Chastised

Ann's Ranch

Hours later, the sun was up and the birds were chirping as we pulled down the long dirt driveway leading to a small ranch style home. The memories hit me with a wave of nostalgia as I pictured myself lying in the grass surrounding my dandelions with a horse slightly nipping at my hair to get my attention. When I was little our Dad used to drop me off here sometimes when Bobby was busy on a hunt of his own. This was our mother's cousin Ann's farm house. They were close and when Ann died the farm was left to mom. When mom passed we inherited it.

"Dad always told us this place was safe from anything trying to hurt us. If we ever found ourselves in some type of trouble we couldn't handle, we were to come here." Dean explained as he pulled up to the house.

"I still don't understand why this place is safer than Bobby's." I uttered as I climbed out of the Impala.

The three of us walked to the back of the car while Dean unlocked the trunk, grabbing our bags and slinging them over our shoulders we headed towards the porch.

The white paint was chipping away on what once used to be a beautiful white wraparound porch that stretched around the entire house. The wooden porch swing and chairs were still where she last remembered them sitting. The wood was dried and splintered while the chains on the swing were rusting. The grass around the house and in the fields were so overgrown they easily reached hip height and the thickness of the weeds growing within would make it almost impossible to get a lawn mower through.

"How long do you think we'll have to stay here?" Dean asked observing the same mess I was.

"As long as it takes to get Heaven off of Angel's tail." Castiel responded, his hand finding the small of my back.

I turned to see his smile, leaning against his shoulder I smiled back before I stepped up the two steps leading to the porch. I bent down and grabbed the hidden key from underneath the flower pot next to the door, slid it into the lock and twisted. I turned the door handle, pushed he door open listening to the creaking of the hinges as it slid open. Walking into the family area it was like walking through a time portal to the past. Nothing was moved, everything was where I remember it being. The only difference now was the thick layer of dust covering everything.

As I moved into the kitchen it was the same thing. The oak table and chairs were the same table and chairs from when I was younger. Same with the appliances. The only addition was the dust and grime.

I turned to see the guys looking around as I was, looking on the floor I noted the footprints left behind in the dust. Sighing to myself I walked down the hall to where my childhood bedroom used to be.

The room was the same light pink carpet, white bedspread with pink flowers, matching curtains, a white dresser, and a toy box sitting next to it filled with dolls and horses. The room seemed so much smaller now than it did back then. Smiling, I grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door closed behind me.

The room across from this one was the master bedroom. I opened it to find the dark blue carpet, tan walls, and dark oak wood bed frame with matching dressers. On the dresser was an attached wall mirror the length of the dressers. Light blue curtains covered the windows matching the light blue bed set on the bed. It too was covered in dust. The connected bathroom consisting of a tub/shower combination, toilet, double sink, and closet seemed just as dusty as the rest of the rooms I had seen so far.

I heard voices coming from the next room over, leaving the master bedroom I headed to the next door room. In there I found Sam and Dean looking over toy guns, army men, video games, and other toys little boys would be interested in.

"I don't remember any of this stuff." Sam said as he leafed through the comic books in a bookshelf.

"That's because we never stayed here. We were always with dad." Dean was looking through a car magazine he picked up off of the dresser leaving its outline in the dust.

"Ann wanted you guys to stay a few times. Dad always told her there was work to be done." I leaned against the doorframe as they looked through the contents of the room.

The room was carpeted with a dark green carpet, brown walls, two twin sized beds both with matching deer bed sets. The bed sets were a wooded area with deer standing in front of the tree line. The curtains were a tannish color, matching one of the browns in the comforters.

"The hunting theme was supposed to be what we liked?" Dean asked gesturing around the room.

"Well she couldn't very well decorate with monsters, demons, and ghouls now could she? This hunting theme was the closest she could get to you two being hunters." I crossed my arms as I defended Ann's choice of décor.

"I guess that makes sense." Dean looked over the room one more time before he walked by me, across the hall to another room.

This room was used as an office. White carpet, white walls, an oak desk with files and papers still lay out as if someone was interrupted while they were working.

There was a half bath next to this bedroom. The main bathroom was on the other end of the house. The living room sitting smack in the middle of the home split the home in half. To get to the other side one would walk through the living room. On this side of the home was the main bathroom that consisted of a bath tub and standing shower and toilet. There were two other rooms in this hall. Ann used them for extra storage.

Meeting everyone in the living room I was the first one to begin talking.

"Well, there's a lot of work to be done to this place. What rooms do you guys want? We should figure that out first so we can get those cleaned up since we will be sleeping there."

"Why don't you take the master room since I'm sure Cas will be staying with you?" Dean suggested receiving a shocked expression from everyone, including Cas.

"What? Am I wrong? Besides, out of the three of us, he's the one who can protect you the best." He blew off his suggestion as if it wasn't a big deal but we all knew this was a huge step in accepting this part Castiel and I.

Smiling, I thanked him and headed back to the master bedroom where I set down my duffle bag. I headed towards the closet near the kitchen, opened the door and began taking out cleaning supplies and the vacuum cleaner.

"Geez, you really know your way around here."

Sam was standing behind me looking through the closet to see more cleaning supplies, pretty much every type.

"Well before dad started taking me to Bobby's I stayed here a lot." I explained.

He reached into the closet grabbing some supplies and headed off to the other end of the house followed by Dean.

With the bottles of cleaners and rags in one arm, I wheeled the vacuum cleaner down the hall with the other heading towards the master bedroom that would serve as my bedroom for however long we would be living here.