The Family Business

After Dad disappeared, my older brother, Dean drove us both to my big brother Sam. What could have caused us trouble was breaking into his apartment- which is what we were doing. Dean opened the window of Sam's apartment.

"Dean, can't we just knock in the door?" I asked.

Dean rolled his eyes and scoffed, "No."

This time, I rolled my eyes. "Why not?" I questioned.

"Because it's not fun," He answered.

I rolled my eyes again. "I hope he will kick your ass," I mumbled.

Dean looked back at me. "Did you say something?" He asked as he raised an eyebrow.

I looked down, "Nothing," I mumbled. Dean nodded his head and climbed into the window. I did the same but much more quietly. Dean opened Sam's fridge and then closed it loudly. "Shh," I whispered. Suddenly, I heard footsteps walking towards us. Dean walked into another room, I followed behind but hide as I heard Sam come towards us. They had a little fight before Dean pinned Sam down.

"Whoa, easy, tiger," Dean told him.

"Dean?" Sam breathed out in disbelief and Dean just chuckled. "You scared the crap out of me."

"That's 'cause you're out of practice," Dean comment before Sam quickly pinned him down. I smiled and Dean chuckled again. "Or not. Get off of me," Dean said and Sam helped him up.

"Where's Scarlett?" Sam asked.

"Here I am," I said as I stepped out of my hiding spot and walked over to Dean. He ruffled my hair and I grunted at him annoyed.

"Hey Scar. Look at you, you look different," Sam told me.

"That because you left when I was 10 and haven't seen me sense," I pointed out.

"Sorry," Sam apologized softly.

Even though I was angry at him, I threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly. I felt him wrapping his arms tightly around me, hugging me back. Then the lights turned on and I let go of Sam.

"Sam?" I heard a female voice. My head turned over and I saw a pretty girl. And obviously Dean thought the same.

"Jess. Hey," Sam said, his voice sounded slightly awkward and he swallowed. "Ah . . . Dean, Scarlett, this is my girlfriend, Jessica."

"Wait, Dean and Scarlett? As in your siblings?" Jessica asked and then smiled. Sam nodded as he put an arm around my shoulder.

Dean grinned, "Oh, I love the Smurfs. You know, I gotta tell you. You are completely out of my brother's league." I rolled my eyes on his attempt to flirt with our brother's girlfriend before I jammed in his rib with my elbow and he grunted in pain.

I smiled towards Jessica and waved, "Hi." She chuckled a little and waved back.

"Anyway, we gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business. But, uh, nice meeting you," Dean said to Jessica. I opened my mouth to say something to her.

"No." I looked at Sam and he unwrapped his arm from my shoulder and walked over to Jessica, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer to his side, "No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her."

Dean and I looked at each other and then looked back at them. "Um. Dad hasn't been home in a few days," I informed.

"So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later," Sam said.

Dean lowered his head, shaking his head before looking back up. "Dad's on a hunting trip," He informed coldly. "And he hasn't been home in a few days."

Sam didn't changed his expression as he was still looking at us. Jessica glanced up at Sam's face, clearly knowing something was happening that she didn't know. "Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside," Sam said, not breaking contact with Dean and me.

The three of us went down the stairs outside Sam's apartment. "I mean, come on. You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you two," Sam said.

"You're not hearing us, Sammy," I said.

"Dad's missing. We need you to help us find him," Dean added.

"You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine," Sam snapped.

Dean stopped and turned around, making Sam and me to do the same. "Not for this long," Dean stated. "Now are you gonna come with us or not?"

"I'm not," Sam declared.

I frowned, "Why not?" I asked.

He looked at me, "I swore I was done hunting for good."

"Come on. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad," Dean said before turning around and continued to walk.

"Yeah?" Sam asked, huffing as he followed him. I sighed and followed close behind. "When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45."

Dean stopped and looked back at Sam, "Well, what was he supposed to do?" He asked.

Sam looked at him in disbelieve, "I was nine years old! He was supposed to say; 'Don't be afraid of the dark'."

Dean frowned, "Don't be afraid of the dark?" He repeated in disbelieve. "Are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there."

"Yeah, I know," Sam agreed. "But still. The way we grew up, after Mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her. But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find."

"We save a lot of people doing it, too," Dean stated. "You think Mom would have wanted this for us?" Sam asked Dean, but included me in it too when he glanced at me as well. Dean clenched his jaw and harshly opened the doors for the outside, where the Impala was parked. Sam followed out and I was close behind, "The weapon training, and melting the silver into bullets? I mean, we were raised like warriors. Hell, Scar still is," Sam said.

"So what?" I asked, making him look at me. "You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?"

"No. Not normal. Safe," Sam said.

"And that's why you ran away," Dean comment. I crossed my arms across my chest, glancing down.

"I was just going to college," Sam defended himself. "It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already," I said. Sam looked between me and Dean.

"We can't do this alone," Dean said.

"Yes you can," Sam said.

"We don't want to," I said, staring at him. He looked at me for a moment before he sighed as he glanced down at the ground. He was quiet for a long moment before he looked back at me and Dean.

"What was he hunting?"

A smile slipped to my lips and I quickly hugged him. He chuckled and hugged me back as Dean opened the trunk of the Impala, then he reached out toward another handle and opened it. Revealing guns, knifes, everything. Dean pet the shotgun steadied to hold the handle. Sam and I pulled away from the hug and then he glanced around the weapons

He cleared his throat, "So when Dad left . . . why didn't you two went with him?" He asked curiously.

"We were working our own gig together," Dean started. "This, uh, voodoo thing, down in New Orleans."

Sam stared at Dean in disbelieve and he blinked a few times, "Dad let you take Scar on a hunting trip by yourself?"

Dean stopped searching before looking up at Sam. "Dude, I'm 26," He remarked. "I can take care of both of us."

Sam glanced at me with a small smirk as Dean went back to search, "Here we go," He said, pulling out the papers. He sighed and started to explain, "So Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California." He handed Sam the papers, "About a month ago, this guy. They found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA."

Sam looked at Dean before looking down at the papers on his hands, studying them. "So maybe he was kidnapped," He suggested, giving a small shrug.

"Yeah. Well, here's another one in April," Dean started. "Another one in December 04, 03, 98, 92, ten of them over the past 20 years. All men, all the same five-mile stretch of road. It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago." He pulled out from the duffel bag the recorder, "We hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough. Then we receive this voice mail."

"Dean . . . Scar . . . something big is starting to happen . . . I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may . . . Be very careful you two. We're all in danger."

Dean stopped the tape and we both stared at Sam. "You know there's EVP on that?" Sam stated, after a moment.

Dean smirked, "Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?" He joked. Sam shook his head, giving a small chukle.

I hit Dean lightly and he chuckled. "I slowed the message down, ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss, and this is what I got," I said and nodded to Dean to play it again.

". . . I can never go home . . ."

Dean stopped the tape once again and we looked back at Sam. "Never go home," Sam mumbled as if it replayed in his mind.

Dean tossed the recorder in the duffel bag. Taking the shotgun off and closing the hood afterward. "You know, in almost two years we never bothered you, never asked you for a thing," He said. Sam looked at me for a moment as I did the puppy eyes. He looked away and sighed, then looked back.

"All right. I'll go," He gave in. "I'll help you two find him." I smiled and Dean just nodded. "But I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here," He said, and he turned to go.

"What's first thing Monday?" I asked.

He looked back at me, "I have this . . . I have an interview," He replied.

"What, a job interview?" I asked with a frown.

"Skip it," Dean said, shrugging.

Sam gave him a look and rolled his eyes, "It's a law school interview, and it's my whole future on a plate."

"Law school?" Dean asked, frowning and he smirked.

"So we got a deal or not?" Sam asked. Dean smiled slightly, and gave a small shrug.

"Shotgun!" I shouted before I ran over the passenger side, and climbed in.

I closed the door and then locked it so Sam wouldn't get in. I heard Dean laughed and glanced outside to see Sam shaking his head with a small smile on his face before he walked back up to his apartment.