Hayden laid in Deans lap as he drove his impala to Sam's apartment. He had found the 5 year old during a previous hunt. Her family almost killed her trying to sell her to a demon and he was just in time to save her. Long story short, the house exploded and everyone died.
He had decided that he had no choice but to bring her with him because she had no one and something about her prevented him from allowing her to go to a foster care. He felt like she had to come with him and he was the only one who could keep her safe.
She didn't have a name when Dean found her. Her family called her "Thing". So Dean gave her her name, Hayden.
Dean parked the impala before glancing down at the sleeping child in his lap. She refused to sleep unless she was in his lap. He sighed before sliding her onto the seat the exit the car. To his dismay, Hayden woke up immediately. She looked up at him with an adorable frown.
"Wherw you go?" She asked quietly. Dean sighed. "I'm gonna go get my brother. Stay here okay?" He said.
Hayden immediately began to panic at the fear of being left alone. Tears filled her eyes. "Please don leave." She said with a shaky voice.
Dean sighed again. "Hayden.." He cut himself off thinking that she'll only panic more if he leaves her alone. So he squatted down in front of her and wiped her tears. "You can come with me, but you have to promise to be silent. Okay?" He said.
She smiled and nodded her head eagerly. Dean smiled softly at the child that being out his soft side. "Blankie and teddy have to stay here and wait for us." He added. "Okay." She said before exiting the car and standing beside Dean.
Sam laid asleep in his bed next to his girlfriend, Jessica. His eyes shot open immediately after hearing an unexpected noise in his silent apartment.
Sam moved stealthily from his room to the hall. He took notice of the open window then stared at the door way just as the silhouettes of a man and little girl walked past. Sam quickly and quietly moved to the door, waiting for them to walk through it.
Just as the man walked through the door Sam snatched him away from the little girl causing her to panic. The two end up fighting in a different room until Sam was pinned to the floor. The dim light in the room revealed Dean as the culprit.
"Woah. Easy there tiger." He said with a chuckle.
Sam frowned. "Dean? You scared the scrap outta me." He replied.
"That's because you're outta practice." Dean smirked.
Sam only smirked back and moved quickly, catching Dean off guard and pinning him to the floor. Dean laughed.
"Or not. Get off me." He said before Sam helped him off the floor.
"Dean what the hell are you doing here?" He asked.
"I was looking for a beer." Dean joked.
"Dean what the hell are you doing here?" Sam repeated in a serious tone.
Dean sighed. "I need to talk to you." He said.
"Uh? The phone?" Sam said.
"If I had called, would you answer?" Dean asked knowingly.
"Still Dean you should break into my.." Sam was cut off by the room light coming on. Both men turned seeing Sam's girlfriend had turned on the light.
Before anyone said anything, Dean took notice of the small child on the floor with her arms wrapped around her legs. A look of terror was painted brightly on her face. He sighed scolding himself for forgetting her trauma.
"Damnit." He said making his way to her and squatting in front of her. This caught the attention of both Sam and Jessica.
"Hayden? Hey. Come on. Its safe. I promise." He said. The girl wasted no time moving from her position and jumping into his arms. She buried her head into his neck, wetting it with her tears. Dean stood up and walked back over to Sam.
"Who's this?" Dean asked motioning to Jessica.
"Dean this is my girlfriend Jessica. Jessica this is Dean." Sam introduced keeping his eye on the child in Dean's arms. "Dean? As in your brother Dean?" Jess asked.
Dean smiled at her. "Yeah. I love the smurfs. You know you are way out of my brother's league." He said. Hayden removed her head from Dean's neck and laid it on his shoulder.
Dean look at towards her and gently wiped her remaining tears before turning his attention back to his brother and Jessica.
"I can go put some clothes on. I'll take her if you want." Jess offered reaching for the child. Hayden immediately panicked and clung to Dean.
"No its fine. She would probably freak out. Anyways, me and your boyfriend were just having a private family talk." Dean replied causing the small girl to calm down and loosen her drip a bit.
Sam scuffed and walked to stand beside Jess. "No. What ever you have to say you can say it in front of Jess." He said.
Dean sighed and nodded. "I haven't heard from dad in weeks. I'm getting worried." He said.
Sam replied with a sly remark.
Dean rolled his eyes and looked at Sam. "Dad went on a hunting trip and he hasn't been back in a few days." He said knowing that Sam would listen to him then.
Hayden watched Sam, seeing his body stiffen. "Jess, excuse us." He said before motioning Dean to the hall stairs.
Sam and Dean went down to the door. "Dean I swore I was done hunting." Sam said starting the argument. During the argument, Hayden played with Dean's necklace.
"Dean?" She asked catching the attention of the two men. "Can we get teddy out car? He wonwy." She asked. Dean nodded. "Come on." He said leading Sam out to the impala.
Dean placed Hayden on her feet. She happily jumped in and started playing with her bear.
"Where'd you find her?" Sam asked.
"On a hunt a couple weeks ago. Her family tried to give her to a demon to kill her. She had no where else to go." Dean explained.
"How old is she?" Sam asked.
"She's 5." Dean replied.
Sam frowned. "She should be able to say full sentences by now." He said to himself but Dean heard him.
"Doctor said she was severely undeveloped. However with help, she should be talking right in a couple years." Dean informed.
"She's really small for a 5 year old." Sam added.
"I know. I think the doctor said because of the abuse she suffered it stunted her growth." Dean replied.
"Abuse?" Sam questioned.
"Her family were abusing her. I saved her before they could use her as a sacrifice." Dean explained.
"So you're gonna raise her?" Sam asked.
"I'm gonna do what I can. This kid has no one. She only trusts me. So I'm all she has. I'm gonna do what I can to keep her safe." He explained.
Sam looked at his brother. "This isn't only about dad is it?" He asked. Dean shook his head.
"I was actually hoping that she could stay with you after this is done. You might finally be able to live the normal life that you so desperately want. I want Hayden to be apart of that. I don't want her to stay with me and live the life? to grow up the way we did. She can't live this life, Sammy. I can't do that to her." Dean said. Sam sighed and nodded.
Neither of the men had noticed the child had opened the passenger door getting out on the other side. She had head a voice calling to her. Not only that, there was a beautiful cluster of lights purging her to follow them.
Hayden followed the voice and the lights into an alley. "Hello?" She called seeing a figure in the middle of the alley. The woman turned flashing her black, demonic eyes at the girl. "Oh sweetheart, didn't your daddy ever teach you not to talk to strangers." She said with a smirk.
Hayden started to back away as tears fell from her eyes. She hugged her bear close to her chest trying to further the distance between herself and the monster. "You're monser." She said.
The demon looked at the child confused. "You can see me?" It asked. Hayden nodded slowly. The demon knew she had to tell her boss about the child or bring her to him.
"You're coming with me." She said walking towards the child. Hayden screamed in fear and started crying loudly not knowing what to do. Fear had overtaken her body. The demon froze, an unknown power from the child's scream kept her still.
Sam and Dean had heard the scream and stopped talking about the last hunt their father was on. Dean immediately looked to the front of his impala seeing both doors open.
"Damn it!" He yelled and ran off with his gun following the loud cries of Hayden. Sam followed close behind him. They spotted her on the ground in an alley staring at a woman. Hayden's screams stopped, freeing the woman from her frozen position.
The woman looked at them in anger. "Winchesters." She growled before glaring at the crying girl. Then she ran knowing she wouldn't win this fight alone. Dean ran to Hayden picking her up off the ground and got back to the impala after looking towards the direction the demon ran.
He sat her on the hood of the car and wiped her tears. Then he frowned. "Hayden, didn't we promise no running off?!" Dean said. She didn't say anything. She only continued to cry and cling to Dean in fear.
After a short while she calmed down a bit. "Hayden, we promised no wandering." Dean said. "But I heard something and there were pretty lights. Then mean wady show up and twy to take me." Hayden explained. The brothers looked at each other confused.
"Hayden why did she try to take you?" Sam asked. "I see her." She said making them more confused. "What do you mean? We could see her too." Dean said.
"You see monster in her body?" She said confused. Sam and Dean shared a glance in confusion before turning back to the child.
"You saw a monster? In her body?" Sam asked.
"Yes. It was black... like black cloud. Shmokey." She said.
Sam and Dean once again looked at each other. They were confused. She could see the supernatural.
"Hayden? How long have you been able to see monsters?" Dean asked.
"I see them forever." She replied. Dean finally realized what was happening. Hayden was special. This shed more light on the reason her family wanted to kill her. She was supernatural and it would change everything. She could never have a normal life, not how Dean wanted it for her.
Both men shared a glance showing that they were thinking the same thing. Hayden looked between them in confusion.
"You didn't know about this?" Sam asked his brother.
Dean only shrugged. "It never came up." He replied.
Dean gently wiped her remaining tears and picked her up off the hood.
"Hayden, can you lay down in the seat? Its time for bed. Okay?" Dean said. She looked at him sadly causing Dean to sigh. "Sam go get your stuff. I gotta put her to sleep." He said.
Sam frowned. "She won't sleep unless she's in my lap." Dean explained. Sam nodded and headed to the driver side with Hayden in his arms.
Dean sat Hayden in the car before sitting in the driver seat. Hayden climbed into his lap with her teddy bear. She looked up at Dean as he covered her with her blanket.
"Dean?" She called. He looked down at her. "You won weave me? Wite?" She asked giving him puppy eyes. Dean smiled at her and rubbed her head. "I would never leave you kid. I promise." He said softly. She nodded with a smile and rested her head on his chest, slowly falling asleep.
Dean sighed heavily and closed his eyes. He knew that Hayden wouldn't be able to escape this supernatural world as he hoped she would. He couldn't hide she ability from her. She's hate him for that. He just didn't know what to do.
Sam back and tossed his bag into the back seat before getting into the passenger seat. Dean gently slid Hayden onto the seat so he could drive.
Sam reached down to place her in his lap only to be stopped by Dean. "No! No no no no no. Leave her there. She'll be dead asleep in a little while. Car rides knock her out." He said. Sam nodded and turned away from the sleeping child before laughing a little.
Dean frowned giving him a quick glance. "What are you laughing at?" He asked. Sam looked at him and laughed again.
"This kid turned you soft." He laughed. Dean glanced at his brother giving him a glare.
"Oh shut up. She needs someone to take care of her. Especially now." He said. Sam gave him a look. Dean looked back noticing his silence. "What?" He asked turning back to the road. Sam narrowed his eyes at Dean.
"Who are you? And what have you done to my brother?" He asked before laughing. Dean rolled his eyes.
"Shut up." He said proceeding down the road to the last place their father was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was day time and the boys had stopped at a run down gas station. Dean went inside to pay for the gas and get snacks, leaving Hayden and Sam alone in the car with the door open.
Hayden stared curiously at Sam and hugged her bear. Sam glanced nervously at the child before opening his door and looking through Dean's tape collection.
Dean soon came out the station with a pack of Mentos in his mouth, a juice and soda in one had and two bags of chips in the other. He used the hand with the chip bags to pull the mentos from his lips as he called out to Sam.
"Hey! You want breakfast?" He asked. Sam smirked. "No. So how'd you pay for that stuff? You and dad still running credit card scams?" He replied as placed the snacks on the truck to fill the gas tank.
Hayden looked at Sam with a frown as the boys continued their conversation. She was trying to figure out why there was a strange dark glow around him. It was faint, barely noticeable but she could see it. She was so interested by the glow that she hadn't noticed dean get back into the car and both boys closed their doors. She just proceeded to focus on the very light glow coming off Sam.
Dean looked at her noticing the confused frown she'd been giving Sam before him and Sam shared a look. "She's been staring at me like that since we got here." He informed Dean. Dean frowned in thought before shaking his head.
"Hayden, I got juice." He said. The girl snapped out of her trance at the word 'juice', and quickly looked over at Dean holding her hands out for the juice.
"No. You have to tell me why you were staring at Sammy like that." Dean said holding the juice away from her. She looked at Sam before poking his cheek with her small finger.
"Sammy glowing." She said causing the boys to frown. Then Hayden turned to Sam again before laughing and repeatedly poking his cheek, while chanting "Squishy!"
"Okay then. I'll just drink your juice." Dean Said hoping to get her to stop. She stopped and turned to him with a pout. Dean frowned automatically giving in to the child's puppy face. "Damnit." He muttered before handing her the small juice bottle. She grabbed it happily and started to drink it while playing with her teddy bear.
"I swear man. You gotta update your cassette tape collection." Sam said looking at Dean. Dean frowned. "Why?" He asked.
"Well for one, they're cassette tapes. And two - Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Metallica?" Sam said while showing each tape. Dean grabbed the Metallica tape from him. "It's the greatest hits of mullet rock." Sam finished.
"Well house rules Sammy. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole." Dean said as he put the cassette tape into his radio. Hayden looked between the boys.
"Cake hole!" She laughed. Sam chuckled at her before turning to Dean. "You know Sammy is a chubby 12 year old. It's Sam." He said as the music started. Dean started the car and put it in drive. "Sorry can't hear you. Music's too loud." Dean said before pulling out of the gas station. Sam only sighed and set the box of cassette tapes on the floor of the car.
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"Catette." Hayden said. "Cassette." Sam corrected. "Catette." Hayden repeated.
Sam sighed with a small smile as Hayden gave him a confused expression. She was sure she was saying it right.
"Ok repeat after me." He said. She nodded turning to fully face him. "Ca-" He started. "Ca-" Hayden repeated. "-ssette." He finished. "-seth." She said. "Ok... That's enough for this lesson." He said with a sigh. "Ok Sammy." Hayden replied happily. "Not Sammy, Sam." He tried. "Ok Sammy." Hayden repeated. Sam only sighed in defeat as Dean laughed. "Shut up." Sam said to his brother.
Hayden suddenly jumped on Sam's lap and press herself onto the window. "Sammy look! Pretty clouds!" She said. Sam looked at Dean. "She loves the sky." He replied without glancing at the two. Hayden stayed silent staring at the sky in amazement. "Wow." She said.
Sam watched the child in wonder. How can such an innocent child be recklessly thrown into our world? She probably doesn't even fully know what's happening. She shouldn't be here. She is way more innocent than Dean and I were when we were smaller. What has she done to throw here of all situations in the world? He wondered sadly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There three rode past a Willow Tree and proceeded past a sign that read Jericho 7. Sam had just ended a call with someone before turning to Dean.
"Alright so there's no one matching dad at the hospital or morgue. So that's something, I guess." He said. Hayden had moved back to sit in between the two (Under Dean's order) and quietly watching the scenery. She loved nature more than anything and was always engaged in just watching it.
Coming up to a bridge, Dean saw two police cars just at the entrance of it. "Check it out." He said causing Sam and Hayden to look up.
Dean pulled over to the side of the road and turned the impala off. He reached into his glove compartment pulling out a small case of fake federal IDs. The boys started to get out when they froze and turned to the child between them. Hayden looked blankly between the two men.
Dean sighed knowing that leaving her alone would only freak her out. "Alright, here's the game plan Hayden. Sam and I are gonna go talk to those police men over there. You're gonna stay next to me alright?" He said. She nodded. Sam gave him a look. "Let's go." Dean said and they all exited the car. Hayden grabbed Dean's hand and stay next to him as approached the officers.
The three stopped behind the vacant vehicle that two officers were investigating. "You fellas had another one like this last month didn't you?" Dean asked interrupting their conversation.
The officers at the passenger side quickly looked up and straightened his posture.
"And who are you?" He asked.
"Federal Marshals." Dean said quickly flashing his fake ID.
The officer gave them an unsure look. "You two are a little young for Marshals aren't you? And who's the kid?" He asked staring at Hayden.
Dean laughed. "Thanks that's awfully kind of you." He said ignoring the second question.
The officer frowned again. "She's his daughter. Unfortunately he couldn't find a babysitter." Sam said causing Dean to quickly look at him.
"You did have another one like this last month, correct?" Dean asked walking up to the car.
"Yeah that's right, about a mile up the road. There have been others before that." The officer answered.
"So this victim, you knew him?" Sam asked recalling the conversation between the two officers. "A town like this, everybody knows everybody." The officer replied.
"Any connections between the victims besides that they're all men?" Dean asked while circling the vehicle. "No. Not so far as we can tell." The officer said. Hayden stayed beside Sam, hiding behind his legs... that is until he decided to move towards the car next to Dean.
Hayden stayed still staring at the car the had a white glow starting stared from the drive side of the car leading to the center of the bridge where it meets the deepest part of the water.
She smiled widely noticing that the car glowed like Sam.
"Sammy! Sammy! The car glowing!" She called out. The three men turned their attention to her. Sam and Dean cursed themselves for forgetting to tell her to call them by their fake names. The officer frowned at them.
"My daughter has a very active imagination." He chuckled then turned to Sam. "Uh, Agent? Could you go check on her for me? I'll finish up here." He said before turning back to the officer. Sam nodded and walked off to Hayden. Dean proceeded to question the officer about their leads on the investigation.
Sam squatted to Hayden's eye level as she smiled. "The car glowing." She said happily. Sam smiles. "Does the whole car glow?" He asked. Hayden shook her head.
"Only Dean side. Then it moves there." She said pointing to the area of the bridge that sits over the water. Sam stood up from his position and held his hand out to Hayden. "Can you show me?" He asked. Hayden happily grabbed his hand leading them to the center of the bridge.
Hayden walked Sam to the area of the bridge where the glow led. "It go over in water." She said releasing Sams hand to pointing to the water. "It glow like Sammy." She said to herself but Sam heard her.
"What?" He asked. "It glow like you. But-" she paused looking between the glow and Sam's glow. "You glow black. This glow is like cloud." She said. This confused Sam. First of all, this innocent little girl tells him he glows. Second, he's glowing black.
He sighed and grabbed Hayden's hand. "Come on. Dean's waiting for us." He said and they began walking back to Dean.
Halfway back, Sam pauses and squatted to Hayden's eye level. "From now on, you can call Dean 'daddy' and I'm your uncle. Okay?" He said. Hayden's eyes widened a little. "Dean my new daddy?" She asked. Sam nodded.
Hayden smiled widely and took off running to Dean yelling, "Daddy!"
Dean, who had just ended his conversation with the cop, turned to her in confusion just as she jumped towards him. He was confused but smiled lightly at the child that was hugging his legs. Hayden released Dean's legs and held out her hand for his. Dean grabbed her tiny hand as Sam jogged a bit to catch up to the two and they all headed back to the impala.
As they walked, Dean reached up and smacked Sam in the back of his head. "Ow! What was that for?" Sam whisper yelled to Dean. Hayden looked at the two confused. "Why'd you have to step on my foot?" Dean asked. "Why'd you have to talk to the police like that?" Sam fired back.
Dean quickly turned and stopped in front of Sam giving a irritated expression. "Come on. They don't really know whats going on. We're all alone on this. If we're gonna find dad, we gotta get to the bottom of this thing ourselves."He said. Hayden looked up at the two noticing that the the space between they wasn't a happy one. They were upset at each other.
Before she could say something to they, Sam cleared his throat and looked behind Dean, causing him to quickly turn around. Behind him stood a cop and two Federal agents.
"Can I help you boys?" The officer asked. The Agents eyed them suspiciously. Their attention mostly focused on Hayden, who was hiding behind Dean's leg, holding his hand tightly with on hand, while the other held a tight grip on Sam's pants leg. Sam looked down at her seeing that she was scared. So, he picked her up making Dean let go of her hand. Hayden wasted no time burying her head into his neck.
"No sir. We were just leaving." Dean replied. The two agents walked past the three as Dean and Sam made their way to the impala. However the officer turned and watched them.
The trio got into the car. Hayden sat in between Sam and Dean.
"Daddy no hitting." Hayden said frowning at Dean as he started to drive away from the crime scene. Dean frowned towards Hayden.
"Daddy? Why are you calling me that?" He asked turning back to the road. "Sammy said you be my new daddy." Hayden said smiling widely.
"What?" Dean said glaring at Sam. Sam only shrugged his shoulders at Dean while showing an innocent like smile.
"I didn't... I didn't say that." Dean replied turning back to the road.
Hayden's eyes sad and a frown was present on her face. "You not want to be my new daddy?" She asked looking to Dean with tears in her eyes.
"No- that's not-" Dean cut himself off with a sigh. He took a glance at her and gave in. "Alright Hayden. I'll be your new daddy. Ok? Stop crying." He said. Hayden looked at Sam.
"Uncle Sammy, Daddy was mean." She said hugging Sam. "What?! If anything, Uncle Sammy was mean." Dean said. Sam chuckled and shook his head. "Dean don't be mean anymore." Sam said with a sly smile.
Dean rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll only be mean when I have to." He said. "Ok!" Hayden said letting go of Sam with a bright smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam and Dean walked down the street of Jericho with Hayden in search of the victim's girlfriend. "I'll bet you thats her." Dean said referring to the girl that was hanging up purple 'MISSING' Posters of the victim. Sam nodded in agreement as they approached the girl.
"You must be Amy." Dean said catching the girl's attention. She replied with a small "yeah".
"Troy told us about you. We're his uncles and this is his cousin. I'm Dean. This is Sammy and Hayden." Dean lied as Sam grabbed Hayden's hand.
"He never mentioned you to me." Amy replied and started to walk away.
"That's Troy, I guess. We're not around much. We're up in Modesto." Dean said. "So, we're looking for him too and we were kinda asking around." Sam said stepping in front of Amy, preventing her from walking any further.
Amy's friend appeared next to her asking if she was okay. Amy replies with a short 'yeah' before turning her attention back to the boys and Hayden.
"Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions?" Sam asked. Amy nodded and led them into a diner where they all sat in a booth.
Sam and Dean sat across from Amy and her friend. Hayden sat in between the boys.
"I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, and he never did." Amy explained.
"He didn't say anything strange or out of the ordinary?" Sam asked. "No nothing I can remember." She said.
"Here's the deal ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something's not right. So if you heard anything..." Dean cut himself off as the girls shared a look.
"What is it?" Dean asked. "I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk." Amy's friend said.
"What do they talk about?" Sam and Dean asked in unison. "It's kind of a local legend. This one girl, she got murdered out on centennial like decades ago. Well supposedly she's still out there. She hitchhikes and who ever picks her up, well, they disappear forever." She explained.
Sam and Dean shared a look. "Daddy. Can I get juice?" Hayden asked catching everyone's attention. Dean blinked a couple of times before turning back to the girls who smiled softly at Hayden.
"Well ladies, thank you for your times. We'll be on our way now. Is there like a gas station near by?" He said stepping out of the booth. Hayden slid over to Dean and stood next to him. "Um yeah. It's like a couple blocks down the street." Amy said. "Thanks." Sam said exiting the booth. The three exited the store and made their way back to the impala.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam and Dean sat in the library with Hayden trying to find the story on the girl who was killed.
Hayden sat at the table drinking her juice while coloring in the book the librarian gave her.
Dean typed 'Female Murder Hitchhiking' into the search bar. Nothing came up. So he replaced 'Hitchhiking' with 'Centennial Highway'. Nothing came up again.
"Let me try." Sam said reaching for the mouse. Dean smacked Sam's hand away. "I got it." He declared.
Sam made a face and shoved Dean's chair away from the computer. He then slid himself in front of it.
"Dude." Dean said as he slid to the next computer. "You're such a control freak." He said pushing himself back to Sam's side.
"So angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?" Sam asked. "Yeah." Dean answered.
"Then maybe it's not murder." Sam concluded as he replaced 'Murder' with 'Suicide'. One article popped up.
"This was 1981. Constance Welch, 24 years old, jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in river." Sam read aloud. "Did it say why she did it?" Dean asked.
"Yeah." Sam said in disbelief of the reason.
"What?" Dean asked looking up at the computer screen.
"An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Her two little kids are in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both die. 'Our babies were gone and Constance couldn't bear it,' said husband, Joseph Welch." Sam read.
Dean looked at the photos. "That bridge look familiar to you?" He asked. Sam only sighed.
"Alright let's go." Dean said as he stood from the chair and turned to Hayden. She had fallen asleep across the chairs. Dean sighed and picked her up as Sam stood from the computer. They then left the library and headed for the bridge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was dark when the boys arrived back at the bridge. The boys left Hayden asleep in the car, while they went to check out the bridge where Constance Welch killed herself.
"So this is where Constance took the swan dive." Dead stayed as he looked over the edge of the bridge.
"So you think Dad would've been here?" Sam asked.
"Well he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." Dean said walking away from the railing.
"Okay so now what?" Sam asked.
"Now we keep digging until we find him. It might take a while." Dean said causing Sam to stop.
"Dean I told you, I gotta be back by-" Dean cut him off.
"Monday. Right. The interview. Yeah, I forgot. You're really serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just gonna become some lawyer? Marry your girl?" Dean said.
"Maybe. Why not?" Sam asked not seeing a problem in Dean's questions. Truth be told, Sam did think about marrying Jessica. He wanted a normal life with her. He wanted a normal job. He wanted to leave the hunter's life for good.
"Does Jessica know the truth? Does she know about the things you've done?" Dean asked.
"No and she's not ever going to know." Sam said. He was determined to keep this life away from Jessica. She was the only thing that was normal for him. She made him feel like living a normal life away from the supernatural was possible.
"Well, that's healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy, but sooner or later you're gonna have to face you to who you really are." Dean said turning away from Sam.
"Yeah. And who's that?" Sam asked approaching Dean.
"One of us." Dean said.
"No, I'm not like you. This didn't gonna be my life." Sam said walking to stand in front of Dean.
"Well, you have a responsibility." Dean said.
"To dad and his crusade? If it weren't for pictures, I wouldn't even know what mom looked like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, mom's gone and she isn't coming back." Sam said.
Angry at Sam's words, dean grabbed him by his jacket and slammed him into the railing. Anger was written in bold letters across his face as he looked at his brother.
"Don't talk about her like that." He said calmly before snatching himself away from Sam. He stepped away and turned to the other side of the bridge seeing something that wasn't there before. The ghost of Constance Welch stood on the railing of the opposite side of the bridge.
Sam wiped the stray tear from his face just before Dean called his name grabbing his attention. He turned towards his brother noticing Constance's ghost on the railing. She turned and looked towards them before stepping over the bridge.
Sam and Dean ran over to where she had jumped.
"Where'd she go?" Dean asked.
"I don't know." Sam replied. The sound of the water crashing was interrupted by the loud noise of Dean's impala starting.
The loud noise woke Hayden from her sleep. Both of the boys stepped away from the railing and turned to the car.
"What the-" Dean said.
"Who's driving your car?" Sam asked before seeing Hayden's small head raise up in the passenger seat. Dean frowned reaching into his pocket and pulled out his keys.
Hayden looked at Sam and Dean seeing Dean holding his keys. She looked towards the driver seat seeing Constance sitting there with her hands at her side.
The brothers watching the car, seeing Hayden stare at the driver seat and she slid back towards the passenger door. The the car launch forwards towards them.
"Hayden's in there." Dean said.
"Dean come on. Dean let's go. Go!" Sam said pulling Dean to run. Having no choice Dean ran with Sam away from the car as it chased them.
"Pwease no hurting Daddy and uncle." Hayden said to Constance as she made the car go faster.
Hayden looked forward seeing Sam and Dean go over the railing. The car then stopped. She quickly looked at Constance seeing her disappear. She quickly opened the door and jumped out the car.
"Daddy? Uncle?" She called. Hearing nothing back, she started to cry.
Sam held onto a loose pipe as he pulled himself up on a ledge. He went to call for Dean when he heard Hayden's cries.
"Hayden! Hayden it's okay! We're okay!" He yelled. Hayden slowly walked towards the railing looking for Sam.
"Uncle Sammy?" She called as she sniffled.
Sam looked down towards the water.
"Dean!" He called. Dean crawled from the water, his body coated in mud.
"What?" He replied before laying on his side. Sam sighed in relief.
"Hey, are you alright?" He asked. Dean showed the 'ok' symbol with his fingers.
"I'm super." He replied. Sam laughed before pulling himself back onto the bridge.
Hayden stood in front of the impala watching as Sam climbed over the railing. He looked to her with a sigh before picking up the crying child.
"Where daddy?" She asked.
"He's ok. He'll be up here in a little bit." He answered.
"That lady was meanie. She hurt you and daddy." Hayden huffed as an angry pout showed on her face.
"The lady?" Sam asked frowning at her.
"The lady in the cloud dwess. She drive daddy car then she disappear." She explained. Sam understood that she was talking about Constance Welch.
"Did you see her?" He asked. Hayden nodded her head. Sam looked away from the child in thought just as Dean made his way back onto the bridge.
Dean walked past the two and to his car lifting the hood. He checked to make sure nothing was wrong, finding that everything was in place. So he closed the hood back.
"Car alright?" Sam asked while picking Hayden up before sitting on the hood.
"Yeah. Whatever she did to it, it's fine now." Dean replied while leaning on the car beside Sam.
"That Constance chick, What A Bitch!" Dean yelled.
"Well she doesn't want us digging around. That's for sure." Sam stated. Dean only sighed.
"So where does the trail go from here, genius?" He asked.
Dean threw his hands up, signaling that he had no clue, before touching mud on his pants. He mad a look of disgust and aggravation before swinging his hands to get the mud off. Sam sniffed and frowned.
"You smell like a toilet." He said turning to Dean. Dean only dropped his head.
"Let's go find a motel." He said.
"Hayden get in." Sam said. Hayden listened, climbed into the car and sat in the middle.
"Dean," Sam called stopping his brother from getting in. "A word please." He said stepping away from the car. Dean closed his door and walked towards the younger Winchester.
"What?" He asked.
"Remember earlier when we were talking to the cops and Hayden said the car was glowing?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. What about it?" Dean replied. "Right here. She led me right here earlier. She said there was a trail of white going from the driver seat of the victim's car to here over the railing." Sam explained.
Dean looked from the car to the railing then back at Sam. "And get this. When Constance just tried to make us road kill, Hayden saw her sitting in the driver seat. She described her as 'the lady in the cloud dress'." Sam added.
"That's why she was scared. She was looking directly at Constance." Dean stated. Both boys looked at Hayden, who was hugging her teddy bear while falling asleep.
"Well lets go to the motel now. We'll figure this out later." Dean said. Sam nodded and the headed back to the car. Once inside, Hayden laid on Sam's lap, going to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"One room please." Dean said tossing a fake credit card on the desk. By now it was light outside, and Dean was covered in dried mud. Hayden was still asleep but now I'm Sam's arms. The owner picked up the card reading. He looked back at the boys before, once again, examining the card that had the name Hector Afranian printed on it.
"You guys having a reunion or something?" He asked the two.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"That other guy, Bert Afranian. He came in and bought out a room for the whole month." The owner replied. The boys shared a look knowing that the Bert Afranian that bought the room for the month was their father, John Winchester.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After getting the room number from the owner, Sam and Dean made their way to the room. Sam picked the lock, successfully unlocking the door, and opened it. Dean held the sleeping Hayden, while be on the look out for anyone. Sam walked into the room looking at the walls in amazement. Noticing Dean wasn't behind him, Sam grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him in before closing the door.
Dean looked around the room, seeing the condition it was in. Sam cleared a section of the bed for Hayden and Dean layed her down before walking back to the table closest to the door. He turned on the lamp, which revealed a burger sitting directly under it. He picked it up giving it a sniff before groaning and turning away from the smell.
"I don't think he's been here for a couple days at least." He said after putting the burger back under the lamp and turning to Sam.
Sam stepped over a line of salt on the floor. He squatted next to it and picked up some of the salt, letting in fall threw his fingers.
"Salt, cat's-eye shells. He was worried. Trying to keep something out." He stated while standing back up.
Dean walked over to the wall which held photos and newspaper clippings of all the victims.
"What do you got there?" Sam asked while approaching him.
"Centennial Highway Victims." Dean answered.
"I don't get it." Dean started as he examined the victims. Sam walked towards the other side of the room to see what else their father had on the walls. "I mean, they're different men, jobs, ages, ethnicities. There's always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?" Dean thought aloud just as Sam's eyes landed the words 'Woman In White' written in black marker on a white piece of paper. He turned on the lamp underneath the article, revealing a photo of a ghostly woman in a white dress that was taped up underneath the article the the brothers found at the library. He scoffed catching Dean's attention.
"Dad figured it out." He said.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked turning to him.
"He found the same article we did. Constance Welch, she's a Woman In White. Or in Hayden's words, "the lady in the cloud dress"." Sam said. Dean turned back and looked at the photos of the victims.
"You sly dogs. So if we're dealing with a woman in white, dad would've found her corpse and destroyed it." He said turning back to Sam.
"She might have another weakness." Sam said.
"No, dad would want to make sure." Dean said approaching Sam to take another look at the article.
"He'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?" He asked.
"No not that I can tell. If I were dad, though, I'd go ask her husband. If he's still alive." Sam said walking to check the other articles on the wall.
"Alright, why don't you see if you can find an address? I'm gonna get cleaned up. Hey wake up Hayden for me too." Dean said and started towards the bathroom.
"Hey Dean," Sam called stopping Dean from going to the bathroom. Dean turned to look at him.
"What I said earlier about mom and dad, I'm sorry." Sam said. Dean put up his hand stopping him from saying anything else.
"No chick-flick moments." He said.
"Alright, jerk." Sam said.
"Bitch." Dean said. Sam chuckled and looked around before noticing a photo hanging on the mirror. He walked to the mirror pulling the photo from it. It was a photo of John and the boys when they were kids. Sam smiled softly at the photo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After finally getting Hayden up, Sam listened to his voicemails from Jessica. He sat on the bed next to Hayden as the voicemail started playing.
"Hey man, I'm starving. I'm gonna grab something to eat at the diner down the street. You want anything?" Dean said exiting the bathroom. He grabbed his jacket, putting it on as he headed to the door.
"No." Sam said still listening to the voicemails.
"Arfamian's buying." Dean said.
"What are you getting Hayden?" Sam asked.
"She eat whatever I have. She loves fries, so I'll get her those and probably another juice from the gas station." Dean said with a shrug. Hayden got off the bed and walked to Dean.
"Daddy, I go too?" She asked. Dean squatted to her level.
"No no. Stay here with Sammy. I'll be back in a little while. Promise." He said.
"Okay." Hayden replied. Dean then place a small kiss on her forehead before standing back up and walking out the door. To be honest, Dean was enjoying being Hayden's new dad. Of course he still has his worries about raising her in his lifestyle but all in all, he was glad that he saved her and brought her into his life. The child has grown on him and rather quickly too.
Hayden went to the window to watch Dean leave. Dean walked down the stairs adjusting his jacket. He looked around the parking lot and stopped seeing the officers from the crime scene talking to the owner of the motel. Then the owner pointed at him. Dean quickly turned his back to the approaching officers and pulled out his phone, calling Sam.
"What?" Sam answered.
"Dude. Five-O. Get Hayden and take off." Dean said.
"What about you?" Sam asked.
"Uh, they kinda spotted me. Go find dad." Dean said before quickly hanging up.
"Uncle Sammy. Is daddy in trouble?" Hayden asked. Sam turned to her seeing she was in the window. He quickly grabbed her before anyone could see them.
"Hayden we have to leave. Now." He said holding her by her shoulders.
"But daddy..." She said.
"Don't worry, he'll be okay. I promise. But we have to go or those cops will take you away from us." He said.
"Okay, Uncle Sammy." She said.
Sam stood up and looked out the window seeing one of the officers approaching the room. He quickly grabbed Hayden and escaped the room before the cop got there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean sat at the table in the interrogation room of the county's police station.
"So you wanna give us your real name?" The sheriff asked as he entered the room with a file box. Dean's eyes followed him.
"I told you. It Nugent, Ted Nugent." He said. The sheriff sat the box on the table.
"I'm not sure you realize just how much trouble you're in here." He said.
"We're talking like misdemeanor kind of trouble or 'squeal like a pig' kinda trouble?" Dean asked.
"For starters, You got the faces of 10 missing persons tapped to your wall, along with some satanic mumbo jumbo. Boy, you are officially a suspect." The sheriff said.
"That makes sense cause when the first one was killed in '82, I was 3." Dean argued.
"I know you got partners. One of them's an older guy. Maybe he started the whole thing," He said digging into the box he brought in.
"So tell me Dean," He continued before tossing John Winchester's journal on the table in front of Dean, "is this his?" He asked.
He walked over to Dean and opened the book.
LI thought that might be your name." He said flipping through the pages.
"See, I leaned through this, what little I could make out. I mean it's nine kinds of crazy. But I found this too." He said. He had stopped at a page the read 'Dean 35-111' in black marker and slid the book closer to Dean.
"Now, you're staying right here until you tell me exactly what that means." He said. Dean looked down at the book before looking back at the sheriff.
"While we're at it, one of my deputies recognized the kid you had from a poster. She's been reported missing for over a month now a couple states over. Wanna tell me where she is?" The sheriff asked.
Dean's gaze on the man only hardened at the mention of Hayden. He said nothing and turned his eyes back to his father's journal.
"Don't worry Dean. You don't have to answer me now. We got all night." The sheriff said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joseph Welch opened his front door, seeing Sam and Hayden on the other side of it.
"Hi. Are you Joseph Welch?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." He responded.
"You don't mind if I ask you a few questions, do you?" Sam asked.
Joseph complied and stepped outside of his home.
"I was actually wondering if you'd seen this man." Sam said showing Joseph the photo of John with himself and Dean.
"Yeah. He was a bit older but that's him. He came by three or four days ago. Said he was a reporter." He replied as the walked.
Hayden stared curiously at Joseph. Something seemed wrong. He seemed guilty about something but she didn't know what it was (being too young to understand).
"That's right. We're working on a story together." Sam said.
"Well I don't know what type of story you're working on, the questions he asked me." He said.
"About your late wife Constance." Sam said.
"He asked me where she was buried." Joseph said stopped to look at Sam.
"And where was that again?" He asked.
"I gotta go through this twice." Joseph said.
"It's just fact checking, if you don't mind." Sam replied.
"In a plot, back at my old place on Breckenridge." Joseph answered.
"Why did you move?" Sam asked.
Hayden stayed by his side, holding her teddy bear.
"I'm not gonna stay in the house where my children died." Joseph replied.
"Mr. Welch did you ever marry again?" Sam asked standing in front of him.
"No way. Constance, she was the love of my life. The prettiest woman I'd ever known." He replied.
"So you had a happy marriage?" Sam questioned.
"Definitely." Joseph said.
"Well that should do it. Thanks for you time." Sam said and started to walk away.
He stopped and looked down at Hayden as she tugged in his pants leg.
"He feels bad of something, uncle Sammy. I feel it." She said.
Sam stayed still as looked at the child, thinking, before turning back to Joseph.
"Mr. Welch you ever hear of a woman in white?" Sam asked making Joseph Welch turn back to him and shake his head.
"It's a ghost story. Well, it's more of a phenomenon really. They're spirits. They've been sighted for hundreds of years. Dozens of places, in Hawaii and Mexico, lately in Arizona and Indiana. All of these are different women, but all share the same story." Sam started as he approached Joseph.
"Boy, I don't care much for nonsense." Joseph said and started to walk away but was stopped again by Sam's voice.
"You see, when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them and these women, basically suffering from temporary insanity, murdered their children. Once they realized what they'd done, they took their own lives. So their spirits are cursed, walking backroads or waterways. And if they find an unfaithful man, they kill him and that man is never seen again." Sam finished.
Joseph was now shaking in anger.
"You think that has something to do with Constance, you smartass?" He asked.
"You tell me." Sam said.
"I mean, maybe I made some mistakes but no matter what I did, Constance never would've killed her own children. Now you get the hell outta here, and you don't come back." Joseph said before he stormed away from Sam.
Sam turned back to Hayden, seeing the child was still in the spot he'd left her, and walked to her grabbing her hand as they left.
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"How many times do I have to tell you. It's my high school locker combination." Dean said.
"Are we gonna do this all night long?" The officer asked.
"We just got a 911. Shots fired, over on Whiteford road." The deputy said peaking his head into the room.
"You have to go to the bathroom?" The sheriff asked Dean.
"No." Dean replied.
"Good." He said cuffing Dean to the table and exiting the room.
Dean looked back to John's journal seeing a paper clip sticking out. Easy escape.
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Sam road in the impala with Hayden in the back seat.
"Uncle Sammy, I want juice." She said.
"Hayden you have to wait a bit." He said.
"No! Juice now!" She whined.
"Hayden, not now." He said.
Hayden started to whine louder. Sam's phone rang signaling that Dean was calling.
"Fake 911 call Sammy. I don't know but that's pretty illegal." Dean said into the phone.
"You're welcome." Same said.
"Is that Hayden?" He asked hearing the child crying and whining loudly.
"She's been crying for juice for the past 10 minutes." Sam said with a heavy sigh.
"Give her the phone quickly." Dean said with a sigh.
Sam pulled over and reached back to hand the phone to Hayden. "It's Dean, Hayden. He wants to talk to you." He said.
"Hello?" She said putting the phone on her ear weirdly.
"What's wrong Princess?" He asked.
"I want juice and Uncle Sammy is mean. I thirsty." She said.
"What happened to your cup?" He asked.
"I lost it when we left the room." She pouted.
"It's alright. You just have to wait a little. I'll get you a new one and your favorite juice when this is done, okay? I promise." He said.
"Okay." Hayden replied.
"Give the phone back to Sam. I'll meet you guys later." He said.
Hayden held the phone out to Sam, who grabbed it putting it to his ear, surprised as Hayden sat back in her seat quietly. He then proceeded to drive down the road.
"How'd you do that?" He asked.
"I have a special charm." Dean chuckled before getting serious.
"Listen we gotta talk." Dean said.
"Tell me about it. So the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a woman in white. She's buried in a plot behind their old house. So that should've been dad's next stop." Sam said.
"Sammy would you shut up for a second." Dean said.
"I just don't understand why dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet." Sam continued.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you. He's gone. Dad left Jericho." Dean said quickly before Sam could say anything else.
"What? How do you know?" Sam asked.
"I've got his journal." Dean said.
"He doesn't go anywhere without that thing." Sam stated.
"Yeah well he did this time." Dean replied.
"What's it say?" Sam asked.
"Same old ex marine crap when he wants to let us know where he's going." Dean said.
"Coordinates. Where to?" Sam corrected.
"I'm not sure yet. Not to mention that someone reported Hayden missing." Dean said.
"Dean what the hell is going on?" Sam asked.
Before Dean could answer, all he heard was tires screeching, a child's scream and Sam yelling "Woah!"
"Hayden! Sam!" He yelled into the phone getting no reply.
Then the call cut.
Sam looked up gasping for air, trying to calm the panic. He could hear Hayden whimpering in the back seat. He looked to see if she was okay only to find Constance Welch sitting next to her, stroking her hair.
"Take me home." She said holding her glare on him.
Sam looked at Hayden. Her eyes were flooded with tears and her terror was easily spotted. Sam didn't move the impala.
"Take me home." Constance repeated.
"No." Sam said boldly.
Constance then locked all the doors to the impala and used her ghost energy to put pressure on the gas petal making the car move.
"Uncle Sammy." Hayden cried. Sam looked to the child who was silently crying.
"Hayden, it's alright. Just close your eyes, okay?" He said.
Hayden nodded and did as told. She clutched her teddy bear as tightly as she could. Constance was still stroking her hair sending shivers of terror through the 4 year old's body.
Sam then proceeded to try and get the doors to open but Constance had them trapped as she forced them towards her home.
Approaching the old abandoned house, Constance stopped the car. Hayden then opened her eyes looking at the ghost.
"Don't do this." Sam said.
"I can never go home." She said.
"You're scared to go home." Sam stated.
He turned to face her but she had disappeared. Hayden turned to Sam.
"Hayden, do you see her?" Sam asked.
Before she could respond, she went flying out of the car through the back window.
She landed with a thud, small shards of glass in bedding themselves into the child. The impact knocking her out instantly.
"Hayden!" Sam yelled. However, Constance stopped him from getting out as she appeared in his lap.
"You can't kill me. I've never been unfaithful." Sam said.
"You will be." Constance said before smashing her lips against his.
As she kissed him, Sam struggled to reach the key that was still in the ignition. Constance suddenly pull away and disappeared once again.
Sam suddenly felt an unbearable pain in his chest causing him to scream out in pain. Opening his jacket, he saw five finger holes over his heart. In flashes, Constance appeared and disappeared.
Dean ran towards his car as fired his gun at Constance, making her disappear before she had a chance to kill Sam.
Sam quickly sat up and started the impala.
"I'm taking you home." He said before driving the impala through the front door.
"Sam!" Dean yelled before running inside. He was so focused on Sam and killing Constance, that he hadn't noticed to broken back window.
"Sam!" Dean called.
"Here!" Sam yelled back.
"You okay?" Dean asked
"Yeah. I think." Sam answered as Dean opened the passenger door.
"Can you move?" He asked.
"Yeah. Help me." Sam said grabbing Dean's hand.
Dean then pulled his brother out of his car through the passenger side.
He then turned back to the car seeing it empty and thought Hayden was hiding in the floor.
He turned to Sam as they both leaned against the car.
The boys then made eye contact with the now very angry spirit of Constance Welch.
She used her ghost energy to pin them between a dresser and the impala. However before she could kill them, running water could be heard throughout the silent house.
Constance, who's face now showed pain and sadness, went over to the staircase. At the top of the stairs stood the ghost of her two children that she drowned in the bathtub.
In a flash the two were down the stairs and now hugging Constance. Screaming, Constance melted with her two children into the floor, no longer able to hunt or kill anyone.
The two brothers shoved the chest off of their lower halves and walked to the spot where Constance's children had taken her. There rest and small puddle of water.
"So this is where she drowned her kids." Dean said.
"That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them." Sam said.
"You found her weak spot. Good work Sammy." Dean said. He then slapped his hand over the spot on Sam's chest that Constance had injured before walking to his car.
Sam laughed out his pain. "I wish I could say the same for you. What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?" He said turning to Dean.
Dean looked at him. "Hey! Saved your ass." He said. Then he went to inspect his car. "And I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car, I'll kill you." He said.
Dean's eyes wondered the car as Sam chuckled. Sam's face became serious once he looked at the back window.
"Sam where's Hayden?" Dean asked spotting her bear on the seat and the giant hole in his back window.
Sam quickly ran out onto the front yard. Dean followed him. Their eyes darted around the dark dusty area until Dean spotted a small body, motionless on the ground near the road.
"Hayden!" He yelled running towards her.
Reaching her in a second, he got down onto the ground checking to see if she was alive. Both boys noticed her small chest rise and fall slowly, signaling them that she was still alive just unconscious.
After about a couple more seconds, her eyes opened. "Daddy?" She asked. "Hayden? Are you okay?" Dean asked.
"My arm hurts." She said. A couple tears fell from his eyes. Both boys looked at her arm seeing about four small pieces of glass sticking out. Luckily, it was nothing too serious.
"It's going to be alright Hayden." Sam said.
Dean looked at his brother. "What happened?" He asked standing up with her in his arms.
"Constance threw her out the window before she attacked me." Sam said. His head hung low.
Dean sighed. "It wasn't your fault. Let's just get her patched up before these cuts get infected." He said walking to his car.
Sam nodded and followed. Even though Dean didn't blame him, he still felt responsible. Like he could've done something, anything to prevent the child from being hurt.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Dean had pulled the glass from her arm and bandages it, much to the child's loud protests. Dean then looked at the child seriously.
"Hayden..." he cut himself off. He couldn't tell her that he wasn't gonna be able to care for her anymore. He couldn't tell her that he was gonna have to leave her because he hunts dangerous things and she had gotten hurt because of it. So he thought of the most basic thing to say to her.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Is the mean lady gone now?" She asked.
Dean nodded.
"I'm okay then." She said but then frowned as an unknowing feeling engulfed her body. It was the same feeling that she had gotten when Sam talked with Joseph Welch.
She stared at Dean holding her frown.
"Why you're feel bad Daddy?" She said catching both brothers' attention.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked now very confused.
"I feel it. You feel bad of something. Like with Mr. Wesh, Uncle Sammy." She said.
"Sam what's she talking about?" Dean asked looking at his brother.
"That's how I found out he was unfaithful. Hayden felt his guilt." He said.
"You felt his guilt?" Dean asked her.
"When he talk about the lady in the cloud dress, he feel bad of something. Now I feel bad of something from you Daddy." She said.
"It's alright Hayden. I didn't do anything bad. I just feel like I should protect you more. I mean you got hurt." Dean said.
Hayden blinked at him as she started to feel his sadness.
"I'm okay. It's not hurt anymore. Please don feel sad." She said.
Dean sighed and hugged the child. He felt a high sense of responsibility over the child as he did over his brother. Of course he blamed himself for her getting hurt.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
That night Dean and Hayden were driving Sam back to his apartment at Stanford University with one surviving headlight.
Sam sat in the passenger seat mapping out the coordinates that John has left for Dean. Hayden sat in the back watching the two brothers communicate.
"Okay. Here's where dad went." Sam said grabbing Dean's undivided attention.
"It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado." He said.
"Sound charming. How far?" Dean replied.
"About 600 miles." Sam answered.
"If we shag ass, we can make it by morning." Dean said hoping that Sam would stay with him.
Sam froze slightly as he looked up at his brother.
"Dean umm..." Sam started trying to find the right words.
"You're not going?" Dean asked.
"The interview is in like 10 hours. I gotta be there." He replied.
Hayden suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and disappointment, but also a little bit of relief. She sat there confused as she didn't really know what disappointment and relief felt like.
"Yeah. Whatever. I'll take you home." Dean said focusing his eyes on the road.
"Daddy I feel funny." Hayden pouted.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I don know. I don know these feelings." She frowned.
"It's alright Hayden. Just try to push them away. Don't pay attention to them, okay?" Sam said.
"Okay." She said.
"Lay Down and get some sleep. It's past bed time." Dean said looking at the child through his rear view mirror.
She nodded and laid across the seat, hugging her blanket and using her teddy bear as a pillow.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
Dean parked in front of Sam's apartment and Sam got out anxious to see his girlfriend.
He bent over looking in the window at his brother.
"You'll call me when you find him?" He asked. Dean nodded. He was sad. He wanted Sam to stay with him but at the same time, he didn't.
"Maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?" He asked.
"Yeah. Alright." Dean replied.
Sam looked in the back at Hayden's sleeping figure.
"You don't have to worry about keeping her. If she's something supernatural, there's no way she can have a normal life." Dean said noticing Sam's look.
"She's a good kid Dean. I know you'll look after her." Sam said.
Dean nodded at his brother. Sam turned away, heading to his door as dean started the impala back up
"Sam!" Dean called making Sam stop and turn to look at him.
"We made a hell of a team back there." He said.
Sam nodded giving a small smile. "Yeah." He replied nodding at his older brother.
Dean turned back to the road and drove away.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
Sam walked into his quiet apartment.
"Jess?! You Home?!" Sam called into the darkness.
He entered his bed room and instantly noticed the bathroom door was ajar and the shower could be heard.
Smiling to himself, he flopped onto his bed. As he laid there on his back, something wet started dripping on his forehead. He ignore the first drop. However the next three caused him to open his eyes in confusion and they landed on something horrifying.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
Dean has parked a little way from the apartment. Something was bothering him and telling him 'DANGER!'.
Hayden shot up in the backseat alerting Dean immediately.
"Daddy! Uncle Sammy in trouble!" She panicked.
"Hayden! Stay Here!" Dean ordered as he rushed out of the car and into Sam's apartment.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
Sam quickly pushed himself up onto his elbows not believing his eyes.
Jessica was pinned to the ceiling. Her stomach cut open. Her eyes and mouth wide in fear.
"Jess! No!" He yelled as a fire erupted between her body and the ceiling. The entire room was quickly lit with flames.
"Jess!" Sam cried as Dean burst into the room. Dean looked up seeing Jessica in a position he'd never forget. Quickly he snatched Sam off the bed and forced him out of the building as Sam cried for Jessica.
The flames engulfed her body. The boys exited the building with an explosion not far behind.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
The fire department arrived and the whole neighborhood surrounded the building that was now flameless.
Dean turned away from the crowd and walked over to Sam, who was loading guns in the trunk. Hayden stood next to him, feeling all of his sadness.
Dean watched his brother and Sam looked up from the shotgun to meet his eye. Dean saw that his brother was broken and didn't know what to say as tears fled Sam's eyes.
He sighed and threw the shotgun back into the trunk.
"We got work to do." He said angrily as he shut the trunk.
Before the two could walk away from the trunk, Hayden grabbed Sam's hand with both of her small ones. Feeling the strange sense of calm overwhelm his body, he turned and frowned down at the child, who only returned his look with her big innocent eyes. Then she let go.
"Hayden what did you just do?" He asked squatting down to her level.
"What do you mean? What just happened?" Dean asked.
"You sad. I don like to see you sad." She said.
Dean stood next to his brother, who squatted down to eye level with the child.
"Hayden, what did you just do?" He repeated.
"I made you not sad. You're sad about the lady on your wall. I don like you to be sad. So I made you not sad." She explained.
"Sam?" Dean asked seeing as he was still a little confused.
Sam stood up and turned to his brother.
"Has she done this before? Made people's sadness go away?" He asked.
Dean shrugged.
"Let me try again. Have you ever just suddenly felt calm around her?" He rephrased.
"No. I haven't. What just happened?" He asked.
"She grabbed my hand and I felt instantly calm. Like all my sadness about Jess and what just happened disappeared and I felt fine again... like it didn't happen." He explained.
The two boys looked at the child who stared back at them.
"I sorry. I don like people sad. I was sad lots. I don like it." She said.
Dean picked her up.
"Hey it's alright. You didn't do anything bad. Okay? Just next time, ask us if you can do that. We don't want everyone to know. Okay?" He said.
"Okay."
And with that, the three got into the impala and drive away on a new adventure.
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The group stopped at a gas station. Sam stood at the pump with Dean, thinking back to Hayden's words. Something sticking out boldly. He turned to his brother.
"You didn't tell Hayden about Jess, did you?" He asked.
Dean frowned. "No. Why would I?" He responded.
"How'd she know Jess was on the wall?" He asked.
"What?" Dean asked.
"She told me that she made me feel calm because I was sad about the lady on my wall. How'd she know Jess was on the wall?" Sam stated.
Dean thought for a second before sighing.
"The same way she knew that you were in danger. I think maybe she saw it in her dream. She's had dreams like that before." Dean said.
"I'm going to ask her." Sam said before getting in the back seat with Hayden.
Hayden looked up at Sam from the picture she was drawing.
"Hi Uncle Sammy." She said smiling brightly.
Sam smiled back. "Hi Hayden. What are you up to back here?" He asked.
"Drawing." She responded as she returned to her picture.
"Mind if I ask you a question?" He asked.
"No." She said.
"How did you know? About the lady on my wall?" He asked.
"I saw her. I saw eveything." She said.
"You saw everything? Did you see how she got there?" He asked.
"Yes. A man in a black coat put her there. His eyes were scary. They were the sun color. He use magic. Like this." She said. Hayden held her hand out and slowly raised it up to the ceiling of the car.
"Is that all you saw?" He asked.
"Yes." She said them handed him the picture she was drawing.
In the picture was a man with black smoke all around him and his eyes were colored yellow.
"It was that man." She said.