Status: work-in-progress

The Family Business

Seven

Sam had been sneaking out when he thought everyone was asleep for a few weeks now. I chose to ignore it, though. I figured he was out with Ruby doing more demon… stuff. I wasn’t sure exactly what they got up to.

I couldn’t sleep. I was tossing and turning. Dean had to have known his brother was sneaking off, right? Dean was like Sam’s dad. He knew everything Sam got up to.

But what if he didn’t? I groaned and threw the covers off myself and walked over to Sam and Dean’s room next door, knocking three times. “Dean?” Nothing. “Come on, Dean. It’s important.” Still silent. “Now you’re just being a jackass. Open the door!” I continued to knock on the door before finally deciding to see if it was locked. “You know, it’s dangerous to leave your hotel room unlocked—what are you doing!?” I lunged forward at the strange man sitting on the edge of Dean’s bed as he reached up. “Dean, look out!” I grabbed a hold of the man as his head snapped in my direction.

I must have completely blacked out because Dean and I woke up on a bench in the middle of a small town. “Alright you two. You can’t sleep here. Move it.” The cop shook Dean and I awake before walking off.

“What happened?” I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

“I don’t know… one minute I was talking to… wait… What did you do!?” Dean yelled accusingly.

“Me!? I saved your life. You should be more grateful!” I crossed my arms as Dean pulled out a small flip phone and held it up.

“No service.” He sighed and shoved it back in his pocket. “Look, all I know is that I was talking to Castiel. He told me I needed to stop… something. And then you attacked him and now we’re here.”

“Oh… Castiel? That was Castiel?” Dean nodded. “Huh… hungry?” I asked and stood up to stretch. “There’s a diner across the street and I’m starving.” I walked towards the small diner. “Come on!” Dean rolled his eyes and followed me into the small-town restaurant. “It smells amazing.” I sighed and took a seat at the end of the bar.

“Hey, where the hell are we?” Dean asked as he took a seat between me and the only other man at the bar. They almost looked identical.

“Jay Bird’s Diner.” The guy looked at Dean with confusion written across his face.

“Right… I mean city and state.”

“Lawrence, Kansas.” The guy rolled his eyes at Dean.

“Sorry, we’ve been driving all night.” I explained as I looked at the menu. They had a 70’s theme going and I loved it.

“Hey, uh… coffee for these two, Reg.”

“Any idea where I can get reception on this thing?” Dean pulled his phone out again as he asked his look-alike.

“U.S.S. Enterprise.” The man scoffed and returned to his breakfast.

“Thanks, Reg.” I smiled as the waiter brought Dean and I coffee.

“Nice threads. You know Sonny and Cher broke up, right?” Dean laughed as he took a sip.

“Sonny and Cher broke up?” Both men gave Dean a horrified look. This had to be some kind of joke, right? I looked around the diner and noticed everyone was dressed like we were in an episode of the Brady Bunch.

"Winchester! Son-of-a-bitch, how ya doing?!” Dean and the other guy’s heads looked in the direction of the voice that just walked in. “Good to have you home, John. Damn good.”

“Dad?” I choked on my coffee.

“What?”

“Shut up. We’re leaving.” Dean grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the diner.

“Hey, I was hungry!” I protested and jerked my arm out of his grasp. “What the hell, man!?”

“I don’t know what we’re doing here, but use your… mumbo jumbo to talk to Castiel and tell him I need to talk to him. Now.”

“Okay first of all; rude.” Dean rolled his eyes. “Two; that’s not how it works. I hear him, not the other way around.”

“You talk to the son-of-a-bitch and ask him why I was just sitting next to my dad in a diner in Lawrence in 1973!” Dean was on the verge of a panic attack and I almost felt bad for the guy.

“Fine. I’ll… try.” I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. “Castiel…? Cas? Can I call you Cas?” I heard Dean groan. “Right. Sorry. Castiel, can you tell us what we’re doing here? Well, what Dean’s doing here… I’m here unintentionally. Sorry about tackling you, by the way.” I peeked one eye open and looked around. “Nothing.”

“What good are you?” Dean scoffed and walked away from me.

“Fine. I’ll figure it out on my own.” I muttered to myself and rounded a corner, running right into someone. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I—Castiel!”

“Serenity.” His voice was much deeper in person, and not very friendly. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Right. About that, sorry for—“

“I need to send you back.”

“No!” I grabbed his wrist as he reached to touch my forehead.

“Dean needs to stop this on his own.” Castiel tried to explain.

“Stop what?” Castiel shook his head and tried to fight against my hold to send me back. “I can help him!” He stopped fighting. “Tell me what I need to do and I’ll help him.” I looked at Castiel’s emotionless face for some sort of hint or clue as to what I was supposed to do.

"Help him figure it out.” Castiel vanished into thin air.

"Well that was incredibly vague.” I sighed and spotted a car dealership across the road. “Holy crap.” I made my way over and gawked over the 1967 Chevy Impala. “So this is where Dean gets the car…”

“I’ll take it.” I looked up at John Winchester buying an old, used van.

“I’ll draw up the paperwork.” John sighed as the dealer went inside.

“That’s not the car you want.” John looked at me as I spoke up. “I never uh… thanked you for the coffee earlier. So this is my way of saying thank you.” I walked over to him and pointed at the Impala. “This is the car you want.”

"You know something about cars, then, lady?” John smirked condescendingly.

“Actually, yeah.” I smiled and lifted the hood. “327 four-barrel, 275 horses. A little TLC, this thing will be badass way past fifty.”

“Impressive… but I promised someone I’d buy the van.”

"Trust me… this is a much better investment.” Dean spoke up from behind me. “Sorry about her. She doesn’t really know her boundaries.” I closed the hood to the Impala and wiped my hands on the back of my shorts.

"It’s alright. Your girlfriend here was just showing off her car knowledge.”

“Dean’s girlfriend? In his dreams.” I rolled my eyes and Dean pretended to gag.

“Either way, she’s right.” John nodded towards the car. This… is the perfect set of wheels.” I smiled at Dean and nudged him. “Thanks, guys.”

“You’re welcome.” Dean and I walked off as John talked to the car salesman about prices. “Not too shabby, eh?” I smiled proudly as we walked down the street. “You owe me lunch.”

“What? Why?”

“I helped your dad pick out your future car. You’re welcome.”

~*~

Later that night Dean and I were stalked outside of a diner watching John and Mary eat. “Your mom’s kinda hot.” I said and leaned up against the building.

“I know, right?” Dean shook his head and I gagged. “I’m going to Hell. Again.”

“Yeah you are.” I shivered in disgust and looked around. “I’m going in to eat. Got any cash on you?” Dean rolled his eyes and handed me a twenty-dollar bill. I happily skipped inside and ordered a burger and fries.

“Hey, Serenity, right?” I looked over at John sitting at a table by himself. Wasn’t Mary just there?

“Hey, John!” I smiled and walked over to him with my plate. “What’s uh… John?” Everyone around me froze in the diner. “John?” I set my plate down and poked his cheek. Nothing.

“Serenity.” I jumped and turned to face Castiel, placing my hand over my heart.

"Jesus, dude… sorry. Can I say… that?” Castiel cocked his head to the side like a lost puppy. “You scared me.”

“Dean is running out of time, and you’re proving to be a distraction.”

“Cas, buddy, come on. We’re just starting—” Before I could finish my sentence, I was back in the hotel room where Castiel had zapped Dean and I to the past. “No! Dammit, Cas!” I ran my fingers through my hair and sat on the edge of the bed and waited for Dean to come back.

I must have passed out because I woke up to Dean gasping away next to me and Castiel standing at the end of the bed. “I couldn’t stop any of it.” Dean sighed as he sat up, gripping the edge of the bed. “She still made the deal. She still died in the nursery, didn’t she?”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You couldn’t have stopped it.” Castiel had no emotion in his voice. I rubbed my eyes as I sat up, too. “Destiny can’t be changed, Dean. All roads lead to the same destination.”

“Then why’d you send me back?” Dean was standing in front of Castiel now.

“All of this was for nothing?” I asked. Both men were suddenly aware of me sitting on the bed.

“For the truth. Now you know everything we do.” Castiel looked towards the empty bed next to Dean.

“Where… where’s Sam?” I asked, standing from the bed as I read the panic on Dean’s face.

“We know what Azazel did to your brother, what we don’t know is why. What his end game is. He went to great lengths to cover that up.”

“Where’s Sam?” Dean asked this time.

“425 Waterman.” Dean walked past Castiel to grab his coat and belongings. I gathered mine and went to open the hotel room door so I could wake Felicity. “Your brother is headed down a dangerous road, Dean, and we’re not sure where it leads… so stop it… or we will.” I shook the words out of my head and walked next door.

“Felicity.” I shook my best friend awake. “Cici, we gotta go.”

“What’s going on?” She asked as she wiped the sleep out of her eyes.

"Sam’s gone. Castiel knows where he is. He gave Dean and I an address and we’re going to look for him.”
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Hello! I'm so, so, SO sorry this took so long to update.
And I know the background it being dumb, but I'm working on fixing it!
Thank you so much for being patient with me!
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