Diary of a Hunter

"Hey Mom, where's your old guitar?" Victoria asked.

"It's in the attic, why?" Meredith asked back, curiously. She took a moment to glance up from the papers that she was grading to look at Victoria.

"Oh, well I was wondering if Haley and I could use it. Haley wants me to teach her and it'd be helpful if we could have two," Victoria replied.

"Sure, go ahead and look," Meredith answered.

"Smells great in here," Victoria complimented, changing the subject.

"Thanks. I figured I could bake and while things were in the oven or water was boiling, I'd be able to get some grading done," Meredith said.

"That makes sense… But seriously, Mom, grading papers on a Saturday? Really?" Victoria asked.

"Well, they've got to be done before Monday," Meredith said back.

Victoria chuckled, "Hey, I wasn't the one that gave a test on summer reading this early into the year."

Meredith looked up at her daughter, letting out a small laugh, "Jesus. You sound like your father. Yeah, I get it. I dug my own personal hell," she answered, playfully.

"I'm just so darn witty," she bragged, jokingly.

Meredith chuckled, "Yeah. Well, go ahead and look for the guitar. I'm not saying you'll find anything. We've got so much crap up in the attic I don't even know if you'll be able to get through the door."

"We'll be fine, Mom," Victoria reassured, before hurrying back upstairs to Haley.

"What'd your Mom say?" Haley asked as Victoria returned to her room.

"She said it'd be fine. Come on," Victoria replied, going towards the attic, Haley following. They went all the way down the hallway, to the door that led to another set of stairs that led right into an attic. She opened the door, and scurried up the stairs with her cousin, before settling into the box-filled attic.

"Wow, that's a lot of stuff," Haley said, her eyes wide.

"Mom really wasn't kidding when she said that," Victoria added.

"Alright, you take the right side, I'll take the left," Haley said, as they decided to divide and conquer the mess. Victoria searched around, pushing boxes aside and almost tripping over old toys from when they were kids.

"I mean, you'd think a guitar would be easy to spot in here," Victoria started. She kicked a box to the side and then saw the guitar leaning against the backwall of the attic. "Ah! Found it!" She made her way towards the guitar but then stopped when she saw a box labeled "Twins' baby stuff." She kneeled down beside the box before beginning to go through it all.

"Oh my God. I think I found Flynn and I's baby stuff," Victoria smiled, gingerly opening the box.

"Hey what's this?" Haley asked, grabbing Victoria's attention.

"What?" Victoria asked, standing up and walking over to Haley's spot on the far left side of the attic. Haley had carefully opened up the brown box and had pulled out several knives, a couple of newspaper articles, and a file filled with research.

"Oh my God, are you serious? You found my mom and dad's old hunting equipment," Victoria exclaimed, upon seeing the objects that had come out of the box. Haley pulled out a few more things, looking them over.

"This is so cool. Man, I wish I parents would let us hunt, not that there's much to hunt anymore," Haley said.

"Then again that's a good thing. After the whole "First" thing freshmen year, I don't know if that's all that bad of a thing. It was fun while it lasted though…" Victoria chuckled.

"I second that. Dad and Mom had like, no lives back then and neither did you during the whole "First" thing," Haley replied.

"You know, our dads barely even had to a real junior year. Like, there wasn't that whole pressure for college and stuff. They were usually on the road with Grandpa," Victoria said.

"Yeah, Dad told me about that, even though he doesn't really like to talk about it much. My guess is he doesn't want to give us any ideas," Haley said, causing Victoria to laugh. "That's kind of crazy though. Then again, junior year would probably be a lot less hectic if we were out on the road hunting demons."

"Agreed," Victoria chuckled. "Well, it'd be a different kind of hectic!"

"Look at this," Haley said, kneeling next to another hunting box. She pulled out black composition book. The box had a couple of composition books, along with a yearbook, and some other memorabilia.

"What is it?" Victoria asked, rushing over to see what her cousin had found. This attic was getting even more interesting by the second.

"There are these composition notebooks. I think… I think they're diaries," Haley replied, aimlessly flipping through them.

"For who?" Victoria asked.

"I think they were your mom's," Haley replied. There was a silence where the two girls were trying to decide what exactly they wanted to do with the diaries. At that moment, the two girls turned to each other and said, "Let's read them!"

"Here, I think this one is the first," Haley said. Victoria reached for it but then paused.

"Oh wait, maybe you should read them aloud. You'll be proof reader because I really don't want to know any… details about… stuff," Victoria said.

"You think there's sex in it?" Haley asked, curiously.

"Well, they made me and my brothers, didn't they?" Victoria teased.

"Okay fine," Haley said chuckling, taking the composition notebook and turning it to the first page. The two girls sat down on top of a couple of boxes lined up next to each other and began to read.

"May 30, 1995. Dear Diary…" Haley began to read.

~~~

Meredith's Point of View.

It was around ten thirty at night and I only had an hour and half until my birthday was over. I was upstairs in my room reading. The window was open and I was just enjoying the breeze. I had to admit, I was a little disappointed that my dad hadn't showed up. He had said that he would but he'd left me a brief message on the home phone's answering machine. I had listened to it a couple of times now but Bobby was right. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. I finished reading my book and then put it down by my bedside. I had finals all this week and then I was out of school. I pulled my shoulder length, dark black hair up into a sloppy bun and sighed.

I went downstairs to get a glass of water and as I went down the stairs, I heard the sound of voices and footsteps. Could it be Dad? My heart began to speed up as I triedto tell myself to calm down, but it was no use. I listened closely, only to be disappointed. Should've known... There was more than one voice and none of them sounded like Dad. I filled my glass up from the tap water and started to go back upstairs when Bobby called to me.

"Meredith, I don't know why you'd want this on your birthday but they showed up anyways," Bobby said with a sigh. I peered around the corner only to see Dean, Sam, and John Winchester standing in the living room of the Singer household. A wide grin spread across my face.

"What're you guys doing here?" I exclaimed, happily. I moved quickly toward the three men giving John a hug first.

"Well we decided to stay for the summer and go on cases when we needed to. The boys are going to start school this year. I'll of course have to pull them out of it every now and then but they insisted," John replied, hugging me back.

I then moved to Sam.

"Well, Sammy insisted," Dean grumbled. Sam rolled his eyes at the pet name his brother was so insistent on calling him.

"Hey, Sam," I smiled, giving him a hug. He was cute and twelve. He was so adorable.

"Oh please Dean, I know you love school," I teased, hugging him.

"Ha-ha, you're so funny," he replied, sarcastically. I stuck my tongue out at him and he stuck his tongue back out at me. Bobby rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"So come in. Make yourself at home. Meredith needs to go to bed soon but she can talk to you for a while," Bobby said.

"What you've got a bed time now, smalls?" Dean asked.

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes at Dean's nickname, "NO. I have sophomore year exams tomorrow. I just need to get some sleep so that I can pass."

"Gotcha," Dean replied.

"Oh exams in what?" Sam asked, curiously.

"Nerd," Dean coughed. I shot Dean a glare and he just shrugged. Ugh, why did even the most annoying things about him have to make me fall for him? Why was he so irresistible?

"Well I have my Chemistry exam and English exam tomorrow. You can help me study for English if you want to," I suggested.

"Sure," Sam replied, his eyes lighting up.

Dean rolled his eyes, "Damn, I'm going to have to start that whole school thing when junior year starts up, huh?"

"Yeah, but you'll be with me," I replied, fake-sweetly in a sing song voice.

"Jesus Christ," Dean groaned, teasingly.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, hitting him playfully. Bobby and John had gone into the kitchen and now it was just Sam, Dean, and I.

"You know, I'm going to go up to one of the spare rooms and just get some sleep," Sam started.

"Oh okay," I replied.

"Night, Sammy," Dean said back.

"Why do you still call him that?" I asked, curiously.

"Same reason I still call you smalls," he replied, shrugging.

I raised an eyebrow, "And that reason is?"

"I'm used to it and the nickname is representational. You're short and he's…. well he's Sammy. He's still my little kid brother," Dean replied.

"Ah," I replied. "You know, one day he's going to grow up, Dean Winchester."

"Yeah and I'll still call him Sammy," Dean answered.

I chuckled. Typical Dean.

I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow, challengingly, "So what should we call you... I mean, if our nicknames have to be indicative."

"Woah, slow down there with the SAT words," Dean teased.

"Ha-ha," I said, sarcastically.

"How about... Sexy? I wouldn't mind hearing you call me that," Dean smirked, leaning in towards me.

"Don't push it," I replied, putting a hand on his chest and pushing him away.

And then there was just silence between us. Not in a bad way... just silence...

"So I hear today's your birthday," Dean said, looking over a me as we sat next to each other as the two of us leaned against the back of the couch.

"Oh yeah," I said back. I had completely forgotten my disappointment in my father.

"Happy birthday, Mer," Dean said, smiling that beautiful crooked smile of his that got me every damn time.

"Thanks," I smiled, blushing a little. It was embarrassing to admit but Dean's boyish charm had always worked on me. We had been good friends ever since I had met him when we were seven and I had come to Bobby's but I'd also had a crush on him since then. I never said anything though because… well it was stupid.

"Any birthday wishes?" he asked, his eyes flickering from my lips back up to my eyes.

Damn it! I could feel it. If either of us would give in, we would kiss. And this wasn't the first time this had happened. Many times, actually... close, but no cigar.

"Uh-, um, no," I stammered, trying to regain myself.

"Oh," Dean replied as our conversation dwindle into yet another silence. I swallowed, not knowing what to say or even if I should. Could he tell that I felt uncomfortable? Was he?

"So are you going to show me the ropes on this whole school thing or what?" Dean asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Don't worry, I've got your back," I replied, chuckling. Thank God for Dean's comment. "Hey, I never got to give you a good hug. Come here."

Dean pulled me into his arms and I hugged him back. We sat in that tight embrace for a good while. I then pulled away and looked him straight in the eyes which was an intimidating thing for me being in such an.. intimate embrace.

"I know this is kind of weird for me to say but, I've missed you, Winchester. Is that weird?" I asked, giggling a little.

"No, I've missed you too, Summers," he replied, in the most sincere tone I've ever heard him use. "It's been about... what, almost a year?"

"Less. Remember homecoming?" I reminded.

"How could I forget, Smalls?" he smirked.

"We were in so much trouble!" I laughed, reminiscing.

"YOU were so wasted," he reminded.

"Oh God. Don't remind me," I groaned.

"I told you I'd take you to the dance. You refused," he pointed out.

"What? A stupid high school dance or an alcoholic night with my best friend? I'll take the best friend and alcohol," I shot back.

"Fair enough," Dean said.

"So tell me about hunting. Bobby won't let me go out on any until my final exams are over and I've been dying for a good hunt," I said back, changing the subject.

"You're so deprived babe. We're working new cases every few days," he bragged playfully.

"Shut up, don't rub it in. And don't call me babe!" I exclaimed.

~~~

The summer passed by and Dean was only here for the second half. I worked at The Falcon, a café nearby and Dean and I got back to being our normal, usual, flirtatious friends. It had been a hot summer and quick one. After the 4th of July, the Winchesters had taken off but now they were back for the first day of school.

I got into the Impala sleepily and sat there waiting for Dean to turn on the car.

"Morning," I mumbled, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"You tired?" he asked.

"Mhm," I replied, nestling closer to him. We were friends so I had an excuse but I still wanted nothing more for this to be real. Not that I had expected anything, but this summer Dean and I had moved nowhere. It was still the sexual tension filled, flirtatious friendship we've always had. That and watching him go out on dates with other girls just about made me want to slap him.

Dean chuckled, "Mer, as much as I'd love to have a touchy-feely moment with you, we've got to get going."

"Right," I mumbled, returning to my seat.

I glanced back at Sam, "You excited?"

"Kind of yeah," he said, downplaying his excitement.

"That's the understatement of he year," Dean snorted.

"Be nice," I grumbled, nudging Dean.

"Mm, well if I must, I want something in return," Dean said, leaning in to kiss me.

"Uh uh. Drive," I ordered, sleepily.

With the many times Dean's tried to kiss me, why haven't I taken him up on it, you may ask. I know those kisses wouldn't mean something and I'm not about to be Dean's "girl of the week." He meant too much to me.

Dean and I dropped Sam at the middle school right next to the high school and then headed into our school. I always loved the first day of school. It was just exciting and everyone was refreshed and happy.

"You ready for this?" I asked Dean.

"Not at all. I just want back on the road," Dean replied.

"Hey, it'll be fun," I chimed in.

"You're too cute, smalls," Dean said, putting his arm around my shoulders as we walked into school together.

"Hey, man. How was the road trip?" Stephen coming over to us. I felt as Dean's arm slipped from my shoulders and back to his side. Stephen was a guy I'd gone to school with for a while, and who Dean had just met this past summer.

"Awesome. How was your summer?" Dean asked back.

"It was alright," Dean shrugged.

"Dude, we are getting so much tail this year. I swear to you. I'll hook us up, don't worry. Oh hey, Meredith," Stephen said, nodding at me.

"Hey," I mumbled. Honestly, I couldn't stand Stephen. He was obnoxious but he was the school's golden boy and I knew that for Dean to be in with him meant he'd be in all the social events and I knew that's what Dean craved. It was weird. For a guy who claimed to be independent and different, I knew that sometimes all he wanted to do was fit in and I wasn't even quite sure he knew that yet.

Stephen looked me up and down, "Looks like summer did you well. Looks like every summer's been doing you well." He smirked and I rolled my eyes.

Dean tensed up, "Yeah, I'll catch up with you later. Meredith, we should get our schedules."

"Okay," I said. As soon as we were alone I called Dean out on it. "What was that all about?"

"What?" Dean asked.

"When Stephen was… well… you know, you got all weird and tense. I thought he was your friend," I replied.

"Nothing, I just don't like him talking you like that," Dean said, protectively.

"Alright, Dad," I teased.

"Watch it, smalls," he teased back.

The both of us chuckled and then walked towards the office to find our schedules. Dean's arm slipped around my shoulders once again and I felt happy.