The Winchester Girl ( a story of Dean and Sam's little sister)

Camping

WARNING: I made Ben WAY out of character and I imagine him looking a bit different than the actor in the show that played him!

They stayed at Stanford for a week and found no trace of the monster that killed Jessica or, possibly, their dad. Ever since Jessica died, nightmares plagued Sam. Each one worse than the last. Piper had been staying up late researching, meaning she couldn't sleep by Sam so he wouldn't have any nightmares, but she did comfort him afterwards. But the nightmares were getting worse. At first it was just the memory of Jess dying replaying over and over in his head. Then they got worse. Images of an undead Jessica asking him over and over again: "Why? Why didn't you protect me?" He had thought that that dream was THE worst dream and that they couldn't possibly get any more terrifying, until he started dreaming about Piper dying. After Jessica died he had become worried. His mother and Jessica had died the exact same way. What if Piper was next? If he couldn't protect Jessica, then how was he supposed to protect his little sister who was constantly taking risks and putting her neck on the line so that others didn't have to? He knew that she could protect herself, but what ever did this was powerful.
This time he dreamed of him standing over two graves. One grave had Jessica's name on it decorated with items that her friends and family had left and the other had Piper's name on it with a giant stuffed Panda (Piper's favorite animal) wearing an Ac/DC tee shirt obviously from Dean, Piper's favorite book: 'Alice in Wonderland' from Bobby, and a framed picture of her from John. His dream self had two bouquets in his hand one had many different kinds of flowers, that one was for Jess. The other bouquet was a collaboration of different colored tulips, Piper's favorite. She had always said that roses were dumb, that although they represented love, they represented love that would be short lived and die quickly. She also said that they reminded her of her mother, who also loved tulips. He tried to say a few words, but he choked up and he honestly couldn't think of anything to say. The two women he cared the most about in the whole world were dead and it was his fault. It was too much to bare. He knelt to put the flowers down. Suddenly, a came from the ground and grabbed his wrist, but before it could drag him under, he woke up, shaken and covered with sweat. He quickly turned around to check on Piper, who was sleeping soundly in the backseat.
He sighed in relief before sinking back into his seat, still unnerved from the previous nightmare. Dean glanced at him. He knew Sam had to be holding back a lot of emotion and he knew that it was unhealthy. Sam had also been very clingy lately, especially towards Piper. He seemed to think that if she left for five minutes to go to the bathroom, he'd open the door to find her lying dead on the ceiling. Dean just didn't know what to do and he hated it. Piper and Sam had always been the more sensitive ones in the group, which helped a lot in their line of work, because of all the people they deal with. Piper usually dealt with mom's and people 18 years or younger, while Sam usually handled the men and some of the younger boys. Dean and John weren't as good with the emotions as they were. " You okay?" Sam nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine." Dean wasn't convinced, "Another nightmare?" Piper's eye started to flutter open.
Dean looked at Sam, " You wanna drive for a while?" Sam shook his head, "No." Piper sat up and stretched her arms, "Dean Winchester is actually letting someone else drive his car? I must still be dreaming." Dean chuckled, " Love you too, sis."
Piper gave Sam a small, soft smile, "How'd you sleep, Sammy? Were you okay without me with you? Do I snore or something? Is that why you said you didn't want to stay back here with me?" Sam ruffled her hair waving off her concern, "You didn't do anything, I just thought you'd need more room. It was true, the backseat had become to small for both Sam and Piper to sleep back their comfortably. Piper frowned, " You had nightmares again didn't you?" Sam shrugged it off, "Only a few, no big deal." Piper didn't believe that for a second, but she let it slide. Dean sighed, "You're sure that you don't want to drive?" Sam shook his head, "Look guys, I know you're worried about me and I appreciate it, but I'm fine. Alright, where are we?" Sam picked up the map. Dean glanced at him, "We are just outside of grand junction." Sam sighed, "Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon ."
Piper held back a groan. Sam kept bringing it up, saying that their must have been something they missed, that they should've stayed longer, but they needed to move on and figure out where their dad was. "Sam, we stayed there for a week and we didn't find anything. And the sooner we find dad, the sooner we find Jessica's killer. If we had waited any longer, the cops would've found and arrested you and Dean and put me in a foster home." Sam raised an eyebrow at Dean, he still hadn't heard the full story on what happened when Dean got arrested. Dean sighed and glared at the road, "They got this crazy idea in their heads, that I had 'mistreated' our baby sister and that I didn't know how to take care of her properly."
Sam winced, that must have been hard for Dean to hear. Dean had taken care of and provided for both of his younger siblings since he was four years old. He was and still is more like a father to Piper than John ever was. Situations like these were one of the reasons Piper was being homeschooled by either her brothers or the Internet. Whenever a teacher or guidance counselor heard that Piper didn't have a mom or that she lived in a motel room with three guys or saw a bruise or scar left over from a hunt they would freak out and investigate their family assuming that there must be something wrong with them and they would try to take Piper away from them. Sam felt kind of bad because he had told Dean a few times that he wasn't good for Piper, even though he knew that wasn't true. He'd blamed Dean for Piper's involvement in the supernatural world. He shook his head and focused on the map, "This is weird, guys. The coordinated he left us, this Blackwater Ridge." "Yeah what about it?" Sam shook his head, "There's nothing there. It's just woods. Why's he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" Piper put her hair up in a ponytail, "Maybe he's hunting some sort of monster there." Sam nodded. What other explanation could their be?
They drove up to the ranger station. Piper and Sam were looking at a map while Dean looked at the pictures on the wall. "So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote," explains Sam, "it's cut off of by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place-" Dean cut him off, "Dude look at the size of this freakin' bear." Piper let out an exasperated sigh, "Dean, focus. I swear you have the attention span of a gold fish sometimes." Sam walked over and looked at the picture before finishing his sentence, "And a dozen or more grizzly's in the area, it's no nature hike that's for sure." Ranger walked up to them, having overheard their conversation, "You boys aren't planning on going out by Blackwater Ridge by any chance, are you?", he asked. Piper clearer her throat, "What am I, chopped liver?" The ranger looked at her apologetically, "Sorry miss, didn't see you there." She nodded," All is forgiven." Sam quickly fed him a lie, "Oh, no sir, we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, we're researching for a paper." Piper nodded and Dean raised his fist, "Recycle man." She elbowed Dean.
The officer wasn't buying it, "Bull. You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" Piper took control, she was the best actor and she often pretended to know victims and friends or family of the victims, this was no different. "Yes, sir, we are. She's a good friend of ours. Isn't there any new information you can share with us?" She honestly didn't know how much sense her words made, but judging from the look on the man's face, she hit pretty close to home. "Well I'll tell you what I told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back until the 21st, so that's not exactly a missing persons is it? Tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother is just fine." Piper nodded, "Yes sir, we will. Haley's a real firecracker, ain't she?" "That's putting it mildly." Piper nodded, looking worried, "She's been a worried wreck ever since he left, you know with all the bears and all the confusing twist and turns in those parts. I think it would help ease her mind if we could show her that permit. If it's no trouble." She gave him her best puppy dog eyes and he melted under her gaze, his pity being too much for him. He nodded, "Sure thing, little miss. It's no trouble at all. I hope it'll give your friend some peace of mind."
The trio walked out of the station. Dean patted Piper on the back, "Piper, I hope you never out grow those puppy dog eyes. Good job, squirt." She shrugged, "I think it was more so my politeness, gender, and age that won him over. People tend to trust people more if you seem innocent or vulnerable. That's why I'm usually the one people open up to. You two are too buff looking to pull off vulnerable." Sam wasn't impressed, "Are you looking for a new BFF or something?" She looked at him, confused and hurt, "What are you talking about, Sam?" Dean didn't like the way Sam was talking to his sister, like she was some kind of idiot teenager, "Yeah, what's with the attitude? She did great in there. That guy was practically putty in her hands."
Sam didn't mean to be so harsh to his sister. He just felt like this was a waste of time. He wanted to find Jessica's killer and make sure that this creature wasn't going to come after his sister. The image of Piper pinned to the ceiling had been haunting his dreams and he just couldn't bare loosing his baby sister, not if he could help it. "The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge. So what are we waiting for? Why even bother talking to this girl?" They stopped by the Impala. Piper glared at her brother, "What if her brother is in trouble? What if he dies? Can you seriously look me in the eye and tell me that you can just let that happen without even trying to help? I can't. You two mean the world to me and her brother obviously means a lot to her. I'm not going to standby and let an innocent girl's heart break. I can't." The last part sounded more like a plead. She knew she overreacted a little. But she was very sensitive, and she was very attached to her family and she couldn't help but relate to this Haley girl. Dean rubbed her shoulder, "And maybe we should figure out what we're walking into before we actually walk into it." There was a pause as Dean watched Sam wearily. Sam looked at him, "What?" "Since when are you all "shoot first ask questions later?" Sam glared, "Since now." He got into the car as Dean and Piper followed the suit.
Piper sighed, she knew something else had to be bothering him besides Jessica's death, she just couldn't put her finger on it.
The permit contained the address Haley and her brothers lived at along with contact information and their full names. They knocked her door and a young girl with shoulder length, curly, dark hair and blue eyes opened the door looking cautious. Dean grinned, "Hello, you must be Haley. I'm Dean and this is Sam we're, ah, rangers with the Park Service and this is Piper she's kinda of like our intern. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. We're here to ask you a few questions about your brother Tommy. Haley hesitates, "Let me see some ID." They showed her their fake IDs and she let them come in, but not before complimenting Dean about his car, which made Dean smile a bit.
A boy about Piper's age sat at the kitchen table on his laptop. Haley introduced the trio to him, "Ben, this is Sam, Dean, and Piper. They're rangers that were sent to investigate Tommy's possible disappearance." Ben looked up at them and his eyes widened when he saw Piper. Piper was actually rather pretty for a girl her age and it made him kind of shy. It wasn't that she wore a lot of makeup or expensive clothes. It was in her blood. Winchesters were always recognized for their good looks. Haley couldn't help but smile a little despite her bad mood. Her brother didn't hang around a lot of girls and this must be why. It was so cute, it was almost unbearable.
Piper didn't really seem to notice. She wasn't boy crazy like most girls her age, she always told herself not to date so she wouldn't have to cause or receive any heartbreak. She wasn't very used to seeing boys her age, though and she had to admit that he was a little cute, but she was never the kind of person to focus on looks. The two teens listened intently to the conversation, while glancing at each other awkwardly like they both wanted to say something, but they didn't want to be rude and interrupt the adult's conversation. Piper's look was curious and friendly, while Ben's look was one of pure puppy love, a small crush, but he was also kind of depressed because of his missing brother.
Both of the Winchester brothers noticed the way Ben looked at their sister but decided to ignore it at the moment, they weren't too worried. Piper wasn't really the type to pursue a relationship, after all. Ben only talked once to defend his brother, but other than that he stayed quiet. Piper didn't say anything, she was just overcome with shyness and she didn't know why. When it was time to go the Winchesters boys wasted no time in leaving, though Piper offered a small wave and a polite goodbye, before leaving trying to hide her red face.
As the Winchesters headed towards the car, Dean couldn't help but tease her a little bit. He was usually very protective of Piper and he was a little worried because she really hadn't noticed boys all that much until now but he knew that Ben wasn't a bad kid and he knew that they wouldn't stay long enough for anything more than a friendship or crush to form. "So Pipes, is that your new boyfriend?" She blushed, "Shut up, Dean. You and I both know the consequences a relationship could have in our line of work and I'd have to know him for at least a month before I even consider dating him. And I take hunting very seriously and I can't afford distractions." Dean grinned, "Yeah, whatever, small fry." Piper shook her head as they all climbed into the car to go do some more research until nightfall.
When night actually came they went to the bar to compare notes. Piper always stayed with her brother at bars and she never drank and she wouldn't want to even if it was legal for her. She hated being weak and vulnerable and underestimated because she knew she wasn't weak and she knew that being drunk would make her weak and vulnerable and she didn't want anything bad to happen to her because of something so stupid. But that wouldn't stop old drunks from approaching her, so she made sure her brothers were always near her so there wasn't any trouble. They sat down at a table. Sam spoke first, "So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April 2 campers went missing out there. They were never found." Sam opens up his dad's journal. Dean nodded, "Any before that?" This time Piper took over and pulled out some news articles, "Yep, in 1982 eight completely different people disappeared, all in the same year. The authorities said that it was a grizzly like they always do when there's a murder in the woods no one can explain." Sam pulled out his laptop.
Piper didn't use computers for most of her researching, because she wasn't very skilled with computers and you never knew which website was good and which was completely bogus. Sam decided that he would take over the Internet researching for Piper since he was better at it and although he liked to read, he found it easier to just type in what he wants in the search bar than flipping through pages and looking at tables of contents. He pulled up a page with Tommy's video on it.
Sam continued listing dates of disappearances, "And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936. Every 23 years. Just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded Tommy's video to my laptop. Check this out." Sam plays the video for three frames and a shadow flashes across the screen. Dean and Piper both lean forward to get a better look. Dean motioned to Sam, "Do it again." Sam plays it again, but much slower. The most they can make out is the outline of a huge hand or claw, "That's 3 frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever this thing is, it can move." Dean hit Sam on the arm, "Told you something weird is going on." Sam nods, "Yeah," he closes the laptop. Piper passes them another news article, " I found something else too. In '59, someone survived the attack from the 'grizzly'. A kid. Poor thing was barley able to crawl out of those woods alive." She shook her head, trying to get the image of a poor, dirty, newly orphaned boy wandering in the woods out of her head. Dean looks at the article, "Is there a name?"