╔⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷╗
𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱
𝘪 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴
╚⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷╝
Delaney sat in the diner with Dean, a newspaper spread out in front of them. They wanted to look over deaths or disappearances that appeared in the paper to see if anything seemed too weird to be anything other than supernatural related. Dean circled a picture of a girl named Sophie Carlton just as the waitress walked back over to them.
"Can I get you anything else?" The pretty blonde asked Dean who smirked up at her. Delaney simply rolled her eyes. The waitress left little to the imagination with her tight fighting, low cut tank top and short shorts.
Sam walked back over from his bathroom break and politely asked for the check. The waitress nodded before walking away to get the siblings their check.
Dean bowed his head as he refrained for socking Sam in the ribs. He turned to Sam with a sigh. "You know, Sammy, we are allowed to have fun once in a while," he remarked, causing Delaney to roll her eyes again. "That's fun."
"Yeah and I'm sure lots of other men have had fun too, Dean," Delaney said, which earned a laugh from Sam and a hard glare from Dean. "Just saying it like it is."
Choosing to just ignore his baby sister, Dean tossed the newspaper they were looking at in front of Sam. "Here, take a look at this. I think I found something. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin - Last week Sophie Carlton, 18, walks into lake and doesn't walk out."
"Authorities dragged the water - nothing," Delaney added, remembering reading that in the article over Dean's shoulder.
"Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either," Dean concluded.
Sam furrowed his eyebrows as he scanned the article Dean had circled. "A funeral?"
"Yeah it's weird. They buried an empty coffin for closure or whatever," Dean responded, shrugging his shoulders.
"I don't blame them. I would do the same thing if I were in that family's position," Delaney muttered, earning a look from both of her brothers. "Though, people don't just disappear. Other people just stop looking for them."
Dean raised an eyebrow and focused his attention on his baby sister next to him. "Something you want to say to me?"
"The trail for Dad - it's getting colder every day."
"What are we supposed to do? We're fighting blind here, Delly. He's not exactly making it easy for us to find him," Sam countered.
"I don't know!" Delaney snapped, clearly frustrated. She just wanted to find John already and get this over with. Sure Delaney enjoyed finally being able to spend time with her brothers and they were on a hunt for the thing that killed their mother and Will, but she another part of her just wanted her life to go back to normal. Or as normal as it can get now after this. "Something. Anything."
Dean scoffed, irritation settling on his face. "I am so sick of this attitude, Della. You don't think Sammy and I don't want to find Dad as much as you do? We're going to find Dad, but in the meantime we are going to kill everything bad between here and there, okay?" He asked, clearly not looking for a response. Dean had pulled out the "sergeant voice" as Delaney liked to call it and that usually ended any and all arguments between the three of them. So, this argument was officially null and void in the mind of Dean Winchester.
Sam merely shrugged next to Dean, clearly sharing the same view as Delaney. He wanted to find John, but they also needed to get rid of whatever evil was in the world as well so other people could be safe as well.
The waitress walked by their table again and Dean, without a shred of shame in the world, blatantly watched her as she walked by.
"Lake Manitoc," Sam said but Dean didn't hear because he was too distracted by Barbie waitress. "Hey!"
"What?" Dean snapped out of it and diverted his attention to Sam again.
"How far?"
⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷
Delaney knocked on the front door to the Carlton house. A boy opened the door who looked to be around Delaney's age. "Will Carlton?" She asked, happy that her brothers were starting to trust her with talking to victims of the cases. She learned a lot the past few weeks of being with Sam and Dean and she enjoyed getting a part in these cases or joining the boys would have been for nothing.
"Yes, that's me," Will replied, his confusion filled eyes trailing across the three siblings.
"I'm Agent Fisher and these are agents Ford and Hamill. We're with the US Wildlife Service. Would we be able to ask you a few questions about what happened to your sister?" Delaney questioned and Will didn't respond but let them into the house. He lead them through the living room and kitchen before taking them outside to where the lake was.
The lake looked beautiful but also menacing at the same time. The water was dark even though the sun shone brightly outside and that made Delaney nervous. How could one body of water be so dark when the rest of the world was so bright?
"She was about a hundred yards out," Will began as he glanced across the lake. "That's where she got dragged down."
"And you're sure she didn't just drown?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, she was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake. She's as safe out there as in her own bathtub," Will answered.
Delaney looked between her two brothers, the gears turning in her head so fast it was making her head hurt. "So no splashing, no signs of distress?"
"No, that's what I'm telling you."
"Did you see any shadows in the water, maybe some dark shape breach the surface?" Sam questioned, the gears in his head slowly starting to turn as well.
"No, again, she was really far out there," Will replied, crossing his arms across his chest.
"You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?"
Will shook his head, his expression thoughtful as he tried to think of a time he saw any. "No, never. Why? What do you think's out there?"
"We'll let you know as soon we do," Delaney assured Will before her and Dean turned to begin to walk back through the house.
"What about your father? Can we talk to him?" Sam asked, clearly not wanting to give up on the questions just yet. Delaney and Dean froze in their trek towards the house to turn back around to face Sam and Will.
Will looked behind him at his father who was staring out across the lake, a sullen expression on his face. He sighed before turning back to the siblings and shook his head. "I wouldn't recommend it. If you don't mind, I mean, he didn't see anything. He's kind of been through a lot."
"We understand," Sam stated before the three siblings made their way back to the Impala.
⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷
"Now, I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?" The sheriff asked as the three siblings made their way into his office.
"You sure it's accidental? Will Carlton saw something grab his sister," Sam said, getting straight to the point.
The sheriff scoffed and leant against his desk. "Like what? There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake. There's nothing even big enough to pull a person down, unless it was the Loch Ness Monster."
Delaney couldn't help but laugh at the sheriff's statement. With what she has seen and heard about, it wouldn't be a surprise that a Loch Ness Monster was running amok in the lake. "Yeah, right."
"Will Carlton was traumatized, and sometimes the mind plays tricks," the sheriff explained, walking around his desk and lowering himself into the chair behind it. "Still, we dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."
Dean leant forward in his seat. "That's weird though. That's the third missing person this year."
"I know," the sheriff replied, a sullen look forming on his face. "These are people from my town. These are people I care about."
"I know," Dean sighed, feeling the pain the Sheriff was feeling.
"Anyway, all this - it won't be a problem much longer."
This seemed to peek all the Winchesters' interest. "What do you mean?" Delaney asked, sitting up straighter in her seat between her two brothers.
"Well, the dam, of course."
"Of course. The dam. It's uh.... it's sprung a leak," Dean said, trying to sound like he knew exactly what they were talking about.
"It's falling apart," the Sheriff added. "And the feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town, either, but as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that."
Delaney forced a smile onto her face. "Exactly."
A knock on the door caused all four heads in the room to turn towards it. A cute, brown haired woman was standing in the doorway. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting? I can come back later."
The sheriff pushed himself out of his chair and gestured towards the woman. "Agents, this is my daughter."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Dean," Dean greeted, his flirty smirk making its way out once again.
The girl politely smiled and shook his outstretched hand. "Andrea Bar. Hi."
"They're from the Wildlife Service about the lake," the sheriff explained, Andrea nodding in understanding.
A little boy walked into the room and hid behind Andrea.
"Oh hello," Delaney greeted, crouching down so she was the same height as him. "What's your name?"
The boy completely ignored Delaney and exited the room, both of her older brothers hiding their sniggers into their hands. She could have sworn she heard one of them comment on her scaring him away. If she wasn't in the presence of a sheriff, she would have turned and kicked whichever one of them made the comment.
Andrea gave Delaney a smile that had sorry written all over it before following her son out into the front area of the Sheriff's office.
"His name is Lucas," the sheriff said as Delaney stood back up to her full height.
"Is he okay?" Sam asked, tearing his eyes away from Andrea and Lucas who were coloring together.
"My grandson's been through a lot. We all have," the sheriff explained, watching as his daughter and grandson sat together peacefully with each other. "Well, if there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know."
"Thanks," Dean said before leading his siblings out to where Andrea and Lucas were seated. "You know, now that you mention it, could you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?"
Andrea smiled and pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "Lakefront Motel - go around the corner, it's two blocks up."
"Two - would you mind showing us?" Dean questioned, Sam and Delaney rolling their eyes at his horrible way of getting more time with Andrea.
Andrea chuckled and crossed her arms. "You need me to walk you two blocks?"
"Not if it's any trouble."
"I'm headed that way anyway," Andrea replied, still chuckling a bit. "I'll be back to pick up Lucas at three. We'll go to the park okay, sweetie?" She kissed Lucas on the head before leading the three Winchesters outside.
"So, cute kid," Dean commented as he followed Andrea down the block.
"Thanks," Andrea replied, but it was obvious she was trying her best to ignore Dean. Sam and Delaney decided to trail behind a bit, just to watch Dean crash and burn. They needed some entertainment and this was the best kind of entertainment either one of them could ever ask for.
"Kids are the best, huh?" Dean asked and Andrea simply smiled at him.
The four stopped in front of the Lakefront Motel. "There it is. Like I said, two blocks."
"Thanks," Delaney and Sam said in unison.
"Must be hard wth your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pick-up line. Enjoy your stay," Andrea mocked, smiling falsely at Dean before leaving the three Winchesters behind.
Delaney and Sam held each other up as they laughed at Dean's expense. Dean gave them a hard glare that could kill if it were able to, which only made the two youngest Winchesters laugh harder.
"Kids are the best?" Sam asked in between breaths.
"You don't even like kids. The only kids you ever liked were Sammy and I," Delaney added, wiping the tears that were falling from her eyes. That was the best laugh Delaney had in a long time and she forgot how good it felt. She made a mental note to do it more often.
"I love kids," Dean defended.
Sam and Delaney exchanged a look before turning their gazes back at Dean. "Name three children that you even know."
Dean froze as his mind tried to conjure up any kid he's ever known. Delaney didn't necessarily count anymore since she was in her twenties now. Sam and Delaney scoffed and walked away from Dean, knowing fully well he didn't know any children. He made some excuse that he was just thinking before following his siblings into the motel room.
ORIGINALLY POSTED: DECEMBER 19, 2017
EDITED: AUGUST 8TH, 2019