Universal Blanket Disclaimer: See Chapter One
So, here's chapter two! Please, if you like this story, review and let me know! Thank you so much!
-Jenn
The day the boys left Alliance, Isabel was driving away from them for the first time in months, "Isabel, are we going to South Dakota?"
She smiled at the little boy in the back seat, "Yeah, we are. What'cha know about South Dakota, Kiddo?"
"That's where Sam and Dean were going to take me. Are you taking me to the same place?" Jesse was on the sofa of her motor home, wrapped in a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. It was cold inside the motor home, once night had fallen, the temperature of the midwest plains had dropped twenty degrees.
"No, I'm taking you to stay with my Mom. It's just a little ways away from where they were taking you, but it's safer." Isabel turned her blinker on and changed lanes.
"Safer?"
Isabel nodded, "Yup! She's different like you. She can keep you safe." She knew how important Jesse was to stopping the apocalypse, and how if he wasn't raised properly, he could be the one to end it, but, sitting with a mug of hot chocolate, he looked like any other little boy.
"Like me? Does that mean that I can't hurt her?" Jesse's voice was excited.
"Yup, she's little boy proof, and she lives far enough out of the way that you won't be able to hurt anyone else, super-boy. There's lots of open land, I loved it as a kid." It was getting late, and Isabel was hoping that her little backseat anti-christ would go to sleep soon so she could call her mother.
"You grew up there?" He asked.
The memories brought a smile to Isabel's face, "Well, we had a house in the city just on the other side of Kansas until I was seven, then my mom, my brother and I lived in the country house in South Dakota until I went to college, but, yeah, we came out here most weekends. My older brother and I would run around until we passed out from exhaustion."
"Do you have younger siblings?" He asked, his voice a bit softer and his eyelids beginning to bob up and down.
Isabel laughed softly, "I've always been the little sister. I guess I have a little brother now though. You cool with that?"
"I'd like that. I've never had a sister before, and you're pretty." She heard him sit his mug on the small sofa side table, the ceramic clinking on the fake marble.
"You crashing, kid?" She didn't get a response, so she glanced back at him. The boy was curled up, his left fist thrust under his chin and his right arm dangling off the edge of the sofa. He was adorable.
Isabel turned on the radio at a soft thrum, just loud enough to keep her awake. Four hours later, she pulled into the long drive that led to her mother's house. Halfway to the house, their dog, Ion, met the motor home, and kept up with it all the way to the house. She woke Jesse up, brushing his brown hair away from his face as he stirred, "Are we there?"
"Right outside, you ready?"
He nodded, "I think so." He pulled on his Keds and followed Isabel down the steps.
Her abnormally large yellow Labrador, Ion, sniffed the boy's nose, but didn't jump up. "That's Ion, he was my dog, but my Mom wouldn't give him up when I finally got out of college. He's a good boy."
"I get to live with a dog!" The little boy exclaimed, more happy than he'd been since Isabel had met him. She just nodded, and he ran to her, hugging her waist, burying his face in her stomach, "My dad was allergic, but I always wanted a dog!"
A happy voice cried out, clear in the air, "Isabel!" Jesse instantly went to hide behind Isabel as her mother stepped down the front step of the house. The beautiful woman smiled kindly at Jesse, "I see you made it with our new little friend." She knelt next to her daughter, briefly touching the girl's hand and winking at her, "Hello, Jesse. My name is Veronica, I'm Isabel's mother. You're going to be staying here for a while. It's nice to finally meet you."
The boy stepped from behind Isabel and shook Veronica's offered hand, "I'm Jesse. Is Isabel staying here?"
Veronica looked up at her daughter with a sad expression, tucking a strand of her fire-red hair behind her ear, "I'm afraid not, Jesse, Isabel needs to get back to the boys." She hugged her daughter, who was still stiff with frustration, "You'd best be going. I've got Jesse from here on out."
"Mom! Please, I was driving all night! Don't I at least get the chance to sleep for a few hours?" Isabel said.
Veronica just looked at her, and snapped a finger, simply for effect, "There, now you're all rested again. You won't need to sleep until tomorrow night."
Isabel felt lighter, more alert, but her brain was telling her that the still dark sky meant she was supposed to be in bed, "You can't do that! You can't go messing with my sleep schedule like that! It's just...not right!"
Veronica kissed her daughter on the cheek, "Hush now, Isabel, you'll be fine. I need to get Jesse inside and introduce him to Adam."
"Adam?" Isabel asked, confused.
Veronica nodded, "Adam, the third Winchester. I pulled him back, and I'm keeping him safe here so no one else can try to use him. He's going to watch Jesse while I'm out." She ruffled the boy's hair, "I can't very well leave him alone, can I?"
"I guess not."
"Would you like something for breakfast, Jesse? I think Adam is having a bowl of cereal, but I can make pancakes if you want." She looked up at Isabel, "You can stay for breakfast if you want, but you must get back to them right after."
Isabel smiled, she was used to her mother's bossy attitude, but she didn't feel comfortable just dumping Jesse with two more strangers when she was a stranger to one of them, "Load me up!"
Barely an hour later, and Isabel was taking the long ride back to the Winchesters. Adam had been a nice kid, just a few years younger than her. He was cute in a nerdy way, still gangly and boyish. He'd tried to flirt with her, and she'd given him the nicest rejection she could after her mother explained that the boy had practically been eaten alive right next to his mother. She had tried to get information about Sam and Dean from him, while her mother was showing Jesse his new room, but Adam had never met his brothers and had instead started to interrogate her about them.
She had given the boy her cell phone number, telling him to call her if he or Jesse ever needed anything and couldn't reach her mother. Jesse had hugged her tightly before he would let her leave. He seemed to have gotten quite attached to her, and her mother had hugged her as well, "Be careful, baby girl. And watch those boys, they get killed, and I'll ream your hide."
"I love you too, mom." Isabel said dryly, rolling her eyes.
She laughed, "You know I love you, don't you? We will get through this, Isabel Sophia Hastings, I promise you that. Watch your back."
"I will, mom, you don't have to worry about me. Have you heard from Daniel?"
"Not in the last few days, but he can take care of himself, he's strong. He asked me to give this to you. Keep it with you." Veronica gave he daughter a necklace.
"This was dad's." Isabel gasped, opening it. Inside, were two pictures, one of the entire family just months before Joseph Alexander Hastings was gutted and strewn across their house, the other showed an swaddled infant Isabel being held by her brother.
The locket was one of the only things that had been salvaged of her father after his murder. "Daniel didn't feel right having it. He said it should be yours." Veronica explained.
The locket brought a smile to her face, "Tell him I love him, won't you? I know he thinks I don't, but I do. He is still my brother, no matter what."
Veronica smiled, "Yes, I will." She stopped Isabel before she walked down the front steps, "Isabel, he knows you love him. He's just...well, he's not like you. He never really had a childhood like you had. He's not open with his emotions, but he loves you. You're his baby sister."
Isabel nodded, "I know."
Isabel left South Dakota after that. Now, she was back in Utah, watching the boys tangle with witches. Adam and Jesse had already started texting her nearly nonstop, but she was thankful to have something to do instead of just sitting in her motorhome and doing nothing while the Winchesters had everything under control.
She followed them back to Bobby's, where she slept in one of the cars next to the house and prayed that the hawk disguised as Bobby wouldn't spot her. She was worried when Adam stopped texting her, but Jesse kept on texting to her, so she just assumed that the older boy had gotten a life. She could feel the apocalypse in her bones, they ached.
She saw Adam through the window when Castiel brought him. Isabel didn't understand why he was covered in dirt, but she was just glad to see that he was okay. He was acting like he had never seen Sam and Dean before, something she assumed her mother had told him to do. He saw her once, through the window and winked at her before turning around to yell at Dean again.
Isabel had no idea what her mother was up to, but she was still set on her goal. She followed them to where they lost Adam again, and an hour later he was texting her again, telling her all the details of his foray with his brother's. She constantly kept her eyes on Sam, the gentle giant in her mind. Her mother called her once, and told her how to give him extra strength to pull away from Lucifer, so she snuck around and added her own blood to the demon blood they were going to feed him.
She watched Dean and Death talk in Chicago, and was just about to leave when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Who are you?"
A demon was standing next to her. She couldn't fight him, she was in the middle of the street, so she just pulled away from him, trying to get away without seeming like she knew what he was. "I'm Isabel...I was just leaving."
"Not so fast." The demon said, grabbing her arm and pulling her into darkness.
When she woke up, a man with a partially rotting face stood over her, "Now, where did you find her?"
"Watching Dean, father. She looked far too interested in him to just be a bystander." The demon said, looking like a dog that just dug up a new squeaky toy.
Lucifer got right up to her, looking at her face intently, "You are a demigod." He smiled, pulling the knife her mother had given her out of her bag. "So you are one. I thought Father got rid of all of your kind. Tell me, who is the angel who bred you?" She didn't respond. He kicked her with the toe of his foot, softly, as if to get her attention, possibly to make sure she was still alive, "Are you mute?"
She sneered up at him, her lip bleeding, "I have nothing to say to the likes of you."
Lucifer looked at the blade reading the Enochian etched into the celestial steel. His face contorted in anger, "This blade belonged to the angel Veronica. Where did you get it?"
It took a few sharp kicks to get her to talk, "My mother gave it to me." She gasped.
He stared at her, his decomposing face contorted in rage. "Your mother? You are lying! The angel that owned this blade is dead!"
Lucifer beat her off and on until Sam and Dean were right outside his door, literally. It had been weeks, and he just kicked her into the corner behind a sofa like a dirty rag so he could focus on the Winchesters.
Isabel was broken, her body would pull itself together after a few hours, but it always hurt. The fact that he had stopped hitting her for a moment was a blessing. She had become his new plaything. The only constant blessing was that he had never touched her sexually, which she took as the fact that his body was failing. She had fought back for the first few days, but her energy had drained quickly. He would never let her sleep, poking at her or having his demons keep her awake. She would never tell him anything about herself, in fact, she hadn't spoken a single word in the last few weeks.
Exhausted into silence, Isabel could only watch Sam say yes and the beginning of the ending of the world. When Sam and Dean had come in, Isabel had only had enough strength to reach towards Sam, the man whose face had always been in the forefront of her mind. She cared more for Sam than she could ever have admitted, and she didn't know why. He had been so close, but she hadn't been able to make even the smallest noise to get his attention.
Minutes later, she was alone with a stunned Dean and a quickly decomposing empty vessel. Dean had seen her once the dust had cleared and had carried her to the hospital, formulating the plan in his head so loudly she could practically hear the gears turning in it. He had asked for her name and she had, in her half delirious state told him. He looked at her strangely after that, as she slipped in and out of consciousness. He left her in the hospital with the first nurse he could find.
Not three hours later, and her mother and brother were standing over her. Isabel couldn't feel Sam anymore. She had gotten caught and he had said yes. "How could I have let this happen?" The beautiful redhead lamented, holding Isabel's lifeless hand, "Daniel, how could I have been so stupid? I should never have sent her off on her own. I shouldn't have sent her. I should have had faith in Sam and Dean, but no, I couldn't leave fate alone. And my mistake got taken out on my baby."
"Mother," The archangel said, his expression mournful, but calculated, "It is not your fault. You are not omnipotent. You could not have known that Lucifer would torture her." He put a hand on her, "She will not recover if she still remembers. It was foolish of you to tell her of our existence. She's served her purpose for now. Let her forget."
Veronica nodded, it was the only way to proceed from this point. Then Isabel could at least have another normal year, another year just to be the woman she had wanted to be. "You are right of course, you're the angel of wise judgement. You've helped me guide her since you came into this life. You will continue to look over her? She still needs her big brother."
He bowed his head, "Yes, my mortal sister will be of my upmost concern. You shan't need to worry over her safety anymore. She will never truly be alone."
"Thank you, Daniel, my beloved son. Please, let us be alone for this. It should only take a minute." The Enochian said softly.
Daniel ducked into the hall when Isabel finally found the strength to make sound, "What...are you...going to do?" She breathed out sleepily.
"Hush, don't think. This wont hurt a bit." Isabel watched in horror as her mother held her hand to her lips, "Forgive me, Isabel. Momma's going to make it all better. I promise." A tear fell down the great angel's porcelain cheek, "Just sleep now."
"No..." Isabel had choked out before her world went black.
Sam had wandered aimlessly since he had found himself under that lamppost outside Dean's. He had gotten a car, a new fake ID, and was now just wandering from city to city in the midwest. Dean had looked so happy with Lisa and Ben, and Sam had realized that however he had gotten back, he was no longer a part of Dean's life. There wasn't any space there for him anymore.
He had crashed outside of a quiet park someplace in Kansas, his piece of shit car had broken down about half a mile down the road. He felt cold, regardless of the fairly warm late spring air. Sam just closed his eyes, ready to think of where to go to get another car as he fell asleep.
"You know, I might not be a cop, but I'm pretty sure sleeping in the park is illegal." Said a soft voice, causing Sam's eyes to fly open.
He was met with blue eyes he wasn't ever sure were real, "Isabel?" He whispered, looking at the blond girl like she wasn't really there. The dog at her side whined before sitting at her feet with a huff.
Don't forget to review!
-Jenn
Carry On Wayward Son By: Kansas
"Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don't know
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more"