Daughter of a Winchester

10

"Avery, he really wasn't trying to be mean. I didn't mean to not say anything to help you. I'm also not gonna tell you not to talk to Lucy. If you really need to and want to, I'm not stopping you." Sam spoke up once they were in bed.

"I know that, Sam. It's just hard." He nodded.

"Let me ask you something. Are you ok? You seemed upset when you were done talking to Lucy and I know you were happy talking to her. You were happy every time you brought up school and got sad when you thought about how much you missed it. I can't help but wonder if I never should have taken you from there."

"I'm not ok. I don't really know what to think or feel right now. I miss school so much. I really wanted to become a lawyer and now that's not gonna happen. I haven't contacted my family in years. Then Lucy calls and I want to be back again and I miss everything. At the same time though, I love being here and having a life with you and I love that you took me away. I'm just so conflicted. If you hadn't taken me from there, I wouldn't have you right now and I don't want to be without that. How could you even say that? And now Dean's telling me not to call or talk to Lucy because it's dangerous, but she's all I have left of my old life and I don't know that I can give that up." She explained as she ranted.

"I understand that completely. It's ok that you aren't sure how to feel. It's complicated. I didn't mean it that way. I just meant I wish there were options that let us stay at college. Look, I'm sure Dean has a valid point, but if you're gonna be unhappy if you don't talk to her, then talk to her."

"Do you mind if I give her a call? Just to let her know she can still talk to me on occasion, but that I still can't come back."

"Of course not. Go ahead." She grabbed her phone and called her.

"Hello?"

"Hey. I just wanted to add that you can still occasionally call me, but I can't come back. I just wanted you to know I'm not cutting you off completely."

"Ok. Thanks Avery. Miss you. Goodnight."

"Miss you too. Goodnight."

The days flew by. No one was finding much of a case but they still researched nearly every day. Avery sat there at her laptop one morning. She pulled up the news site from around their old college in her usual check to make sure Jess or anyone else hadn't gone on a killing spree. The front page of the obituary sent chills through her body. "Sam. I'm gonna go lay down for a bit. I don't feel too well." She spoke up and shut the laptop.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"No. Just let me go lay down." She ran to their room and locked the door. She laid down on the bed and cried her eyes out. She thought it was her fault.

Sam opened her laptop and saw the obituary. It was Lucy. She died from an animal attack it seemed. "Dean, we've got a werewolf. I need to explain something first." He nodded. "The victim is Lucy. I guarantee you Avery blames herself and thinks you hate her. She's been talking to Lucy. I told her if not talking to her was going to upset her immensely then she should talk to her. I just wanted her to be happy. She told me before every call that she would be careful and make sure Lucy didn't say anything revealing out loud. I wasn't going to stop her."

"Sam, I'm not mad at you. I wouldn't have stopped her either. I'm gonna go talk to her." Sam agreed and worked on figuring out who the werewolf was.

Dean knocked on the door. "Avery, I just want to talk."

"Go away, Dean. I just want to be alone."

"You don't have to say anything. Please." She got up and opened the door then laid back down in bed to cry.

"At least hear me out. I'm sorry about what happened to Lucy. We'll find this werewolf and kill it. I promise. Listen, I know you blame yourself, but you can't be sure it's your fault." Dean tried to console.

"Dean, it is my fault. I talked to her yesterday. I called and we were just talking. She asked how the three of us were doing, by name, and so I told her to keep her voice down or someone is going to hear our names and that it wasn't safe. She told me to relax and that it was just her boyfriend there with her. I disregarded it until this morning. It's my fault, Dean. I should have listened to you. If I hadn't called her, she'd still be alive and you wouldn't be pissed."

"Excuse my temporary lack of sympathy, but does this boyfriend have a name?"

"Caleb I think."

"Ok. We might be able to find him. Anyways, about the other stuff, I'm not pissed. I wish you hadn't talked to her, but I'm not mad."

"Don't lie to me Dean. You told me I needed to cut her out of my life and I didn't. You just wanted to protect Lucy and I, but I ignored you. I didn't listen to you, I didn't trust you, and now my friend is dead because of it. You should at least know why I talked to her. She told me the first day she called me that her life had sucked lately. She never found a guy who was permanent and she thought my life was perfect. She was kind of upset and I wanted to be a friend to her again. You explicitly told me to stop talking to her but I didn't even listen. Now the werewolf might be after us. I have her blood on my hands now, Dean. I don't know how to live with that." Avery cried as she explained. He sat on the bed next to her.

"Avery, I'm not lying. I'm not mad because I wouldn't have stopped you had I even known. It's your life and I don't have any say in what you do. I understand why you talked to her and I don't think it was a wrong choice. I know you feel like her blood is on your hands, but it's not. It's all on Caleb's. I know it's hard to live with, just know Sam and I are here for you. Ok? And I also owe you an apology."

"For what?" She asked, confused.

"For the first night we talked about Lucy. I was extremely mean and rude in that conversation. I made it sound like I don't care that you had another life and that there was nothing important from it. I acted like your past needed to stay your past and like you can't even think about it. I know I stripped you from school and that you miss it and that you had friends. I never meant that you had to forget about it all. I know you miss it a lot. I could tell I hurt you with what I said and I'm sorry." He really felt like he screwed up big time and like he hurt her a lot more than he could imagine.

"It's ok, Dean. I'm not mad at you. Can I just be alone?"

"Sure. I'm here if you wanna talk." She nodded and he headed out. She stayed there in bed and just thought. She could hardly wrap her head around what happened. She had for the most part stopped crying, but a few tears still fell.