightly, and then had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes as he felt Deanna move closer to him.
Apparently it wasn't just Dean who was way too protective and observant for his own good.
Dean smiled to himself as he noticed Deanna hovering around Sam's personal space. She'd moved closer to him as they'd ventured further into Sam's-he just couldn't think of it as Sari's- room. He pulled out an EMF meter, flicking it on, glad he didn't have to give her the 'protect Sammy no matter what' speech later on.
Missouri glanced over at him. "That an EMF?"
Dean looked up at her. "Yeah."
Missouri huffed softly to herself. Then louder, so that Dean could hear, said "Amateur."
Dean glared daggers at her, which she ignored, while Sam and Deanna had to work at hiding their smiles.
Dean turned his attention back to the EMF meter in his hand when it seemed Missouri was going to continue to ignore him. It was beeping slightly, red lights indicating supernatural presence, but not doing much more than that.
"I don't know if you kids should be disappointed or relieved," Missouri started after a few minutes. "but this ain't the thing that took your mom."
"Are you sure?" Sam asked. "How do you know?"
"It isn't the same energy I felt the last time I was here. It's somethin' different."
"What is it?" Deanna asked, speaking for the first time since they'd walked into the room.
"Not it." Missouri corrected her gently. "Them. There's more than one spirit here."
"What are they doing here?" Dean asked, stepping closer to his siblings.
"They're here because of what happened to your family. You see, all those years ago, real evil came to you. It walked this house." Missouri turned a gentle gaze on the three young Winchesters. "That kind of evil leaves wounds. And sometimes, wounds get infected."
"I don't understand." Sam said, speaking for Dean as well. Deanna had already heard this speech a time or four.
"This place, because of the evil that was here, would have become a magnet for paranormal activity. Jenny and the kids moving in probably set it off." Deanna said, looking around with wary understanding.
"The evil here has attracted a poltergeist." Missouri continued. "A nasty one. And it won't rest until Jenny and her babies are dead."
"You said there was more than one spirit?" Sam asked.
"There is." Missouri confirmed, opening the closet and looking around, before turning back to them. "I just can't quite make out the second one."
Dean nodded, "Well, one thing's for damn sure. Nobody's dying in this house ever again." Missouri could feel his protective determination wash over her skin, and she smiled slightly at him. "So whatever is here, how do we stop it?"
Before Missouri could open her mouth to answer, Deanna sighed a loud, put upon sigh. "Meet at your house after work, Missouri?"
Missouri nodded. "Yes. And don't forget..."
"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Deanna interrupted, she gave Dean and Sam a grin before digging in her pockets for the keys to her bike. "I'll meet you two at Missouri's, okay?"
"Where are you going?" Dean asked, a small wave of panic shooting through him at the thought of Deanna leaving his sight.
"Work. I have a few classes tonight. Plus I have to make a few stops if we're going banish this thing." Deanna said. She looked up and stared at Dean, sensing his unease. "Get my cell number from Jenny. She has it. And I will meet you back at Missouri's house by 8:30."
Dean took a deep breath. It was hard to think that Deanna had a life, a normal life with normal obligations to other people besides their family. Dean didn't even know what that felt like. He sighed, and then pointed a finger at her. "Fine. But if you're not back by 8:30, I'm sending a search party."
Deanna mock saluted him, and then turned around and walked out the door. Dean resisted the urge to follow, and was more grateful than he could even say when Sam stepped up close to him, and bumped their shoulders together in a silent show of support.
O~O~O
Deanna pulled up to Missouri's house at quarter after eight, and grinned when she saw Dean sitting on the porch, Marvin the cat sitting on his lap again.
"Didn't trust I'd be back when I said I would?" Deanna asked teasingly.
"Excuse me for being a little paranoid. This town tends to eat my family members." Dean snarked back. "How was work?"
"Fine. My kids were awesome."
"You...teach dance?" Dean asked, trying to remember what she'd told him in their shared dreams. He'd never imagined any of it was actually real.
"Yeah." She shrugged. "It pays the bills."
Dean could see her smile, even though she acted like it was no big deal. "You love it."
Deanna nodded. "I do. It's fun. I get paid to dance. It's like going to work to play."
Dean nodded, feeling a slight twinge of guilt shoot through him. Deanna wasn't a hunter. She was a normal person, and the more she hung around them, the further from normal she got.
Was it really fair to Deanna, as much as he wanted her close, to take her away from a life she so obviously loved? He'd already pulled Sam from normal...could he do that to Deanna?
Did he want to?
Deanna sensing his unease, tossed a plastic bag at him. "Come on, we've got a poltergeist to get rid of."
Dean frowned at the bag, and then followed her into the house.
Missouri and Sam were sitting at the kitchen table, cups of coffee around the table, surrounded by different herbs and roots.
"Did you get it? Missouri asked as Deanna walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a glass, pouring herself a cup of coffee.
"Yeppers. Max had real leather this time. He said to tell you 'your welcome.'"
Missouri rolled her eyes. "That boy is far to arrogant for his own good."
"Tell me something I don't know." Deanna said, taking a deep sip of coffee. It was going to be a long night.
Dean handed the bag off to Missouri, and sat down next to Sam. "What is all this stuff anyway?"
"Angelica root, Van Van oil, crossroad's dirt...and a few other odds n' ends." Missouri said distractedly, putting small amounts in the soft leather squares Deanna had brought.
"I'll show you how to make them later." Deanna said softly to Dean.
"And what are we supposed to do with it?" Sam asked, poking at a small bottle he'd pulled out Deanna's bag that looked like ashes.
"We're gonna put them inside the walls in the north, south, east and west corners of each floor of the house." Deanna said.
"Punching holes in the drywall. Jenny's gonna love that." Dean said, looking pointedly at Deanna.
"She'll live." Missouri countered slyly before going back to trying complicated knots in the leather ties.
"And this'll destroy the spirits?" Sam asked.
"It should." Missouri said.
Deanna sat down next to Dean, and pulled over a piece of leather, tying the knots just as expertly as Missouri. "This should purify the house. But we're gonna have to move fast. Once the spirits realize what we're up to, they're gonna be pissed. Things are going to get...bad."
"But this has worked before?" Sam asked.
Deanna nodded, not even looking up from the small leather ties. "Yeah. Like a charm. A pain in the ass, but the most effective way to deal with poltergeists I've found."
"You've done this before." Dean said. It wasn't a question.
Deanna looked up from the leather pouches then. "Yeah. A few times."
"Deanna has a tendency to get...annoyed when she feels her friends and students are threatened." Missouri offered, a smirk on her face.
Dean looked at her quizzically, and Deanna just shrugged. "I'll tell you the story later. I got Jenny tickets to the movies tonight. We need to move fast and take care of this when they're all out of the house."
Dean let it go for a moment, and a few fifteen minutes later was pulling up outside of Jenny's house, ready to take on the angry spirits, his family flanking him on either side.
Author's Note: There weren't all that many reviews this time. I hate begging, but I really want to know what you like and what you don't like. So please, leave a review. :) The Winchesters should be having a talk next chapter that will explain everything. Hope you all stick around for the ride.