CHAPTER 23

Exactly two months later, there was a knock at the door. Sarah considered ignoring it since she was so damn tired. The biggest auction she had ever organized was over. The hammer went down at 10:00 am that morning, but she had been at the auction house she ran with her father since five. She needed to get some sleep.

The knock sounded again and Sarah gave a sigh. She walked over to the door and opened it. Despite having had warning, nothing could have prepared her for the surprise she felt when she saw him.

"I, uh, I know it's late and I'm sorry, but I was in town and I wanted to see you." Sam Winchester was standing at her door with a look on his face that she couldn't identify. She realized that her mouth was open and she hadn't yet said anything to him, then he spoke again.

"Look, I'm sorry, I know it's late. I'll leave…" He turned to walk away.

Sarah finally managed to get some words to come out of her mouth. "You look good." She winced, that certainly wasn't what she'd wanted to say.

Sam smiled at her as he turned back around. "You look pretty good, too."

"I was beginning to think you had forgotten your promise." Sarah wanted to keep him there, but was powerless to think of any good excuse that didn't involve seducing him.

"My promise…?" Sam couldn't remember any promise.

"Yeah, just before you left you promised you would return. It's been seven years, I was gonna give up soon."

"Oh yeah, well, life…" Looking at the floor, Sam ran his hand down the back of his head and continued the thought in his head 'and death'.

"Um, do you want to come in?" Sarah still wasn't quite sure what she wanted to say, but she wanted time to figure it out.

He looked at her with a hopeful expression, "It's late, are you sure?"

"Suddenly, I'm not very tired and I have tomorrow off regardless; so yeah, please." She stepped back to gesture him in. Sam stepped through the open door and she closed it behind him.

She had so much to tell him.

SPNSPNSPN

On her sixth month birthday, Emily Claire was nursed, given a warm bath and placed in her crib with love. She was then kissed by her mother, brothers, father, honorary uncles and an angel. She fell asleep almost instantly. Her mother and brothers left the room. Her father then picked up an old colt pistol and sat down in the rocking chair. Her uncles and godfather picked positions in the room. She was the most well guarded baby in the world that night.

THREE MONTHS LATER

The young woman was asleep in her room; the room she had had since birth. There had been changes, of course, but it was still obviously a girl's room. She was sleeping on her side facing the window which had been salted. There were other symbols and sigils hidden in the room that would protect her from almost anything that might try to enter and cause her harm. She was as safe as her older brothers could make her.

A light appeared at the end of her bed and she turned over to look at it. The light didn't hurt her eyes despite how dark the room had been. Suddenly, the light was a man and the light seemed to be coming from him.

"Hello, Blair" the man spoke to her.

"Am I dreaming?" She replied.

"Yes." Chuck nodded, "You are needed."

The girl sat up in the bed and rubbed her eyes, "For what?"

"I need you to go to this address. A hunter needs your help with some ghosts. He's in danger."

She shook her head, "My brothers never let me go on hunts alone."

"This time, you must." The man handed her a piece of paper.

She looked at the address. "This is about an 8 hour drive away. If he's in trouble now, I won't get to him in time."

"You will get there in time – if you leave soon."

"Why? Why me? What's going on?"

"He's been chosen for you and you are chosen for him." The man smiled at her. Despite the fact that a strange man was in her room, telling her to do something, giving her that cryptic piece of news, she was not afraid of him. Even so, what he said did not sit well with her. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

Chuck smiled, "You will see. Remember, his life depends on you." In the next moment, he was gone and Blair woke up with a piece of paper in her hand. She got out of bed and dressed. Then she packed a backpack and left the way she always did when she needed to get out of the house without her brothers knowing; she left by the window.

All the way down the side of the house to the ground, she was muttering to herself. "I am a 26 years old woman, for cripes sake! I should be able to come and go as I please! For that matter, I shouldn't still be living in the old family homestead! I feel like a child! I should be married, with children of my own!"

As soon as her feet hit the ground, she calmed down and called her best friend, Gracie, and asked if she could borrow her car. Then she went to the shed at the back of the house to get her secret stash of hunting gear. It was ghosts, so she had everything she would need. Within the hour, she was on her way.

As she drove, she thought about the man she was supposed to save. Who was he? How would she explain to her brothers why she left the way she had? What did the man in her room mean when he said they were chosen for each other?

Her three older brothers had raised her after their parents had died on a hunt when Blair was 5 years old. They told her all sorts of stories about their mom and dad including the fact that she had been called their miracle baby.

Her oldest brother, John, had been nearly 20 years old when Blair was born. Wayne was 17 and Mike had been 15. When her mother was pregnant with Michael, she had had all sorts of problems and had been told not to have any more children; it would kill her.

However, when she was 38, their mother became pregnant once again. Despite how dangerous getting pregnant had been, she hadn't had one moment of trouble. Blair had been born without any fuss and their mother hadn't experienced any health issues. The doctors had insisted on a caesarean section to avoid any further complications and Blair's mother had healed unusually fast. All of these events seemed to add up to a miracle to their mother. She'd always said that Blair was meant to be; maybe even heaven sent.

After their parent's death, her brothers had been especially vigilant in trying to protect her. Hell, they still were. All of her potential boyfriends had been scared off by their idiotic actions. She had tried going away to school, but she wasn't much of a student and it had seemed a colossal waste of time and money. And even though she had been out of range of her brother's protection, she hadn't met anyone special and she wasn't about to just hop into bed with some random guy. So she had come home and now she worked with her brothers at their car detailing shop. She handled the front counter and the finances. It was how they supported her and their hunting lifestyle.

She had been 14 when she found out what they were doing when they would leave for a few days to a week at a time. There was always one brother who had stayed behind to take care of her, though. Even though she knew what they were doing, they had refused to teach her.

However, when she was 16 years old, a demon tried to possess Wayne. He'd been wearing an amulet to protect against it, so the demon possessed a neighbor instead. Blair didn't know what was going on and walked right into a trap. It had been a close call because she didn't know what to do. They realized her ignorance had nearly killed her, so they started training her after that. They were still seriously protective, though

At times, she despaired that they had protected her too much. She hadn't gotten to have any 'normal' teenage girl experiences. There were also times when their hyper vigilance had been good. A girl in the next town over had accused one of Blair's ex-potential boyfriends of date rape only a month after they'd had their one and only date.

Even so, living in the house with her brothers was causing her to become an actual spinster. One hundred years ago, she would have been hopelessly and permanently unmarried, the spinster sister.

All of that was running in her head as she drove. A couple hours later, her phone rang. Since she knew it was her brothers, she didn't answer it. She also knew that Mike would be able to find her using it; so she turned it off.

Finally, she approached the address she had been given. A big black car was parked in front. She noted its make and model and knew that her brothers would be salivating to have a look under the hood. The car seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't place it. Then she heard a crash from inside the house. She grabbed her gear, got out of the car and ran into the building.

SPNSPNSPN

Dean hit the wall with a jarring thud. Suddenly the simple salt and burn was way more complicated. Instead of one angry spirit, there were three. A family that had been brutally murdered over fifty years ago was recreating their deaths for anyone stupid enough to come to their house. They'd already killed two of the three investors who had wanted to flip the house and sell it.

Dean knew he was in trouble, but Sam was in New Paltz with Sarah and he didn't think he'd needed any help anyway. Boy, was he wrong! He had to figure a way out of the house so he could regroup and get some backup. That would be problematic though because the ghosts were coming at him from all sides.

He checked his sawed off and cleared the spent rounds, but before he could re-load, they were on him.

They tossed him over to the other side of the room and he hit the ground hard. He saw stars and was starting to loose consciousness. He had enough time to realize he was in some serious shit; they were coming at him again. Just before he fell unconscious, he heard a shot and one of the ghosts dissipated.

The next thing he knew, he was being slapped in the face and a voice was yelling at him to move! He groaned, but started pulling himself to his feet. There was a hand helping him. As they ran out of the room, the person fired two more salt rounds at the spirits; keeping them back so they could make their getaway. The person beside him was guiding him out of the house and pulling him toward a car parked next to his.

"No, my car!" Dean groaned again.

"Don't be an ass, you can't drive that right now and we need to get away from here!" said a woman's voice.

Dean allowed as how that was true. He hoped nothing would happen to his baby before he could get back to her.

The female helped him into her car and ran around to get in the driver's seat. By the time she started the car though, Dean was unconscious again.

The next time Dean awoke, he found himself in a hospital bed. His vision was blurry and his head hurt like a bitch, but he had no intention of staying there. He started to sit up, but immediately his balance pitched and a vicious pain stabbed his already throbbing head. Hands were on his shoulders pushing him back down to the pillow. He didn't fight it, though, because suddenly he didn't want to get up anymore. The pain was close to intolerable.

He looked up at the person who was there and despite his blurry vision; he could tell she was pretty.

"Who are you?" Dean asked.

"My name is Blair Morrison" her voice was low and husky. "Can you tell me your name?"

Dean smiled at her, "I don't have amnesia. I'm Dean. How'd I get here? The last thing I remember… well nevermind. A nice girl like you doesn't need to know the nasty details." He gave her a flirty smile.

"Ah, jeez, you kidding me? I'm the one who got you out, doofus."

"Doofus, did you seriously just call me doofus?" Dean was pretty sure he'd never been called a doofus in his life; at least not since he was in seventh grade anyway. The fresh throbbing in his head was beginning to subside and his vision was clearing up a little, so he was able to see her better. She was pretty in an unconventional way. She had long brown hair currently up in a ponytail, large brown eyes, a straight nose and a mouth which was probably her best feature – it was kissable. She was standing over him, so he was able to see she had a nice figure and that she was tall. She was maybe 25-26 years old.

She stood there and allowed him to examine her from head to toe. It rankled a little that he was checking her out so thoroughly, but she'd been raised by three older brothers and she knew this is how men roll sometimes. Besides, she had noticed things about him, too.

Finally, recalling the car, his name processed and she knew who he was. In hunting circles, he was famous! "Dean? Dean Winchester?"

"How the hell do you know that?" Dean was instantly suspicious.

"Relax, I won't tell anyone. The Winchesters are famous. Where's your brother? Why wasn't he with you?"

"Sweetheart, I don't know you!" Dean looked at her with suspicion and fury.

She held up her hands, "I'm a hunter. Hunters are terrible gossips; your story has made the rounds. And it shouldn't come as a complete surprise, either… You know, considering there are books and everything."

Dean groaned, "I swear, I'm gonna kill Chuck."

"Who's Chuck?

"Nevermind, he's beyond my range. Dammit!" Dean clutched his head; the movement had jarred it.

Just then a nurse came in to check on her patient. She was an older woman, mid fifties and very efficient. She took Dean's pulse, blood pressure and checked his IV fluids. She also handed him Tylenol and water for his head. While she did that, she was asking him questions: Did he know his name? The name of the president? The date? Dean answered her questions to her satisfaction. As she left, she informed him that the doctor would be by in about an hour. She was in and out in less than five minutes.

"Did you read them?" Dean asked Blair. He could hardly look at her.

"Cover to cover." She smiled at him. She knew he was embarrassed and was enjoying it. "I particularly liked 'Route 666'".

AN: As you can probably tell, I had fun picking names for my characters and Blair's family was no exception. Their last name is Morrison. I think you can tell where their first names came from. I tried to put in a line about how they were distantly related, or that their father was a HUGE fan, but it just didn't seem to fit…