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April 25th 2014
Rose read, skipping again some entries. She knew already about The Life, she wanted to know more about demons and Crowley and her parents.
We ran into Jody a couple of days back. She needed our help with a human girl that lived with vampires. Tricky job, she almost become a vamp, but we could save her with the same potion we used when Dean became a vampire a few years back.
“Wait… what?” she said out loud.
“What what?” asked a voice from the door, and she almost jumped off the bed at the sight of her father walking in with a mug in his hand.
“Nothing!” she almost screamed, shutting the journal with a blow.
“Oh, don’t give me that. I know when you’re hiding things from me.” He said, sitting at the foot of the bed and handing her the cup of smoking coffee.
“Oh, well… you were a vampire?”
Dean let out a loud laugh that was immediately cut by a shadow in his eyes, some sort of pain Rose had only seen in him in her mother’s death anniversary.
“Yes, it was… those were really messed up days. A lot of things went wrong that time and… well… I was lucky, kind of.”
“Did Sam and Cas save you?”
“HA! No… no, Cas wasn’t around back then and Sam… he uh… well yes, you could say he helped saving me.”
“Another day’s story?” she asked taking a sip of her mug.
“Yes, another day. We’re waiting for you in the kitchen.” He said patting her knee and walking out of the room.
Rose crawled out of bed and dressed up, carefully choosing her clothes. She felt like a child trying to impress a new friend, but nevertheless picked a black tank top, a dark red shirt and a pair of jeans. She combed her hair and tide it up in a ponytail, and as a final touch she put on the silver neckless with the anti-possession symbol.
With a deep breath and rolling the shirt’s sleeves up to her elbows she walked into the kitchen.
“Morning!” she waved her uncles, sitting in an empty chair with her coffee.
The three grown men looked at her in awe, wordless.
“What?” she asked, dancing her eyes between them.
“I’ve always thought you looked just like your mother, but…” Dean mumbled.
“But what?”
“Rosey, you look just like your father!” said Sam with a laugh and Cas joined him.
“Did you have to put on the Hunter costume?” her father asked annoyed.
“Hey, you wear it, I wear it. The family business, right? It comes with a dress code, as far as I can see…” she said, mockingly, pointing them.
“Don’t put me on the same sack.” Cas excused himself, raising his palms in the air and tilting his head a little, suppressing a smile.
“You’re excluded on your condition of angel.” She said sitting back and returning her attention to her coffee. It was a good feeling, sharing breakfast with her family, being able to share absolutely everything. She knew it was going to be a rather dangerous life from that moment forward, but still Rose never felt closer to them.
“So what now?”
“Now we get ready.” Said Sam, calmly. “Crowley knows this place, he won’t be long before putting the dots together.”
“Get ready how?” Rose was a bit scared now. Fighting was a thing, and facing the King of Hell himself was another. “I can’t even use a gun!”
“We’ll teach you.” Said her father standing up.
“And I’ll teach you how to use one of these” Castiel stepped forward, taking a silver pointy thing from his sleeve.
“What’s that?”
“This is an angel blade. It kills demons with one blow.” He played with it, making it twirl in his hand and made a stabbing mimic.
“Will it be completely necessary?”
“It’s the most liable weapon we have against them.” Said Dean placing the mugs in the sink. “Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”
It was a slow morning and soon enough she realized that her “study and shopping” life style wasn’t at all as healthy as she’d thought. Rose ate salads and skipped fats as much as she could, while living with Dean “cheeseburger and fries” Winchester. But yet, it hadn’t been thirty minutes into training that she was already panting and gasping for water.
“Get up!” Dean’s voice echoed in the room as she fell again, all the air in her lungs missing after receiving a hard kick in the stomach.
“Aren’t you being a bit too… Dad?” Rose heard Sam whispering to Dean, and as she looked at them, she saw a hint of regret in her father’s face.
“I’ll take it from here, Rose.” Her uncle said, extending a hand to help her stand up again “You can go get some water and breathe a little.”
“What did you mean by it?” she asked, after her father had left after telling her she had done great and hugged her.
“By what?” he asked.
“All that about dad being too… Dad.”
“Oh…” Sam let down his head, all his attention suddenly in his own hands.
Rose gave him the time he needed to sort his thoughts and walked to sit next to him on the table where the water bottles had been placed, and opened one, drinking slowly. Finally, he looked back at her and sighed.
“I didn’t mean it as being a dad, but as he being like our Dad. We… we had a hard childhood, with Mom gone, and we were too young when we began to train. I mean, I can’t remember when it happened, I just… I’ve always known how to throw a punch, you know.”
“That’s awful.”
“Yes… That’s what Dean’s been guarding you from all this years. He just… I think he thought you could get through without having to know how to shoot a gun or stab a demon. But now the time is short, the Winchester parenting vein is growing in him. He doesn’t mean to be rude, he’s just worried.”
“Like John was?”
“Like Dad was… yeah.” He gave a small laugh and grabbed a bottle of his own “We’re weird, the Winchesters. Our families have always been broken and dysfunctional.”
“Hey!” Rose elbowed him “I love our broken and dysfunctional family. We even have an angel!”
They both laughed hard and then resumed the training. Sam was less demanding, but rose didn’t let herself go easy, and by noon she could stop a punch and unbalance her enemy to the floor.
“That is great technique you have over there” said Castiel as you helped Sam back to his feet. “I think a lunch break is in order. Dean is making you too something to eat.”
“What about the swordy thingy training?” Rose asked cleaning her face with a towel.
“Angel Blade.” Cas correct her and smiled a little “After break. You need to rest.”
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Rose curled up in her bed and opened the journal. Day had gone pretty well but she was exhausted. Castiel was kind but pretty tough and didn’t let her rest until he was sure she could block any kind of blow with her blade. And after a short snack and water break he went back at it to teach her how to stab.
“You need to be strong to make it through skin and muscles, but you can get that strength from outside” he said, and then showed her some moves that would help her use speed and good balance to achieve the strength.
Finally, she had called for a day and crawled into the shower. This life was a lot more physically demanding than she had thought on the first day, she thought maybe she’d get to do the research and cook for them, but Dean’s impatience and insistence on her training had finally led her to understand that this was a Stand and Fight situation, where no running or hiding was accepted.
Inside of her, a mixture of excitement and fear had begun to grow and had now settled there, like a constant weight in her chest.
May 20th 2014
Dean’s gone. Dead. He… He was killed by Metatron and there’s nothing neither Bea nor I can do about it. I can hear her weeping from his room now, it echoes in the entire bunker. It feels as life had been drained away completely.
What’s going to happen to me now? What’s going to happen to her? I overheard her, I know I shouldn’t have, but I did. She’s pregnant. Oh god, what’s going to happen to that baby?”
Rose held her breath as she read these lines. The more she knew about her family’s past, the more she felt like anything was possible.
May 30th 2014
Dean’s gone. Wow, how should I put this. He didn’t die, or he did, but the Marc brought him back to life, and he’s a demon now. He ran away with Crowley, as far as we know.
Maggie (she doesn’t want to be called Bea anymore, she says only Dean can call her that and Dean is gone) is with me. We’re working together to bring him back. It’s amazing how much she has learned, in so little time. She still hadn’t told me she’s pregnant. I don’t know what to do. We still haven’t heard from Cas, I hope things in heaven are better.”
Rose passed the pages until she found one with a picture attached to it. It was an ultrasound and the silhouette of a baby could easily be seen there.
July 13th 2014
Maggie finally told me. I came home after another fruitless encounter with a demon and she was crying uncontrollably. She told me she’s pregnant and she was having these awful pains and was scared. We went to the hospital in a rush.
Everything was fine, the doctor said it was normal to have contractions all along the pregnancy. She gave her some light meds to help her bare it and made an ultrasound. That’s it there… that’s future little Winchester.
We need to find Dean and bring him back. He needs to know.
October 8th 2014
We found him. We know where he and Crowley are and we’re heading that way.
Rose couldn’t stop reading. Her father hadn’t just been a vampire, but a demon as well. Was there anything he hadn’t been? She looked back at the journal and was surprised to notice that the next entry was written in another handwriting, one she knew only too well.
October 13th 2014
There was a guy after us. He’s got Sam. I don’t know what to do, Castiel is too weak and can’t answer our prayers. I can’t face this guy alone, he’s a marine but he’s insane, he won’t mind I’m carrying.
I feel so alone and overwhelmed. I lost Dean, I can’t lose Sam too, I’m hiding in a hotel room now, I just hope despite his shoulder Sam can break loose. All I can do is waiting now. /Maggie
October 17th 2014
Well. We’ve got Dean back. He’s still a Demon and I’m trying to cure him, but it feels like it’s killing him more than anything. I called Cas, he’s on his way now to help.
Maggie hasn’t been to the dungeon yet. This whole business is too stressful and now she’s having recurring pains and contractions, I just hope nothing goes wrong now with her or the baby. It’s still too early.
October 21st 2014
A couple of things happened the last days. First of all, Dean is cured. He’s back to his usual self, no more black eyes, no more chasing us through the dungeon with a hammer. Thankfully Castiel came back just in time to save us.
The second, he found out Maggie’s pregnant, but, and here’s the third thing, in a not very good way.
Right after he came back, we heard Maggie’s screaming coming from her room. She was curled up in the floor, grabbing her tummy and in a pool of blood. The stress caused by Dean chasing after us was not good for the baby. She’s in the hospital now, Dean is with her. The doctor’s say she’s going to be alright, and so is the baby, but we can’t help to be worried. Castiel is more concerned than I’ve ever seen him.
October 27th 2014
It seems we’re back in the rodeo. We did a job last week and we’re heading to another now. Dean’s really taken aback. He broke up with Maggie, though he keeps in touch in case she or the baby needs something.
She wasn’t happy about it, but I understand Dean’s point of view. He’s too worried about them, he can’t have her in a hunt or in the middle of this Mark of Cain job. It’s just for the best.
She snapped the book close. So that’s why they had been apart all that time. She reached for her cell and looked at the time, it wasn’t yet 8pm. She crawled out of bed ad walked all the way down to the kitchen, where her father was cooking.
Dean was humming some old melody and she smiled. There weren’t many things that made his father sing, and she was pleased to know that cooking was still one of them.
“Hiya” she said jumping on the counter next to him and stealing a slice of onion out of the cutting board.
“Don’t…!” he let out an exasperated exhale “You know I hate it when you do that!”
“Come on, it’s just a piece of onion”
“No” he said pointing at Rose with the knife and looking very serious “It’s a piece of a cooking masterpiece.”
“Dad, you’re making hamburgers.”
“Best hamburgers ever!” she laughed a little and shook her head, still chewing the onion, and got lost on her thoughts again.
Dean looked at Rose with the corner of his eyes and smiled a little, still chopping and slicing the vegetables. After a while he put down the knife and looked at her.
“Okay, what?” she averted her eyes and bit her bottom lip, not really knowing how to start that particular conversation. “Come on, I know you, Rose. You want to tell me something.” He resumed the cooking, this time washing the lettuce.
“I… I don’t know…”
He eyed her again swiftly.
“You’ve been reading, right?”
She nodded.
“If I considered there was something in that journal I didn’t want you to read… I would’ve taken it back from you.”
She nodded again, looking for the right words.
“How’s it like? To be dead?” her eyes fixed on him, waiting for a reaction, not really sure if anger or laughter. But none came, he tilted his head pensively, also looking in his memories for an answer. Finally, he chuckled a bit.
“Which time?” he said finally, gazing her with a funny look.
“What?” she asked. That definitely wasn’t the answer she was waiting for. Dean took a cloth and wiped his hands, leaning against the counter with her.
“Well, life’s been a bitch with me… us. We uhm… we died several times along the way. So… uhm… which time are we talking about?”
“You died several times? You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not. I went to hell, then to heaven. I was in purgatory, then Metatron killed me… Oh there were those times with Gabriel, though I don’t remember those.”
“That one, the Metatron one. I was reading about that one.”
“Oh.” He said, and nodded absently “Well, I can’t really recall that time. All the demon thing… you read about that, haven’t you?”
“Yeah… I was reading about those times… About you, mom… me.”
“Those were very difficult times for all of us. You gave us a hell of a fright… I didn’t even know what was happening and I already feared for your life.”
Rose couldn’t help but to smile widely. She hopped down the counter and threw her arms around her father’s neck, hugging him and kissing his cheek.
“Thank you.”
“Hey, you’re my daughter. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Now go get your uncles, dinner will be up in five minutes.”
And saying that he turned around and started tossing hamburgers in the grill, whistling happily. Rose walked into the war room and found Cas leaning over the board, his eyes closed and his head al little crooked to one side. She softly placed a hand on his shoulder and he opened his eyes, when he saw her Castiel smiled softly.
“Are you okay?” she inquired.
“Yes, I am. I was just listening. Trying to catch any communication between Crowley’s minions that would tell us where are they. But they must be working the old way, because I can’t pick up anything.”
“The old way?”
“Letters. Messengers, stuff like that. No radio signals, no cellphones. He’s smart, he knows I can pick those up.”
“Woah.” Was all she managed to say and let out a tiny laugh. “You’re awesome Uncle Cas. Oh, dinner’s almost ready.”
She turned around and went into the library. Sam was sitting in an armchair, holding a file, and with a pile of books and folders piled in the coffee table in front of him. She wondered around the shelves for a while and then made a little squeal.
“What’s wrong?” Sam said, lowering his glasses and looking at her.
“No, nothing. It’s just… This is a first edition of The Wizard of Oz!”
Sam took a deep breath and Rose could see a shadow come across his gaze. Then, he smiled.
“Yes. Frank Baum was a Man of Letters. His daughter, Dorothy, is actually real and she’s… well, she’s in Oz, still fighting evil!”
“I want to go to Oz too!” she said, sitting in the chair in front of him.
“Oh, no, you don’t! Believe me, Charlie went… Not a good idea.”
“Charlie? Oh right!” she hit her forehead with her hand as she remembered “I read about this in your journal… She came back?”
“Yes. She did.” Sam said, closing the file and standing up as Dean’s voice came from the kitchen announcing dinner ready.
“Where is she?” Rose asked, though she already knew the answer.
“Gone.” His voice was cold and dead as he said that and she knew not to push into matters.
-----------------------
Next day Rose woke up earlier than the rest, only to fin Castiel wondering about the library.
“I forgot you didn’t sleep.” She said, rubbing the back of her head the same way her father did all the time. Castiel smirked at the gesture.
“I did for a little while, when I was mortal.”
“Right… you died too… Gosh, do you three have God on your side or something?” he laughed this time, sitting down.
“I used to think that. Then it evolved into something more like a curse or something.”
“Maybe you’re just the team doomed to save the world.”
“Team Free Will!” Dean shouted happily walking through the archway. “We used to be that. Remember, Mr. Comatose?” he slapped Castiel’s arm vigorously as he walked past him with a grin and into the kitchen “Those were the good times!”
“Which were the good times?” asked Sam, appearing too into the library, his hair all messed up and his eyes squinted in a thin line.
“Apparently,” said Castiel standing up again and pointing Rose to the kitchen “the Apocalypse.”
“Oh, yeah. Great times. We had a blast. Specially Hell. I particularly liked that part…” Sam answered sarcastically and Rose’s mouth fell open and her eyes grew wide.
“Wait, WHAT?” she said running after them.
------------
The target on the other side of the room was still, but it felt as if it was jumping up and down. Rose’s hands were shaking uncontrollably. Finally she put the gun down and looked at her father.
“I can’t.” she stated, leaving the revolver over the table. Dean grabbed it and looked at it closely, then he picked it up and pointed at the target.
“This gun sucks.” He said, shooting finally and hitting the center of the bull’s eye. “Where did we get this?
“You just hit the center!” she screamed, frustrated.
“I’ve been shooting for over forty years now, of course I aimed. But this gun. This is crap.” He tossed it aside and withdrew his own. “This is a good gun.” He handed it to her.
Rose picked it carefully. She had never been allowed to touch Dean’s gun, not even as a grown up. But now there it was, resting in her hands and she was amazed by the details. Forged in silver with an ivory handle, all covered in beautiful art nouveaux styled carvings. The weight seemed perfect, even for her, who had never before that day had actually used a gun.
“This is beautiful!” she exclaimed, and Dean couldn’t suppress the proud look on his eyes when she said that.
“I knew you’d like it. This gun has saved me even more times than Baby.”
Rose whistled and went back to position. Her hands were still now, she planted her feet, loose her shoulders, breathed deeply and shoot. Her hands flew up in the air and she lost her balance a little, but the little round hole in the target was right next to his father’s.
“Look! I hit it!” she shouted happily.
“You did.” Dean leaned a hand over her shoulder. “come on, try again!”
Rose emptied the charger and her father gave her another one, full. By the half of it, she had managed to shoot without moving, absorbing the power of the bullet with her body. She thought a bit and then let a hand fall, grabbing the gun with just one.
“Whoa whoa whoa!” her father stopped her “No, honey, being cool with a gun is something you do after mastering it. Both hands for now.”
She pouted a bit, but did a she was told and finished shooting the range.
“That gun is yours now.” Said Dean handing her another clip.
“What? No, dad…!”
“It’s yours. You’re comfortable with it. I can use any other. Like this crap…”
He reached for the black revolver, but they both froze when the heard the shouting, exchanged looks and run back to the war room. As they were leaving the training room, Rose picked up the Angel Blade Castiel had given her and Dean grabbed the bullets they’ve been preparing, blessed with holy water.
As they ran, the noises became louder and louder. Furniture smashing, books falling in the ground, and Sam shouting over all of that.
“You leave this place before you regret it, Crowley!”
Dean slowed down, grabbing Rose by the arm and signaling her to stay hidden. On the other side of the arch they spotted Cas, who was also covering himself.
“Don’t you think it’s a little late for that kind of threats, Moose? It’s been what… twenty? Twenty five years? You can’t actually expect me to believe you.” Said a calmed voice with a British accent that Rose had never heard before.
“Well, as far as I can recall, you’re the one that always ends up regretting it…”
“SHUT UP!” Crowley seemed angry. “You’re cornered up, boy! Why else would you return to this forsaken place on earth?” he lowered his voice and Rose could only guess he had approached her uncle to speak to him “you’ve nowhere to run now.”
“We don’t need to run, Boris.” It was when she heard her father’s voice that she noticed he had left her side. A laughter grew on the other side of the walls while Castiel signaled her to stay put.
“SQUIRREL! I knew I would find you eventually. What happened, the Missus left you finally? Did she found out you dwelled with demons?”
“Nah. She already knew, remember?” Dean said and his voice stood calm. “What do you want with us, Crowley?”
“What I’ve always wanted. To get rid of Mary-Kate and Ashley! To get back to my business without threats!
“What’s changed?” Sam asked as quietly as his brother stood next to him.
“What are you talking about?” Crowley’s voice shivered a little.
“Oh come on!” Dean shouted, and he sat down in the nearest chair and placing his feet on the table. “You’ve left us alone for almost twenty years. We’ve left you alone for almost twenty years. Why now? What makes you want to have a win?”
“Really?” said Sam sitting down on the table next to him “a Win? Are we really doing puns now?”
“What? It’s funny!” Sam shook his head and then looked amused at the demons, who looked confused about their attitude.
“What? You don’t think we can take you while seated? Dude, how young are you?” he said to the closest one, laughing.
“Don’t mock, Moose! We’ve got the higher ground here!”
“Nah, you don’t.” Said Dean, carefully studying the new gun “Come on, Crowley, what changed?”
“Nothing’s changed! I want your heads as much as I always had!” he was raging now, his eyes went glowing red and Sam and Dean exchanged looks.
“Okay, okay! Calm down!” Sam stood up again with his palms up showing good intention, raising his brows. “We just wanna know. You owe us that, after all this time.”
“I owe you nothing. I owe no one nothing!”
“Oh, so there’s another player on the board.” Dean said calmly. And twisting his head towards the arch he called “Hey, Cas! Go check it out, will ya?”
Before stepping into view, Castiel signaled once more to Rose, indicating she had to stay put, then he went out the arch with half a smile.
“Sure, Dean, I was needing to stretch my wings a bit already.” There was a quiver in the lights, and his half feathered wings shadowed in the walls behind him before he disappeared.
“What did he do that for?” asked Crowley with annoyance, but his three minions had stepped back a few feet and were now looking at each other in awe.
“So that young, huh?” Dean said happily “Never seen an angel before? Bet you didn’t ever heard of us until Boris here asked you to come with him.”
One of them shook his head but stopped immediately at his master’s angry gaze.
“Oh, alright!” he finally admitted, relaxing a bit and sitting down too. “None of the old ones would accept the task. What was I supposed to do? Come alone? You’d mock me even worse.”
“Talk to us Crowley. And maybe we can help.”
Rose couldn’t believe her ears. After all, after the run from their house, the fear, the training. Her father was offering Crowley to help him? She was about to step out and say something when she heard him again.
“There’s no one else here. We’re all alone.” He emphasized those last words and lingered a second before he went on. “We could kill those three, right here right now, and no one would need to know we had a drink together.” Dean stood up and went to grab a bottle of whiskey and three glasses.
Crowley seemed to be considering the offer while the three demons exchanged scared looks.
“What?” asked Sam walking closer to them, them walking backward “Why’d you think no one else would take the task? Did you think you were so brave? Well let me tell you, you were just stupid…” he drew his knife out but was stopped by Crowley.
“Let them be, Gigantor! They’re three stupid rats. If they ever tell anyone about what happened here, I’ll kill them myself.” He looked at them severely “and then they’ll wish you had killed them. Right?”
The three demons nodded fast and silently, and stepped even further back until they hit a wall, and stood there.
“If anyone tries to run away now,” Sam said pointing at them menacingly “Someone, will shoot the knees out of you.”
Again, Rose caught the message and as silently as she could, withdrew the magazine of her new gun to check she had enough bullets. That’s when she saw that they had carved in the tops little star signs, similar as the one she carried in a neckless hanging under her clothes. She loaded it again and checked the lock was off, stood up and breathed deeply, waiting for a signal.
She was beginning to understand the reasons to hide. Her father and uncles didn’t want the other demons to know she existed. They probably already knew there was another player long before Crowley admitted it. She sighed again, he was a demon but her father trusted him, so she would trust him, but just enough.
She heard the noise of glass sliding over wood and drew her attention back to what was happening on the other side of the walls.
“Okay, ‘sup?” Dean sat down again after pouring the golden liquor in the glasses and passing one to Crowley and another to his brother.
“Well, you’re right. There’s another player. She’s gaining strength within the deepest circles of Hell and I’ve heard rumors of a takeover.” He sipped his whiskey calmly and made an approval gesture. “This is nice!”
“It’s been aged properly. So you thought you’d come kill us to… regain power?” Sam wondered, finally sitting down.
“That’s right.”
“Crowley, if there’s a new menace in town… Why not come for help from the very beginning?” the older Winchester inquired.
“I can’t trust anyone, Dean!” the demon replied, hissing between his teeth. “Not even these three idiots! I’m sure at least one of them is already bought by her, but I can’t tell which one!”
The three of them looked at the minions and for a second it was as if time had stopped. No one moved, no one breathed. And then, the three of them started running towards the stairs.
“All of them, really?!” Crowley growled, leaning back.
“ROSE!” Dean called, she felt the adrenaline rushing in her veins as she stepped out of the hallway finally, and raising the Colt with one hand and holding her breath she shoot, straight to their heads, and one by one they fall to the ground, moaning.
“THAT I wasn’t expecting.” Crowley said, jumping to his feet.
“She’s our last acquisition.” Said Sam without even looking at her, and walking to check on the minions with his brother.
“Cas! You can come back now!” Dean said out loud.
“Oh, good, I was getting bored of being invisible.”
“Castiel, you’ve come to those levels of laziness? You don’t even go do a proper research anymore?” Crowley mocked, and Cas answered only with a gaze of distastefulness and a squint of eyes, before turning around to face Rose.
“That was amazing, Rose.”
“Thanks.” She said proudly, though still a bit shocked that she actually got to shoot all of them.
“So, who is she?” the demon asked, sitting back and grabbing his glass again.
“None of your business.” Dean retort, kicking one of the demons and smiling at his scared look. “Devil’s Trap bullet, you asshole! None of you are going anywhere anymore.” He then turned around and returned to his chair, holding up his glass of whiskey “So, are you going to tell us about Ivy, or should we tell you what we already know?”