The Joys of Being a Winchester

Prologue

The state of any motel room was never anything to brag about, but the quality delivered at the Night Cap Motel's Room 8 was surprising. That was, until the walls were lined with papers and string, the floor littered with glass and the stench of alcohol was brewing in the air. That's usually what happened when the Winchesters came into town. This week the family was dealing with a possible vampire nest, father John Winchester deciding he should check it out after hearing of some strange murders.

He of course brought along his children; a 24 year old Dean, a 20 year old Sam and his only daughter Jayde at 12 years old.

John had sent his two sons to investigate the strip club in which the vamps were said to be stalking their prey whilst he refuged in the motel with several bottles of beer and chores to do. He of course didn't do the little he had to do, dumping them on the daughter he never really cared for.

Jayde did all of the work without complaint until she remembered Dean said something about cleaning out the guns. She wasn't scared of the guns themselves - no hunter could have such fear - but she was terrified of what her father would do to her. Pushing the thought aside Jayde sat on the bed and picked up a small handgun, unloaded and quite dirty. She was admiring the engravings with deep intent when the man woke from his drunken sleep. He snorted and took his head of the desk, bleary eyes resting on the young girl and realising she was holding one of his guns.

"What do you think you're doing?" John hadn't yelled but kept his voice in a calm rage, the tone in which only a parent knows how to do. Jayde turned to see him, eyes wide with shock and terror.

"I was going to clean the guns like Dean asked you to..." but her small mumbles were deafened by the harsh sound of the chair legs being grinded against the wooden floor. Stepping over a shattered beer bottle John approached the girl who had dropped the gun and was now beginning to shake slightly, but took a breath and stood up. She looked him deep in the eyes and spoke in a clearer, more confident voice.

"Seeing as how you're not going to do it."

The impact was so sudden that Jayde fell onto her hands and knees only to press her palms against shattered glass fragments. Her cheek stung from where he father had slapped her but she refused to cry, simply getting back up and ignoring the searing pain and blood flowing freely from her hands; she had dealt with worse.

She stood to see the man's face twisted in contorted rage, but Jayde didn't care. She was done being her dad's bitch.

"Why are you getting back up? Disrespected dirt like you should be on the ground!" John pushed hard against Jayde's chest, swaying her towards the wall and shoving her against it with a rock-hard force. Jayde felt her airways tighten when his arm started pressing against her throat.

"If only those boys would let you out on a hunt; you'd be dead in a second and no longer my problem. For now however, this'll be just fine." And with that John pulled Jayde off the wall so he was now standing behind her, releasing his arm from her throat only to push her forward and kick her in the middle of her back, sending her towards the ground and into more glass. Jayde's eyes still refused to water as she looked up to stare at her father once more, choosing to wear a cold and serious face despite the massive amount of pain she was feeling. She refused to allow her father the satisfaction of winning.

John moved to kick her twice more in the sides until finally sitting on the bed and grabbing his gun. He picked up the small brush used to clean the barrel and absent-mindedly began to rub away the grime. He stared at the gun as Jayde silently crawled to the bathroom, trying to refrain from moaning in pain when she heard the monster speak behind her.

"Let's keep this to ourselves shall we?"

***

Jayde was doing the best she could not to scream out in pain as she cleaned her wounds. It had been hard enough to get up with all the bruising to her sides but she had managed to climb out of the bathroom window and sneak into the empty neighbouring room. She stole the small first aid and sat down on the bath, letting the cold water run across and into all the cuts in her hands and arms from the glass. Jayde made sure that there were no splinter fragments and bit down on her lip until it bled when she poured some stolen alcohol onto the gashes; thank god none of them would need stitches. She tightly bound her arms in bandages and admired her handiwork; sure there might be a few scars but Jayde was soon realising one of her special skills was hiding all her injuries.

She lifted up her over-sized t-shirt to more carefully examine the places where her father kicked her. The bruising hadn't come through yet but Jayde was almost certain it would; a single touch to the nearby area made her flinch with pain. She knew her back would be fine as the pain there had mostly subsided, but now Jayde had to think about what she would say to Sam and Dean when they returned. She started to run these thoughts out loud like she always did in privacy.

"Did I fall over under the weight of the laundry? Oh no, I'm not meant to be doing Dad's chores... Hmmmm... I tripped over because I'm just a clumsy person? No way is Sam gonna fall for that... he knows I'm not from all those spy games we played when we were younger... Ummmmmm..."

She wandered out of the bathroom to face the clean, unoccupied room that smelt of light citrus, Jayde beginning to pace up and down the wood trying to come up with ideas and excuses. She knew that every hunter had to be an excellent liar but with her own family it was hard to say something and make it sound believable, especially when one of those people is the father that constantly reminds you of your little worth and uselessness - her excuse had to convince John too or he would be doubly mad the next time Sam and Dean left them alone.

When the familiar sound of the 1967 Chevy Impala found it's way into Jayde's ears she scrambled for the bathroom window and gingerly slid through the small space to land lightly on the ground before reaching up to close the window. She moved onto her room's identical window and pulled herself up and through the tight squeeze only someone of her small stature would have made. Carefully closing the window pane behind her and flushing the toilet to cover any suspicion Jayde pulled on a dirty hoodie and made her way out of the bathroom just as her two brothers Sam and Dean came barging through the door.

Despite the fact that both young men's clothes were splattered with blood their faces bore smiles and peace, a look Jayde loved to see. She sighed and smiled, running to hug Sam before he could even throw his duffel on the bed.

"Whoa there kiddo!" He laughed and pulled her into a bone breaking hug that almost made her cry out in pain, but she managed to laugh in hopes of hiding her anguish. Dean came up behind Jayde and pulled her from Sam's grasp to lift her off the floor into an airborne hug, the one he always gave her after a hunt.

"You're getting heavier Jayde! I can hardly lift you above my head!"

"Maybe you should work out more then!" She teased her older brother but almost instantly regretted it as she felt his fist run against her forehead; a noogie that messed up her hair completely.

"Alright alright! You win!"

"Of course I do! So tell me Jay, what-" but Dean cut himself off once he noticed Jayde's bandages hidden under the long hoodie's sleeve, just as she feared.

"What happened here Jayde?"

Jayde hated lying to Dean more than anything but knew she had no choice. She saw her father's face looming down at her but she smiled, and casually shrugged.

"Oh I slipped on some water in the bathroom and didn't realise someone had left a stupid shell ornament on the shelf, so I fell on it when I tried to grab something to steady myself."

Dean stared at Jayde with suspicion but shrugged too and just smiled, showing his pearly white teeth. "Just be a little more careful, okay kiddo?"

"Hey, it's not my fault! It's whoever was in the bathroom last's fault; they spilled the water!"

"Well that means we can blame Sammy."

"Hey!" Sam whined from the bathroom where he was trying to change clothes, causing the brother and sister to erupt into giggles. Jayde stole a glance at her dad who was - surprisingly - smiling, nodding in her direction. Jayde figured it was a convincing enough lie and smiled back.

Nothing had changed of course. She still loathed that abusive ass, and she would escape eventually, that much she was sure of. She just didn't kill him when Sam or Dean were around; they couldn't know anything about her and her father. Not now, not ever.

*******A/N********

Hey, welcome to the first part of The Joys of Being a Winchester. i'll upload pretty often, probably one or two chapters every few days just because I'm editing the whole thing right now. i don't have a consistent schedule just because school stuff's weighing me down, but i'll provide, that much i can promise.

Like, share, rate and appreciate (if you're so inclined) and yeah. Catch you later i guess.