𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 || 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

Chapter 11 ~ To Grandmother's House We Go

Episode: Season 15 - Golden Time Pt. 1

It had been 2 weeks since the boys brought me back to the Bunker, saved me from the near vamp-war I'd managed to get myself tangled into. Which equaled 2 weeks I'd also been stuck in my old room. Since finding out I had been staying in Dean's room, I'd quickly vacated and holed myself up in my former sanctum. Sam, of course, wasn't happy with it but he didn't push me. Then again, that'd always been his style - he never pushed me into something he knew I couldn't handle, knew I wasn't comfortable with. He always let me make my own choices.

Turns out - even 15 years couldn't change that part of his personality. Except his now apparent more acceptance of magic and the like, seeing as how he had no qualms about the kids practicing.

Which only made me wonder...what had 15 years changed about Dean? Was he still as stubborn and headstrong as before? Just as unforgiving? Not that forgiveness had been something I was looking for. I made my choice that day I left - for better, for worse. And I did it for the kids. Dean could blame me all he wanted but on that, I wouldn't budge.

I guess that's how I found myself riding shotgun in Baby alongside Sam, with his ghost friend, Eileen, in the backseat, on the way to my recently deceased grandmother's apartment to find a spell to get her to Heaven.

So, yeah - just a typical day with the Winchesters.

But I had to admit, this beat the alternative - stuck in the Bunker, avoiding my ex. I frowned then, biting back a sigh as my thoughts wandered. Quickly glancing to my left, I tried to hide it but it was too late.

"You're thinking about Yaz and Romy, aren't you?" Sam asked suddenly and I rolled my eyes at his observance.

"Maybe..." I said noncommittally, trying to avoid the subject altogether.

Sam shook his head, strands of mousy brown hair falling vertically across the smooth skin of his forehead, "Parker, they're gonna be okay. Dean will take care of them - you know that,"

"Do I?" I shot back not unkindly, arching an eyebrow over at my best friend.

"Look, I know he's not in a good head-space right now since..." he trailed off, making vague hand gestures before sighing, shaking his head, "It doesn't matter. The point is Yasmin is still his daughter. And he claims Roman just as much. Just like I do with her. We're Winchesters, we take care of each other."

"The family business," I quoted with a smirk, eliciting a grin from Sam.

"Yeah...yeah, exactly." he smiled, one hand on the steering wheel as he turned Baby into a gas station.

After stopping there for gas and snacks and a half hour later, we arrived at our destination. Turns out, Grandma Rowena had quite a bit of dough - the place was pretty nice. Well, apart from the fact that it was ransacked and there was a decaying corpse in a crimson puddle of blood in the middle of the floor. That? Not so much.

"Who's she?" Eileen asked as Sam bent down to check the body, "She was goth?"

"No, close," he replied, bringing our attention to a prominent tattoo on the side of her neck before straightening up, "I recognize that. It's from the 'Ordo maleficarum',"

"Witch," I confirmed, nodding my head.

"Looks like she tore this place apart. I mean, maybe she got into something she shouldn't have," Sam said, gesturing around the room at the debris, "Okay, let's just find what we're looking for and get out of here."

But after several minutes of searching, prodding, and poking around in every nook and cranny, we still came up empty. I glanced up then from the bookshelf I'd been looking at and up into the painted face of a middle-aged woman.

"So this was my grandmother..." I whispered to myself as I stared into the dark brown eyes of the painting.

Her hair had been fiery red, her mouth a thin line, barely curved at the edges but hinting at mischievousness. All in all? She looked like the baddest witch I'd ever seen. I made an approving expression as I took it in, nodding to myself. Yep, made total sense she'd be related to me.

"This is just junk," Eileen signed to Sam.

"Tarot cards, self-help books," he sighed, tossing the items onto the desk in front of him, "Where's her real stash?"

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Samuel!" my head shot up then and I raced over, nearly knocking him down as I grabbed for the cards.

Sam arched an eyebrow at me and I grinned sheepishly as I tucked the deck into my back pocket, "What? I ran out of those last month,"

"How do you run-" he started before stopping himself, waving a hand, "You know what? I don't know wanna know. Wait...where'd Eileen go?"

I glanced up then and frowned. She'd disappeared. I mean, she was a spirit, sure but...

"Sam! Parker! In here..." she called out to us from behind a...bookcase?

Sam and I shared a look before shrugging and together, we pushed on the wood until groaning, it slid sideways.

"Ta-da!" Eileen grinned at us and I couldn't help but laugh.

She'd found it. She'd found Rowena's secret spell stash!