God's Gift of Hope (Supernatural Fanfiction )

Scene 18

"What is this place?" Hope and Dean were standing on the balcony, looking down into the bunker. Sam was already half way down the stairs, having gone in ahead of his siblings.

"It is a bunker." Dean answered Hope's question, "A secret control centre for supernatural hunters back in the day; The Men of Letters, they..."

"Wait... What?" Hope had cut Dean off mid-sentence; he backtracked trying to think, on what, she would need clarification.

"It's a bunker..."

"No... not that bit, the..." Hope was trying to get her words out, "Men of letters?"

"You know them?" Dean asked, surprise rising in his voice, as Sam paused near the bottom of the stairs and turned to look back up at his sister – curiosity burning in his eyes.

Hope took a big breath before starting, "The man... who came in the beginning, to show me my destiny. The one who..." she faltered, causing Dean to finish her sentence, "the one who was killed by the first hellhound?"

"Yes..." Hope closed her eyes tightly, remembering was clearly an ordeal for her, "He told me he was a member of the Men of Letters... and that I could trust him."

"You think he was bringing you here?" Sam asked, from the bottom of the stairs.

"I don't know. I refused to go further with him until he told me where we were going – but he wouldn't, he simply gave me this..." Hope held out an object, to show the boys, before continuing, "And, he said I could trust him, again, but when I still refused, he just forced me into the car anyways."

"Well... it is safe to say he was bringing you here..." came Sam's comment, he had walked halfway back up the stairs and was staring at the object that Hope held out.

"Why?" Hope looked from one boy to the other, before Dean replied, "That..." he said, pointing at the object Hope held, "is the key of the Order of Letters; a key to this place." The three siblings, stood there, looking at each other. Here was another piece of the puzzle; yet it made no difference, in their quest for answers.

"We have all the personnel files on the men of letters. If you want to go through them? Try to identify who he was..." Sam asked his sister. Hope nodded her consent and Sam turned, and walked off down the stairs, calling over his shoulder as he went, "I'll go get them then..."

Dean and Hope stood still, just looking at each other before Dean proposed, "A tour? While we wait." Hope nodded again, and then Dean led the way down the stairs.

Dean and Hope walked through all of the various parts of the bunker, while Dean gave a running commentary on each of the rooms and added in a few of the stories about what Sam and Dean had gone through – in the various rooms. Not the horrifically bad stuff, because Dean was still wary of how fragile Hope seemed at times, but some of the stories, nevertheless.

Sam, in the meantime, was in a storeroom gathering all of the files. He loaded up a box and walked them back to the library – where he started laying them out on the table.

Dean and Hope had reached the corridor to the boy's bedrooms. "My room," Dean stated, as he pointed out his own personal space, and Hope leaned in through the doorway to have a look around, "Sam's down the hall a bit..." he added, pointing in that general direction, "and as you can see... there are... plenty of places for you to pick from if you plan on staying around?" The question in Dean's voice was anything but subtle – as he was trying to be. He desperately wanted his sister to say she wanted to stay here, with them, but he was unsure of her response. He waited, breath held, a sad quizzical look on his face.

"Do you want me to? I mean... it is your home, yours and Sam's..." Hope looked down at the ground, not trusting herself to be looking at her twin; what would she do if he said he did not want her to stay? Tears sprang to her eyes at the thought.

"Of course we want you to stay. I want you to stay. You are a Winchester. Our ancestors are men of letters, so not only do I want you here... you belong here!"

Hope was overwhelmed with relief and joy. She reached up to hug her brother and he hugged her back whole-heartedly, like the long-lost sister she was.

Both were smiling, happy to have found each other, as they walked back down the hall in search of Sam.

Fade Out