Witching Hour | Winchester

Twenty-Three

Roxanne wakes gradually, stretching her legs. She looks around through squinted eyes and inhales deeply.

"Dean."

Roxanne looks at Sam, who gives her a tired smile before reaching for Dean's phone.

"Hello?"

Roxanne sits up, swinging her legs off the side of the bed. Sam's whole demeanor changes, his spine straightening and stiffening. She glances back down at the black nail polish on her toes; the big one is chipped, and she makes a mental note to fix it later.

"Dad? Are you hurt?"

Roxanne's head snaps up to Sam, and she crawls across the bed. She nearly sits in his lap as she presses her ear to the other side of the phone.

"I'm fine."

"We've been looking for you everywhere! We didn't know where you were, if you were okay."

"Sammy, I'm alright. What about you and Dean?"

Roxanne looks up as Dean begins to wake up. He stretches and stirs.

"We're fine. Dad, where are you?"

Dean sits up, much more alert now.

"Sorry, kiddo, I can't tell you that."

Roxanne scowls, leaning back to look at Sam. He either doesn't notice or chooses to ignore her incredulous look.

"What? Why not?"

"Is that Dad?" Dean frowns.

Roxanne leans back in, listening to the conversation once more.

"Look, I know this is hard for you to understand. You're just gonna have to trust me on this."

Sam pauses, his voice changing as the realization dawns on him. "You're after it, aren't you? The thing that killed Mom."

"Yeah. It's a demon, Sam."

"A demon? You know for sure?"

"A demon? What's he saying?" Dean demands, obviously frustrated by missing the conversation.

"I do. Listen, Sammy, I, uh... I also know what happened to your girlfriend... I'm so sorry. I would've done anything to protect you from that."

Roxanne fights the urge to scoff. Of course he would. He'd do anything to protect Sam from hurting the way he did?

Then why the hell wasn't he here?

"You know where it is?"

Having heard enough, Roxanne angrily pushes herself up and off of the bed. She stalks across the room, pacing a corner by the television.

"Let us help."

John works alone. There's no way he'd let his kids join the hunt. He may be a selfish bastard, but he's not about to put his kids in danger. Well, more danger. Plus, he's too busy being a walking sob story. Yeah, he lost his wife. It was a damn tragedy. If anyone knows how much that sucks, it's her. But that doesn't just give him an excuse to be a raging ass.

"Why not?" Sam demands.

"Give me the phone."

Maybe it's for the best that Roxanne lost Caleb, too. She knows she has a bit of a temper, and she's at least self-aware enough to know that she is beyond self-destructive. She can easily see the path John has chosen.

Who's to say she wouldn't have been a worse parent than John Winchester?

"Names?" Sam asks. "What names, Dad? Talk to me- tell me what's going on."