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Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Goodbye Is Never Forever
Chapter Three: Someone's Keeping Secrets
Lawrence, Kansas — 01:56AM.
There was something incredible about coming home after being away for so long. To discover yourself again, to find that everything just seemed to fall right back into place, as though nothing had ever changed in the first place. That was the thought that crossed Dean Winchester's mind as he sat on the couch with his sister. It was his first night home in what felt like a lifetime. Coming home had always seemed like some distant dream to him, and yet, there he was. A part of it all still felt so surreal to him.
Dean was home. In everything that had happened to him over the past fifteen months, in all the craziness and through all the changes, in all the chaos and through all the violence, in all the terror and through all the adrenaline and excitement, he was safe, he was back in the one place that everything just seemed so certain. It was the one place that seemed the light in the dark. There was something comforting in knowing, however much things had changed in his life, and no matter what he had been through while he had been away, there was still something waiting for him when he finally returned.
In that moment, it felt like nothing had changed at all. It felt as though not a day had passed by since he had last been there. He sat on the couch with his sister, who had long since drifted into sleep watching some bad horror movie on the TV before them. Her head was rested gently against his shoulder, and his arm was wrapped around her. Their parents had long since retired to bed, and, in their usual tradition, the two of them had spent an hour picking out a horror movie to watch, and eaten enough sweets to make even someone with the sweetest tooth sick. They were the moments when he truly felt home.
As the credits rolled on the movie, Dean hesitantly nudged his sister. "Hey," he said softly, shaking her slightly. "Don't you have work in the morning?"
Alison stirred and blinked open her eyes. For a moment she looked confused, until she realised where she was, and her eyes narrowed at the clock on the wall. She pulled her face a little, as if debating it with herself, and shrugged. "I think I've got another one in me." she said, but he didn't miss how her words were slurred slightly with sleep.
Dean chuckled to himself. "I'm still gonna be here in the morning, Ali." he told her, his voice quiet, so not to wake their parents. "Go to bed."
He could see her thinking over the idea, and she reluctantly nodded her head. "Yeah," she agreed. "You're right."
"Always am." Dean smirked at her. And she somehow found the energy to punch him lightly in the arm.
"G'night, Dean." she said softly, smiling as she pushed herself up off the couch.
He nodded. "Night, sis."
Dean watched her go and smiled to himself as he relaxed back into the couch. He sighed lightly, and he couldn't think of anywhere he would rather be than right there. The past fifteen months, Dean had grown accustomed to living somewhere else. The people there, sometimes they had referred to that place as home, and, in a way, it had been. It had been where they lived, where they worked, where they ate, where they slept. But it had never really been home. Not to him. His home was with his family.
Home was where he came home everyday to the bright white smile his mother always seemed to wear, where he could let her worry about things he had never done or even thought about doing, where he had the security of knowing that she was always going to love him, no matter what. Home was where he could spent time with his father, where he could have a beer with him and talk man to man, where he could let him teach him how to fix a car he already knew inside out. Home was where he could hang out with his kid brother, where he could listen to him talk about his college work for an hour and still have no clue what he was studying, where he could give him advice on girls and hangovers and everything between. Home was where he could annoy the hell out of his kid sister, where he could spent all night simply watching bad movies and eating junk food with her, where he could fight off boys for her and take the bruised arm that came with it, where he had a best friend for life.
Home was where he was right there. And there was no place he would rather be.
07:31AM.
Dean headed down the stairs the next morning, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He tried to shake the dream he'd woken from out of his mind, pushing it to the back of his head where he prayed he wouldn't have to think about it again, and he smiled as he headed into the kitchen. His mother was standing at the stove, her eyes fixed to the frying pan before her, even being in there alone, he noticed there was a bright smile on her face as she hummed along to the radio playing softly behind her.
Mary looked up as he headed further into the room. "Morning, honey." she smiled brightly at him. "Sit down, I'm making breakfast."
Dean returned her smile as he moved pour himself a coffee. "Where's Alison?" he asked, taking a drink, noting there only seemed to be the two of them in the house. "And dad."
"Oh, your dad's just taking Alison to work." she told him, gesturing for him to take a seat at the table. "He won't be long."
Dean huffed a laugh. "Work on a Saturday morning." he pondered, shaking his head to himself.
"Poor thing looked exhausted this morning." she said, sitting down at the table with him. "What time were you two up until last night?"
"Uh, it was getting late." He shrugged. "Sorry, that's my bad."
Mary shook her head at him, chucking to herself. "I'm glad you're getting to spend some time together again." she smiled. "She's always said watching horror movies and eating her own body weight in candy wasn't as fun without you."
Dean laughed. "Yeah, I've missed it."
Mary frowned a little. There was something behind the laughter that she could pick up on, and it made her a little uneasy. "Are you alright?" she pressed gently. "Did you sleep okay?"
Dean looked up at her and nodded, pushing up a smile. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Mom." he said, a little brighter. "Just tired. Little jet-lagged, I think."
"Hm." Mary nodded, but she didn't seem completely convinced. "I'll get you some breakfast."
It was as she pushed herself up from her seat that the back door opened behind them, and Dean turned to see his Dad enter the kitchen. Mary smiled at him as she made her way back to the stove, taking some plates from the cupboard before her. "Smells great, honey." John said to her, and Dean smiled a little as he watched his dad place a kiss to her cheek before he moved to sit down at the table.
"How was your first night home?" John asked him.
"Uh, it was good." Dean nodded. "Glad to be back."
John nodded at him, and he smiled. "Glad to have you home, son." he said, his voice sincere.
"Thanks, Dad."
"So, I was thinking, having you home, how about we all do something next weekend?" he suggested. "Sam's back by then. Be nice to spend some time together as a family again."
"Uh, next weekend isn't going to work." Mary said, placing a plate down in front of each of them. "Alison's going to California next weekend, you know that."
John seemed to think on her words for a long moment, frowning. "Are you sure you told me?"
Mary rolled her eyes as she sat down at the table with them, a smile playing on her face. "You never listen, John Winchester."
"How come she's going to Cali?" Dean asked, glancing between them. "What's in Cali?"
"There's an open weekend for college next week. She's going with her friends." Mary told him. "She thinks she's interested."
"Huh." Dean nodded slowly. He still couldn't wrap his head around the idea of his sister wanting to go to college. "You said she goes to a lot of them, right?"
John scoffed. "All the time." he said. "Dead set on college with no idea where she wants to go."
Dean frowned. Something about it all seemed strange. But then, he had been gone for fifteen months, a lot had changed since then. He just wondered why she hadn't told him. Normally, something like that, she would have told him straight away. It was as though she hadn't wanted him to know. He planned to ask her about it.
"What time is she working until?" he asked, as though it was completely unrelated to the subject.
"Eight tonight." Mary said. "She's on a twelve hour shift today."
"Have you called your brother since you've come home?" John asked, looking up at him. "Does he know you're back?"
"Uh, no, actually." Dean shook his head. "I didn't get the chance yesterday. When does he come back?"
"Tomorrow, I think." Mary told him. "Might be a nice surprise for him if you don't say anything." she said lightly, a smile tugging at her lips as she glanced over at John. "Or, might give him a heart attack, like it almost gave your father."
Dean laughed. "I think I'll leave it until he comes home." he smirked. "I'm sure I'll find a way of letting him know I'm back."
"Hey," John warned. "You two start another one of those prank wars, keep it outside the house this time." Dean opened his mouth to argue his case, but stopped at the sound of the phone ringing. He watched as his mother stood from the table and left the room to answer it. "Tell me, how are you doing, Dean? Really?" he asked, his voice suddenly more serious. "I know your mom's worried about you. I've served, Dean, I know some of the things you can see aren't easy."
Dean nodded slowly. "Yeah," he agreed quietly. "I'm alright. Ready for a break, you know?"
John nodded. "Make sure you're taking care of yourself." he told him. "You know where I am if you need anything. I know being a Marine is different to being in the Army, but I've seen some sights myself in my time. I know how it feels."
"Yeah. Thanks, Dad." He cleared his throat and pulled a hand down his face. "I'm gonna take a shower."
10:49AM.
Dean stepped out of the diner, coffee in his hand, and crossed the parking lot, squinting through the bright sunlight above him. Truthfully, he was simply trying to keep himself busy. Sitting at home and staring at the walls had been driving him insane. His parents had gone out, his brother was away and his sister was working, suddenly he felt as though he had nothing to do. He had contemplated calling some of his friends, seeing if they wanted to hang out, but, truthfully, he really wasn't in the mood, for anyone. And so he headed back to his car, not even sure where he was planning on going.
He was almost there, never thinking too much into anything that was going on around him, until he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, as though there was somebody following him. He turned slowly and glanced back over his shoulder to see one of the girls who had been sitting in the diner walking towards him. "Hey." With a quick glance he realised that there was no one else around, she had to be talking to him. "I'm, uh, sorry if this sounds weird but...you're Alison's brother, right?"
Dean frowned a little. "Uh, yeah." He nodded. "Dean."
The girl nodded at him. "Yeah, I knew I recognised you. She has that photo of the two of you in her room. I don't know if you remember me, I'm Chloe, a friend of hers." Dean narrowed his eyes, she looked familiar, he'd admit that, but his sister had a lot of friends, he never took too much notice. The girl continued to stare at him, and he raised an eyebrow at her, as if to ask what she wanted. "Sorry, I just, kinda feel like I know you, you know? She talks about you all the time. She really missed you. I didn't actually know that you were home."
Dean frowned, it was as though she wanted to tell him something but she just couldn't get it out. "Something wrong?"
Chloe sighed, defeated, and looked away from him for a moment. She looked back look over her shoulder, as if to ensure that no one was watching, and nodded. "Yeah...well...no...I don't know." She sighed deeply. "I think there's something going on with her. I mean, I didn't wanna tell your mom and dad about it, because I'm not sure, but—"
"What makes you think there's something going on with her?" Dean asked, a little too defensive.
"It's just, she kinda disappears a lot lately, you know? Like, she'll go away for three or four days at a time, and I'm pretty sure she's been telling your parents that she's going to college weekends, but..." She trailed off and shrugged.
"What?" Dean pressed. "You don't believe her?"
Chloe shook her head slowly. "I've asked her, she always says that it's nothing, that I don't need to know, but I'm worried about her. We've been friends for a long time, she never keeps anything from me. I think there's more to it this time. She comes back with bruises or cuts or whatever, and, she's just...different. From the minute she says she leaving until she comes home, she's just in another world. And, wherever she goes, it's impossible to get a hold of her until she's home again. She never answers her phone. It's like she's always looking over her shoulder lately, I don't know what's going on. Like I said, I'm sure it's nothing, but, I just thought I should tell you."
Dean thought over her words for a long moment. He had been considering the idea something was off about her, that she was hiding something. With the sudden unexplained desire to see every college in the country, the bruise on her arm he was so sure she was lying about, maybe the girl in front of him was onto something. "Do you have any idea where she's going?"
Chloe shook her head. "No, but, I think she's planning on going somewhere this weekend. We're all going to California—"
"I thought Ali was going with you?" he pushed.
"No." Chloe shook her head again. "Look, I won't lie, none of us really want to go to any of these places, we just go for fun, you know? There's usually a party or something going on. But, Alison hasn't been with us once. I don't know where she's going but, it's definitely not to California with us." She sighed, and he could already tell she was regretting even speaking to him in the first place. "Look, I'm sorry to dump all of this on you, I know she's your sister, and I know you only just got home, but, if something is going on, if something went wrong and I hadn't told someone—"
"No, no, I get you." Dean nodded. "Thank you."
Chloe smiled a little. "Oh, and, uh, would you mind not telling her this came from me?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Dean smiled at her. "I'll take care of it. "
"Thanks, Dean." She smiled at him one last time before she turned to walk away, and his face completely fell as she did.
Something was going on with Alison. He was more than sure of it now.
11:12AM.
The tyres screeched to a halt as Dean pulled up the car outside of the nursing home where Alison worked. He was determined, now more than ever, to have it out with her. He sure as hell wasn't waiting nine hours for her to finish her shift, he wanted answers, and he wanted them now. He had never known Alison to lie about something like that before, especially to their mother. It just wasn't like her. He couldn't even begin to imagine what could be so bad that she had to keep sneaking off without telling anyone, not even her friends, where she was going. Maybe if someone knew he wouldn't be as concerned. But for her not to be able to tell their parents, it had to be bad. He understood, teenage girls had their own world, they had secrets, but if there was a line where she couldn't even trust her own family or friends to know. It couldn't be anything good.
Dean pressed the doorbell to the home impatiently, and he watched through the glass as a woman left the office beside the door. She looked to be around forty, and he was assuming, since she wasn't wearing the pale blue scrubs that his sister wore to work, she was the manager. She looked him up and down slowly as she opened the door, and smiled. "Can I help you?"
"Hi, uh, I'm looking for Alison." he said simply, what more could he really say? He didn't want to bother her at work, but he needed to find out what was going on. He was worried about her.
The woman frowned. "Alison?"
Dean gave an impatient sigh. "Winchester." he clarified.
She narrowed her eyes a little. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
"I'm her brother." He took a breath, lowering his voice a little. "Look, please, this is important. I need to speak to her."
The woman nodded, and she stepped aside to let him enter. "She's actually a little busy right now, but, uh, if you head through that door," She gestured to the corridor to their right. "There's a lounge, she should find you. I'll pass on that you're here."
Dean nodded. "Thank you."
The woman said nothing more to him as she turned and disappeared back into her office, closing the door behind herself. Dean shook his head and headed off in the direction she had sent him. He had never been in a place like that, he didn't know what to expect. Honestly, no matter how much his sister had told him about her job, he just couldn't imagine it. He wandered into the room she had sent him to and glanced around. There were residents sitting in almost all of the chairs, most of them sleeping soundly where they were. The TV was on, but none of them seemed to be watching it.
He looked up as a young girl, looking only a little older than his sister, entered, and she smiled at him. There was an elderly lady walking with her, holding her hand for support. "Hey, are you new?" she asked.
Dean frowned, a little confused. "Sorry?"
"Are you...working here?" she pressed.
"Oh, no, no, no." He shook his head. "I'm, uh, looking for Alison. They told me to wait in here for her."
The elderly lady standing with her looked him up and down slowly, and a smile appeared on her face. "You look just like my husband." she said sweetly.
"Uh," Dean looked a little confused for a moment, but smiled. "Really?"
The lady chuckled and stepped closer. "You're a little more handsome." she whispered. "Can I tell you a secret?"
He raised his eyebrows at her. "I guess?"
"My husband has been dead for fifteen years," She stepped even closer and lowered her voice. "I haven't remarried." she winked. "Yet."
"Okay, alright," The girl standing with her laughed. "Let's get you sat down, Margaret." she chuckled.
Dean watched as the girl guided the lady into a chair, and headed back over to him. "Sorry about that, old girl will flirt with anyone." She laughed. "She'd eat you alive. You said you were looking for Alison? She shouldn't be long, she's just finishing up with another resident. The girl never stops." She smiled. "How do you know Ali?"
"I'm her brother."
The girl's face seemed to change at that statement, as though a sense of realisation had washed over her. "You're Dean?" He nodded. "Oh my god, she didn't say you were coming home."
"Yeah," Dean huffed a laugh. "She, uh, didn't actually know until yesterday."
"Wow." She smiled. "Sorry, I'm Jess. I've heard a lot about you. I better get back to work, but it was nice meeting you, Dean."
"Yeah," He nodded. "You, too."
Dean watched her go and sighed, he wasn't even sure his sister knew that he was there. He needed to speak to her, now. He was ready to go and find her himself, but he heard the sound of laughter coming from down the hallway, and he instantly recognised it as his sister's.
Dean watched as his sister emerged from the corridor and into the large lounge where he stood, her arm linked with an elderly man, peeling the plastic gloves from her hands she entered. There was a bright smile on her face, and Dean honestly couldn't imagine anybody being as happy at work as she looked right there. She was so wrapped up in what she was doing, she hadn't even realised that he was standing there. For a moment he stood and watched what she did, intrigued.
Alison grinned as the man walking with her began singing some old song, one he had only heard in old movies, and she began to sing along with him. The man laughed, singing with her as she walked with him to one of the few empty seats in the lounge. He watched as the man hugged her, and she hugged him back. He couldn't understand how such a caring girl could be lying as much as she was. He looked on as she gently guided the man to sit in the chair, and she crouched down before him, still holding his hand, as she took the time to speak with him. Watching her there, she didn't seem the type of girl to be keeping secrets, he couldn't even begin to understand why she was.
Dean stepped forwards as she stood again and cleared his throat. "Alison."
Alison frowned, and she turned quickly to face him. "Dean. What the hell are you doing here?" She looked around the room, as if expecting someone to be with him. "Is everything alright? What's going on?"
"C'mere." He nodded at her. "We need to talk."
Alison crossed the room towards him, she didn't like to think why he would be there. "Dean, what—"
But Dean wasn't giving her the chance to say anything more. "I know you've been lying to mom and dad."
Her eyebrows rose at the comment. "What?"
"Don't bother lying to me, Ali." he said, he sounded tired, disappointed. "All these college weekends, I know you've been lying about them, Alison. Where the hell are you sneaking off to? Huh?"
Alison narrowed her eyes, as though curious. "What makes you think that I'm lying?"
"Because I know you, Ali. Better than you think I do. I know you, and I know when you're lying to me." He shook his head at her. "You might have mom and dad fooled with all of this, but not me. So, what's going on?"
Alison sighed. "Look, I really don't know what you're talking about, Dean, but I gotta get back to work."
She went to turn and walk away, but Dean grabbed her around the arm before she could. "Ali—" But he stopped whatever he was about to say at the sound of a loud buzzing going off around them, it sounded like an alarm. "What's that?"
"Emergency buzzer." she said. "Dean, I really can't have this conversation right now, okay? I'll see you at home."
Dean was going to protest, but the girl he had been speaking to before ran into the lounge, looking a little out of breath. "Alison, I'm sorry, we need you." she urged. "Room Eleven."
"Dean," She threw him an apologetic look. "I really gotta go."
Dean nodded, reluctant, but he understood. "This isn't over."
Alison knew that, he knew she did, and so she didn't say anything as she turned and ran off in the direction the other girl had gone. He watched after her for a moment, shaking his head. He knew now, he had seen it in her face just then, she was definitely lying. Something was going on with her, and he intended to find out what.
