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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲

𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘰, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯

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Delaney sat up in bed, her heart beat rapidly as she looked around the dark motel room. She groaned as she rubbed her face, the screaming blonde woman from her dream still vividly clear in her mind. It looked like she was in the Winchester's old home in Lawrence, Kansas and that freaked Delaney out. Mainly because she hadn't seen her old house except in photos of her first six months before the fire and Mary was killed. She was only six months old when Mary met her fatal end, so Delaney wasn't really able to grasp what anything was at that point. The only did thing she did remember was her room being a light pink color and a yellow plush blanket always hung over the side of her crib.

Delaney glanced over at the clock that was on Dean's side of the bed and huffed when she saw it was only six am. She knew full well there was no way she would be able to go back to sleep, so Delaney slowly moved out of the bed so she wouldn't wake up Dean. Grabbing her clothes from on top of her duffle bag, she walked into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.

Dean and Sam were still asleep when Delaney had finally finished showering and getting ready and instead of waiting around for them to wake up, she decided she'd walk to the diner down the block and get them all breakfast. Quickly writing a note in case Dean woke up and freaked out she wasn't in his sight, she left it on her pillow next to him and walked over to the diner.

The bell on top of the door rang as Delaney pushed open the door, a glass window in the middle of it. The diner had a 50's vibe to it with a counter surrounded by red stools and black and white checkered floorings. The booths were all pushed to the wall on one side of the room, red fabric covering the seats and back of the benches.

Delaney walked up to the counter and smiled warmly at the waitress standing there before telling the waitress the three orders and sat down to wait. As she waited for the food, Delaney glanced around the diner at the families that were already sat in some of the booths, laughing and talking to each other as they enjoyed the sunny Saturday. Seeing families usually upset Delaney because all these kids had a mom and a dad. She didn't have a mom and she barely had John in her life. The only thing that was close to a dad in her life were both Dean and Sam.

Placing her chin in her hand, Delaney sighed as she tried to steer her mind from going down that dark path. It was one she didn't want to visit right now, especially after having that dream of her old house. It was a thing she never really tried to talk about with her brother, especially Dean, because sometimes she felt like she shouldn't be upset about it. Delaney never really knew her mom, just stories Dean or Sam would tell her when she was younger and they were stuck in the house while John went on a hunt. How could Delaney miss someone she barely even knew?

"Here's your food, miss!" The waitress said as she placed the food down next to Delaney in a plastic bag. "I hope you enjoy."

Delaney gave the waitress a small smile as she grabbed the food. "Thank you, enjoy your day." She slid off the stool she sat on and made her way back to the motel room. As she entered, she noticed Dean was on his laptop already and Sam was sat across from him looking through some newspaper articles.

"I bring food!" Delaney announced as she kicked the door closed behind her and dropped the food onto the small table the boys were sat at. "I woke up a little early and decided I would be a nice sister and bring you guys food."

Dean smiled up at Delaney as he took out his container of his food. "Thanks, baby girl. You're the greatest."

"Can I record you saying that so I can use it against you next time you try to say different?" Delaney teased, grabbing her food and sitting on the bed that was closest to the table. "So, what are you guys looking at?"

"Well, Sammy and I have been going through some websites and articles to see where we go next for a hunt," Dean responded, placing his food next to his laptop and looking through his open tabs again. "A fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali. Its crew vanished. Then, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas." He glanced up to see Delaney began to absentmindedly draw on top of her white carton with a pen that was lying next to her on the bed. "Della!"

Delaney's head snapped up from her drawing of a random tree with thick branches. "Huh?"

"Are we boring you?" Sam joked, laughing slightly at Delaney's dazed expression.

"No, sorry, I'm listening. Keep going," Delaney replied and went back to doodling on her container.

"I found something in Sacramento where a man shot himself in the head... three times," Sam read off from one of the newspaper articles in his hands. "Any of this sound off to you?"

Delaney furrowed her brows as she stared down at her drawing of the tree. It looked oddly familiar to her and she was hit with a sense of déjà vu. Her mind worked at max speed to try and figure out where she had seen it before when she had finally placed it in her mind. "I know where I've seen this!" She exclaimed as she scrambled off the bed, scaring both Dean and Sam who weren't ready for the outburst.

"Seen what, Della?" Dean asked as he watched Delaney dig through his duffle bag for something. "And can you get out of my bag?"

"No, I've seen this tree before," Delaney clarified, taking out John's journal from Dean's bag. She shuffled through all the papers before she finally pulled out the picture she was looking for. It was of John, Mary, Dean, Sam and Delaney in front of their house, the tree she drew directly behind them next to the house. "Okay, I know where we're going next."

Dean and Sam exchanged a wary look with each other. "Where?"

"Back home... to Kansas."

Dean couldn't help the scoff that escaped his lips. "Okay, random. Where is this coming from?"

Delaney chewed on her lip as she thought about how exactly to word this. She was going to sound crazy, even to her brothers who have seen just about everything that shouldn't even be normal. "All right, um... this photo was taken in front of our old house, right? The house where mom died?" She showed her brothers photo.

"Yeah...?" Sam trailed off, not knowing where his sister was going with this.

"It didn't burn completely, right? They rebuilt it?"

"I guess, so, yeah. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Okay, look, this is going to sound crazy, but the people who live in our old house... I think they might be in danger," Delaney explained, looking between her two brothers nervously. They both looked at her as if she had just sprouted three heads from her neck.

"Della, why would you think that?" Dean inquired, glancing up at Delaney who had a frantic look going on in her face.

"Uh... well... Just – can you guys just trust me on this?" Delaney asked as she walked over to her bag on the other side of the room.

Dean tossed the photo back onto the table and stood up, crossing his arms. "Okay, hold your horses there, kiddo. Trust you? You have got to give me a little more than that here."

Delaney sighed as she continued to shuffle around in her duffle bag. "I can't really explain it, okay?"

"Well, tough, Delaney. I'm not going anywhere until you do," Dean argued, shaking his head.

Delaney groaned, throwing her head back. "Dean, please..."

Dean gave her the look she used to get from John when she was in trouble. It was the kind of look that would probably send a demon running if it saw it. "Delaney Elizabeth Winchester, tell me what is going on right now or so help me God..." he warned, clearly not wanting to play the little game of charades anymore.

Delaney stood up to her full height and faced her brothers. Sam was now stood next to Dean, looking a little more worried than Dean. Mainly because Dean was currently more annoyed than anything that Delaney wasn't cooperating with him and not saying everything. Taking a deep breath, Delaney decided to just go off with it and hope for the best. "I have these nightmares."

"We've noticed," Sam said and nodded for Delaney to add more to her story.

"And sometimes they come true..."

Dean's face fell at that and a small chuckle of disbelief came out. "Come again?"

Delaney rubbed her arm as she felt the nerves continue to rise. She hated the way Dean and Sam looked at her as if she were made of ice. Or as if she had told them she killed their puppy. It was a hard thing to face when both of her brothers looked like they wanted to cry because they were sickened with worry over her. "Look, boys... I dreamt about Will's death a few times before it happened."

"People can have weird dreams, Delly," Sam voiced after a minute of silence, though it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her. "It could just be a coincidence."

"No, I dreamt about everything from that night. The blood dripping and Will..." Delaney stopped for a second before she could burst into tears over the whole thing. She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath to calm her rapidly beating heart. "Him on the ceiling and him bursting into flames. I didn't do anything because I just thought it was nightmares from the stress I was under from school. Now I'm dreaming about that tree, our house and some woman inside screaming for someone to help her. It has to mean something, right, because it's where it all started."

Dean stared down at his hands for a long moment. The silence was slowly killing Delaney because she just wanted him or Sam to say something, anything. However, the both of them looked like they didn't want to say anything at all.

"Can one of you just say something? Please?"

Dean was finally the one to break the silence between the three, "I don't know."

Delaney felt a sudden annoyance wash over her. "What do you mean you don't know, Dean? This woman might be in danger. This might be the thing that killed Mom and Will!"

Dean abruptly stood up from his seat on the bed and started to pace, his hands working through his hair a few times. "All right, just slow down, would you?"

Delaney dropped onto the bed across from Sam and let out a much needed breath. She knew telling this to her brothers would spark some deeply hidden thing. "Sam?"

"Dean's right, Delly, it's a lot. I mean, first you're telling us you got this type of The Shining going on inside you?" Sam shook his head. "And then..."

"And then you tell me that I've got to go back home when I promised myself I would never go back," Dean cut Sam off, looking like he was two seconds from having a break down.

Sam glanced between Delaney and Dean for a second. Maybe Delaney could be on to something, but it did seem out there. However, as Sam stared at his little sister for a minute, he could see the amount of weight that was on her shoulders from all the nightmares she was having. Maybe he could do something to take just a little off. "Dean, we have to check this out. Just to make sure Delly is right."

"I know we do."

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A few hours later, Dean pulled up in front of the old Winchester house and shut the engine off. The three siblings stared out the window at the modern green and white house that looked like it should have a white picket fence in front of it.

"Are you okay, Dean?" Delaney asked, continuing to stare up at the home she had only known for six months. It was like she was in a sort of trance staring at the house. She couldn't believe they were really back here after all these years of being out of Kansas.

"Let me get back to you on that," Dean responded with a heavy sigh.

Delaney got out of the car with her brothers and walked up to the front door, ringing the doorbell. She stepped back to stand between her two brothers and waited for the door to be opened by the exact woman she had seen her in her nightmares the night before.

"Yes?" the blonde woman opened the door a little more to properly see the three standing in front of her. "Can I help you?"

"Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but we're with the federal –"

"I'm Delaney Winchester," Delaney suddenly spoke up, cutting Dean's fake spiel off. She could feel Dean's glare on the side of her head but she didn't care. "These are my brothers, Sam and Dean. We used to live here when we were younger. You know, we were just driving by, and we were wondering if we could see the old place we grew up in."

The woman's eyes seemed to light up in recognition when Delaney had mentioned their name. "That is so funny. I think I found some of your photos the other night."

Dean's eyes widened as he focused back on the woman in front of him instead of his little sister. "You what?"

The woman looked behind her in thought as if she were thinking of inviting them in. Delaney really hoped she had dug under the woman's skin enough to get her to let them inside. She wanted to save this woman, even if ended up killing her. She didn't want this family to go through what her and brothers went through. No one should have to go through that, ever. "Yeah, come on in."

Delaney silently cheered as she followed after the woman into the house, her brothers slowly trailing behind her. The boys seemed to take everything in as they looked around the house, following the woman into the kitchen where a two year old stood in his play pen, jumping up and down begging for juice. A young girl with brown hair was sat at the table doing her homework.

"That's Richie," the woman introduced, gesturing to her son as she quickly made her way over to the fridge and grabbed a sippy cup from it. "He's kind of a juice junkie. At least he won't get scurvy." She kissed Richie's head as she handed him juice which he happily took. "Sari, this is Delaney, Dean and Sam. They used to live here."

Sari smiled shyly up the siblings. "Hello."

"Hi, Sari," Delaney greeted back with a small wave. "So, you just moved in?"

"Uh, yeah, from Wichita."

"You got family here?" Dean asked, awkwardly stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets.

"No, I just, uh... needed a fresh start," the woman replied cryptically. Delaney didn't blame her for not giving out why she moved to three total strangers. "So new town, new job – I mean, as soon as I can find one – new house."

"So, how are you liking it so far?" Sam questioned, deciding it was best to just change the topic to why they were here.

She turned from her spot at the sink where she had started washing some dishes. "Oh, well, all due respect to your childhood home – I'm sure you have lots of happy memories here – but this place has its issues."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"It's just getting old, like the wiring? We've got flickering lights almost hourly," she explained, leaning against the counter behind her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Delaney apologized even though she didn't need to. She just felt bad that a home that she had kind of grown up in was giving this woman problems. She was more than sure the flickering lights constantly were something from a spirit, but she wasn't putting all her eggs in one basket until she got more information. "What else?"

"Um... the sink's backed up. There's rats in the basement," she seemed to pause when she noticed Dean's expression mixed between pain and sadness. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain."

Dean shook his head to show her that it was okay. He was just being moody because the house brought back too many memories for him to be comfortable. "No, it's okay. Um, have you seen the rats or just heard scratching?"

"Just the scratching, actually."

"Mom?" Sari called to her mom and the woman squatted down next to her daughter. "Ask them if it was here when they lived here."

Delaney exchanged a look with her brothers before turning her attention to the little girl. "What did you see, sweetie?"

"There was something in my closet," Sari answered and the way she looked up at Delaney with such doe-like, innocent eyes, tugged at Delaney's heartstrings. She looked so innocently scared that Delaney just wanted to hug her.

"Oh, baby, there was nothing in their closets," the woman assured Sari. "Right, guys?"

"No, of course not," Sam whispered, forcing a smile onto his face.

The woman ran a hand over Sari's hair softly. "Sari just had a nightmare the other night is all."

"I wasn't dreaming," Sari countered. "It came into my bedroom, and it was on fire."

Delaney ran a hand through her hair and she could feel her lungs tightening. So, she was right. These people were in danger.

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Delaney rushed out of the house a little while later after her brothers. The woman, Jenny, had offered them all some tea and talked with them a little more before Sam made an excuse about the siblings needing to be somewhere. "See? I'm not going crazy, Dean! That little girl saw something on fire walking around."

"And Jenny was the woman in your dreams?" Dean asked for clarification as he speed walked over to the Impala.

"Yeah, and you hear what she was talking about – scratching, flickering lights? That's a spirit, right?" Delaney questioned as she stopped in front of the Impala with her brothers. "Like a mean one?"

"A malevolent spirit," Sam corrected.

Dean leaned against the car and ran his hands over his face in stress. "I'm just freaked out my baby sister is seeing things that are coming true."

Delaney huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Dean, can we look past that for now? The thing in that house, do you think it could be the thing that killed Mom and Will?"

"I don't know, Della," Dean replied.

Sam had his arms crossed and he was biting his thumbnail in thought. "I mean, if itis the thing that killed Will and Mom, the question would be if it came back... or if it never left."

"Or," Dean stressed, pushing himself off the car and looking between his two younger siblings. "It could be something else entirely. We don't know yet!"

"Those people are in danger," Delaney snapped at Dean, all the frustration she was feeling was finally catching up to her. "We have to get them out of that house. I will not see what happened to us, happen to them too."

Dean rolled his eyes and started to open his door. "We will, Delaney, relax."

"No, now, Dean. We can't wait!"

"Delly, Dean is right. We have to put our heads together. Make up a story she will believe in order to get her out of the house," Sam cut in before Dean could make any snark comment to Delaney. "Okay?"

Delaney reluctantly nodded and followed her brothers into the car so Dean could get gas. While the two boys filled up the tank, Delaney walked into the small gas station store and bought some water for the three of them before she ventured back outside.

"Delaney, look, I know you're worried about Jenny and the kids, okay? I know this whole thing is probably scaring you, but we need to chill and think rationally," Sam said to Delaney as they both sat on the hood of the Impala while Dean finished up with the gas.

"I know, and I'm probably pissing Dean off by pushing him to do this when this is the last place he wants to be, but I can't sit with the thought of Jenny and her kids constantly being in danger. I can't see anyone else get hurt because of that house," Delaney explained, leaning her head on Sam's shoulder. "Sammy, what do I do about this whole nightmare thing?"

Sam leaned his head on top of Delaney's and took a minute to process his thoughts before replying, "I don't know, little one. We'll figure it out together, just like always."

Dean walked around to the front of the Impala where Sam and Delaney were. "Sorry to break up your chick flick moment," he mused as he stood in front of his siblings. "What would we do if this were any other case?"

"We would figure out what we were dealing with," Delaney sat up and wrapped her arms around her legs. "Find out the history of the house."

Dean pointed a finger at Delaney and grinned. "Exactly. This time, however, we already know what previously happened. Sammy and I might remember more than you would since you were a baby, but you know it too."

"Dean?" Delaney said, and Dean nodded for Delaney to ask what she wanted. "What do you remember from that night?"

"Not much," Dean sighed, placing his hands in his jean pockets. "I remember the fire... the heat from it. That I was so scared because I didn't know what was going to happen. I remember Dad handing you to me and telling me to take you and Sammy outside. So, I did. You in one arm and then Sammy holding onto my other hand."

"You did?"

"You never knew that?" Dean asked, surprised that she didn't know about that detail. It wasn't much of an important one, but to him it was. At that time, he felt like he was helping save his two siblings that meant the world to him more than anything else.

Delaney silently shook her head as she stared up at Dean through her eyelashes. She always knew Dean was the one to be more protective than Sammy. Now, Delaney kind of understood now where that all had started. The night their mom died.

"And, uh... you know the other side of the story. Mom was... on the ceiling, and whatever put her there was long gone by the time Dad found her."

"Yeah, I remember Dad running around trying to find whatever did it. He was in there so long Dean and I thought the house was going to fall down on him and we would lose both parents in one night. I remember just sitting on the sidewalk with you in between Dean and I as we both clung onto you as if you would disappear next," Sam added in.

Delaney pinched Dean's cheeks. "Aw, Dean had a soft moment."

Dean slapped her hand away. "Get away from me, brat," he laughed, Delaney and Sam joining in soon after.

"But, Dad never had a theory of what did it?"

"If he did, he kept it to himself," Sam replied, leaning back on his hands. "God knows Dean and I asked him enough times."

Delaney placed her elbows on her knees and put her chin in her hands. "Okay, well, if we're going to find out what's going on now, we have to figure out what happened with Mom. See if it's the same thing."

"Yeah, talk to Dad's friends, neighbors, people who were there at the time," Dean said, listing them off on his fingers as he went.

Sam laughed quietly and leaned his head back. "Does this feel like just another job to you guys?"

Delaney shrugged absentmindedly and quickly looked to Dean when she heard him sniffle. She had never once seen her brother cry. He was always Mr. Big Macho Man, never this big teddy bear that has emotions. Dean always tried to conceal his emotions so he could seem tougher. Delaney had seen the break in his walls once when Delaney wasn't paying attention one day and almost got ran over by a car. It was just her and Dean walking to the store to buy her a toy since she had been good in school that day. Delaney had never seen Dean so worried and upset in her life. She also never heard him yell at her like that before. He apologized right after because he was just scared she was going to be hurt, but she did see the flash of weakness in his eyes when it happened.

"I'll be right back. I got to go to the bathroom," Dean quickly excused himself and walked away from Sam and Delaney.

"Will Dean be okay, Sammy?" Delaney asked, looking up at Sam who watched Dean walk away with a slight worried expression.

"Yeah, Delly, don't worry about him," Sam assured her with a smile as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "We both know how he gets. He'll be fine."

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"So, you and John Winchester used to own this garage together?" The three Winchester siblings followed the head mechanic around the auto repair shop that was close to the old Winchester house.

"Yeah, we used to. A long time ago. Matter of fact must be twenty years since John disappeared. So, why are the cops interested all of a sudden?"

Delaney rocked back on her heels nervously. Dean had mentioned that maybe they shouldn't tell everyone in town that they were John's kids since he wasn't sure the reaction they would get. Delaney wasn't sure how much it would work since her and Dean both look awfully a lot like John. However, no one noticed so far yet. "We decided to reopen some of our unsolved cases, and the Winchester disappearance is one of them."

The man placed his hands on his hips and eyed the three suspiciously. It didn't even bother Delaney anymore at this point because she got that look so often now it was as if it was a normal face people made every second of every day. "Well, what do you want to know about John?"

"Whatever you remember. Whatever sticks out in your mind," Sam responded.

"Well, he was a stubborn bastard. I remember that. And, uh... oh, whatever the game, he hated to lose, you know? It was that whole marine thing. But, uh... well, he sure loved Mary, and he doted on his three kids. They were his world, you know?"

The three siblings exchanged a sad look with each other. The tension in the room built up as the silence grew on.

"That was before fire, though," Sam said after a pregnant pause.

The man nodded. "He never talked about that night, at first. I think he was in shock, which anyone in his case would be."

"Right, but eventually – what did he say about?" Dean asked next.

"Oh, he wasn't thinking straight. He said, uh – he said something caused that fire and killed Mary."

Delaney shared a look with her brothers before asking, "Did he ever say what did it?"

"Nothing did it. It was an accident. An electrical short in the ceiling or walls or something. I begged him to get some help, but..." He trailed off, shaking his head sadly.

"But what?" Dean urged for the guy to go on.

"It just got worse and worse."

"How?"

"Oh, he started reading these strange old books. He started going to see this palm reader in town."

Delaney perked up at the sound of finally new information that could possibly help. "Palm reader? You have a name?"

The man scoffed and looked at her as if she were crazy. "No."

Dean excused the siblings and dragged them both to the old phonebooth down the block from the auto repair shop. Sam grabbed the phone book from the shelf and quickly searched through it for any name he could find of a psychic. "So, there are a few psychics and palm readers in town. There's someone named El Divino. There's the Mysterious Mr. Fortinsky. Uh, Missouri Moseley, some dude – "

"Wait, wait," Dean cut Sam off, leaning off the Impala. "Missouri Moseley?"

"What?" Sam asked, looking up from the phonebook in his hands.

"That's a psychic?"

"Uh... yeah. Yeah, I guess so."

"Dean?" Delaney said as she watched him shuffle in the backseat for John's journal. "What is it?"

Dean shut the door and opened the journal to start flipping through it. "In Dad's journal... look at this. First page, first sentence. Read that." He held the book out for Delaney to read.

Delaney gently took the book from her brother, eyeing him oddly. "Um... okay. I went to Missouri... and I learned the truth."

Dean shrugged and slapped his hands to his sides. "I always that thought the guy meant the state."

"Well, we'll just have to go see Missouri then, huh?"

authors note

so much sad dean and messed up delaney are coming & i am not ready to write it hELP