╭-°—✞——✞—°-╮

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗪𝗢

𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴?

╰-°—✞——✞—°-╯

Delaney frowned as she watched Dean fix up his car from the study window. Ever since breakfast ended, he had been underneath the car trying to fix it up while Sam sat on the ground with his back against the side just talking to him. The two had been acting strange ever since John died a week ago and the burned his body in the back like they would had it been any other hunter. She had tried to ask both of her brothers if John had mentioned anything before he randomly dropped, but they both claimed he said nothing. However, Delaney knew that was total bull.

The Winchester siblings had been with Bobby Singer for the past week, none of them not really being able to go anywhere with the Impala being out of commission still. Dean all but ignored her except when he actually had to talk to her like asking for the salt or making her move faster in the bathroom. Sam thought he was being subtle about how he looked at her now, but she could see his eyes well up every single time his eyes caught hers. At least he had brief conversations with her at the breakfast table. Delaney couldn't even find the words to explain how painful it was to have the two most important boys in her life treat her as if she wasn't even there.

It could just be her overthinking and the boys could just be taking their father's death a lot harder than her, but something was telling her that the boys were hiding something from her.

"Stare any harder and they'll burst into flames," Bobby teased as he strolled into the room, a small glass of scotch in his hand. He had been drinking a bit since John died, but not enough to worry Delaney. Yet. He was the only one that acknowledged her presence and he was the only conversation she's had in a week. She loved Bobby more than anything, but not talking to her brothers was really weighing on her mentally.

"Wouldn't be surprised," Delaney sighed and tore her eyes from her brothers, turning to face Bobby. "I see the future, why not set fire to two boys who act like I'm just as dead as our father."

"Del, you have to understand," Bobby began as he walked over to her, his eyes glancing to the two boys he practically adopted. "Your brothers - especially Dean - have their ways of dealing with this type of stuff. Dean shuts himself down because he doesn't want to burden anyone with his feelings and wants to make it seem like he's tougher than he is. Sam shows a little more, but I think with this one hitting home he's just shut down as much as Dean has. Just give them some time."

Delaney scoffed and slapped her hands to her sides. "Bobby, how long am I supposed to give them? He's my dad, too! You've helped me a lot this past week, don't get me wrong, but what I need right now are my brothers who won't even give me the time of day."

"Forcing them to talk will only make things worse, kid. You know that."

"Yeah, well, I've run out of both options and patience," Delaney huffed and turned back around to look at her brothers again. "I'm going out there."

Bobby shrugged and began to make his way over to the kitchen. "If they jump down your throat, don't involve me."

"Thanks for the help, Bobby!" Delaney retorted with a glare even though he couldn't see it with his back turned to her. She turned on her heels and made her way out to the lot outside Bobby's house that was littered with dozens of cars that were so far gone that there was no saving them. Delaney was even surprised that Dean got the Impala looking like a car again in the short amount of time he had so far to work on it.

Sam raised his hand to cover his eyes from the blazing sun above as he looked up at his baby sister when she was stood in front of him and Dean, who was still under the car tightening and loosening various bolts and screws. "Hey."

"How's the car coming?" Delaney asked.

"Slow," Dean replied from under the Impala.

"You need any help?"

Something from under the car fell off the bottom and nearly hit Dean in the head, who quickly moved and allowed the part to clatter to the dirt ground. "What - you under a hood, Della? I'll give a hard pass on that."

"Need anything else, then?" Delaney questioned, crossing her arms as Dean rolled himself out from under the hood and pushed himself to stand.

Sam merely just shook his head and stood to his feet, barely making eye contact with her as snatched his water bottle from the roof of the Impala and took a long sip from it.

"Delaney, just stop it," Dean grumbled, pushing past her to get to his tool cart.

"Stop what?"

"Stop asking Sammy and I if we need anything or if we're okay. I won't speak for Sammy, but I'm fine. Promise," Dean assured his baby sister.

Delaney wasn't exactly buying any of it. If the looks alone from both of her brothers was any type of give away, then Dean not even looking her in the face when he tried to convince her didn't help.

"I'm fine too, Delly," Sam said, hauling himself up to sit on the newly fixed trunk of the Impala.

Delaney rocked back on her heels as she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her hoodie - which just so happened to be Will's old football one with his name and number on the back that she may or may not have purposefully shrunk so she could officially keep it. "All right, boys, it's just... we've been at Bobby's for over a week now and neither one of you have brought Dad up once. You won't even look at me when we're the same room or try to talk to me. Sammy at least has a thirty second conversation with me in the morning, but you, Dean, you don't even say a word unless it's for me to hurry in the shower or give you the salt at dinner. It's like you both think I'm dead too or something."

"You know what?" Dean said, tossing the tool he had just picked up back onto the tool cart in front of him and looked over his shoulder at Delaney. "You're right, Delaney. Come here. I'll lay my head gently on your shoulder. Maybe Sam can join in and we can all cry, hug and maybe even slow dance."

Delaney glared at Dean and she could see Sam tensing in her peripheral vision. He knew a fight was coming and as much as Delaney hated it was even coming down to a fight, at least she got Dean talking to her again. "Don't you dare patronize me, Dean. Dad is dead, the Colt is gone, and it seems pretty damn likely that the demon is behind all of this. You're acting like nothing even happened. I was the one find Dad dead in his room, how do you think that made me feel, Dean, huh? One second he was fine and talking to us in your room and the next I'm finding him collapsed in his hospital room with the Colt stolen."

"What do you want us to say?" Sam inquired softly, finally looking at her for once without looking like he was about to burst into tears.

"Say something, okay?! Hell, say anything! Aren't either one of you angry? Don't you want revenge?" Delaney hissed, her anger and frustration finally boiling over with both of her brothers. "All you ever do, Dean, is sit out here buried underneath this damn car while Sam sits there and watches you, occasionally handing you a tool or mumbling mini conversations to you."

Dean chuckled humorlessly as he played with the socket wrench in his hand. "Revenge, huh? Sounds good, but you got any leads on where the demon is? Making heads or tails of any of Dad's research? 'Cause Sammy and I sure as Hell haven't. When we do finally find it - oh, no, wait, like you said, the Colt's gone."

Delaney's expression turned dark as Dean continued to patronize her like suddenly he was her father now that John wasn't there. She was used to Dean being like a second dad to her during the times John was away and for the few months they were searching for him, but this was a whole other level of Dean taking charge.

"Dean..." Sam warned quietly to just drop it and if Delaney wasn't so pissed at him too, she would have hugged him for coming to her aid.

However, as usual, Dean ignored him. "I'm sure you found a different way to kill this demon though. We have nothing, Della - nothing, okay? So the only thing I can do is I can work on the car."

Delaney fumbled her back pocket and produced a small flip phone. She had found it in her Dad's stuff during one of the first days they had been with Bobby. With the boys ignoring her after they torched John's body, she had nothing else to do and to help herself cope with his loss, Delaney decided to go through what he had and hope to find something that could lead them to the demon or the Colt again. However, she turned up nothing good except for the small flip phone with all of John's contacts and old voicemails.

"Well, we have one thing," Delaney informed, holding the phone up for both of her brothers to see. "It's one of the reasons I originally came out here to tell you and not just have a petty argument."

Dean narrowed his eyes at her while Sam stared curiously at the device in her hand. "What is that?"

"Dad's old phone. It took me awhile but I cracked his voicemail code," Delaney explained, flipping the phone open and clicking through the voicemails until she found the one she was looking for. "Listen to this."

"John, it's Ellen... again. Look, don't be stubborn. You know I can help you. Call me."

Both of her brothers raised their eyebrows at her, not really seeing the importance of the voicemail at all since it gave away nothing.

"It's four months old."

"Dad saved a random woman's message for four months?" Sam questioned since it seemed out of character for John to do something like that. Once he helped someone with a case that left him a message, it was deleted in case anything were to happen. "Did Dad mention her in the journal at all?"

Delaney frowned and shook her head, running a hand through her hair. "No, not that I saw. I did get Bobby to run a trace on the number and he got me an address."

Dean and Sam looked to each other holding a silent conversation for a long moment. It seemed to be the two did frequently now and Delaney hated to admit how much it bothered her.

"Ask Bobby if we can use one of his cars."

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"This is humiliating," Dean groaned as he turned off the dusty and old van Bobby let the three use. They were pulled up in front of a wooden little building with HARVELLE'S ROADHOUSE displayed on a green sign. Harvelle in white cursive font while Roadhouse was made into lights like on a Broadway sign. "I feel like a friggin' soccer mom."

Delaney looked around them, the Roadhouse being the only thing around them save for dirt roads and a singular payphone that Delaney wasn't even sure worked anymore. "It was the only one Bobby had running still."

"Hello?" Sam called as he circled around the small building, but came up empty when nobody responded. "Anybody here?"

Having no patience for any of it, Dean dropped to his knees and picked the lock on the door before shoving it open.

"Seriously?" Delaney chided, back handing him lightly on the shoulder.

"What? We're in aren't we?" Dean remarked and made his way into the small bar with his brother and sister following behind him.

The inside was completely empty of anyone making the three wonder if they were really here by themselves. A bug zapper hanging in the corner to their right buzzed occasionally as flies flew into it. Across from them in the back of the bar, a guy laid passed out on the pool table.

"Hey, buddy?" Dean greeted as they made their way over to his sleeping form.

"Well, I guess that isn't Ellen," Delaney mused.

"Nope," Sam responded and continued to search the place for any sign of the Ellen women or anyone who could tell them where to find her. The guy passed out on the pool table wasn't going to do them any good.

The sound of a shotgun being cocked made Delaney tense and she turned from where she still stood by the pool table to see a small, blonde girl that looked to be around Dean's age pressing the barrel of the shotgun into his back.

"Oh, God, please let that be a rifle."

"No, I'm just really happy to see you," the blonde girl sarcastically remarked with a smirk. She pressed the barrel a little deeper when Dean's arms raised to hold them in defense. "Don't move."

"Okay... not moving - copy that," Dean promised, keeping his hands still. "You should know something, miss. When you put a rifle on someone, you don't want to put it right against their back. 'Cause it makes it real easy to do..." He trailed off and spun around, grabbing the shotgun out of the girl's hands. "That."

Delaney gasped as the blonde punched Dean square in the nose. "Dean!" She yelled and rushed over to him, grabbing his upper arm when he stumbled into her.

"Sammy, we need some help in here!"

Delaney cautiously eyed the blonde who now had the shotgun pointed at now both her and Dean. She wouldn't even put it past the girl if she shot them both right now because she did not look like she was playing around.

"Sorry, guys," Sam said as he was pushed into the room with a silver gun pointed at his back by a dirty blonde haired woman who was most likely around their father's age. "I can't right now. I'm a little tied up."

The dirty blonde haired woman froze as her eyes bounced between the three siblings. "Sam, Dean and I want to assume Delaney? Winchester?"

"Guilty," Delaney responded, stumbling a little as Dean leaned on her more holding a hand under his nose. It didn't seem to be bleeding which was a good sign, even though Dean kept mumbling about not being able to see. Though that just might be him being dramatic.

"Son of a bitch," the dirty blonde cursed quietly.

"Mom, you know these people?" the blonde asked, lowering the shotgun slightly but not enough that it left Dean and Delaney. She could still shoot them if anything happened.

"Yeah, I think these are John Winchester's kids." The dirty blonde woman laughed and dropped the silver gun to her side. "Hey, I'm Ellen. That's my daughter, Jo."

Dean slowly lowered his hand from his nose as he turned his focus back to Jo who now had her shotgun pointed towards the wooden floor. "You're not gonna hit me again, are you?"

Jo just smiled at him and gestured for the three siblings to take a seat at the bar while Ellen ran to get dean a small thing of ice wrapped around a blue and white checkered dish cloth. Delaney was sat between Sam and Dean while Ellen stood on the other side of the bar and Jo sitting a two seats over from the siblings.

"So, you called our dad, said you could help - help with what?"

"Well, the demon, of course," Ellen responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I heard he was closing in on it."

Delaney and her brothers all exchanged the same look. This random woman and her daughter knew all about the yellow eyed demon? "Was there an article in the Demon Hunter's Quarterly that we missed? How exactly do you guys know about this?"

"Hey, I just run a saloon," Ellen defended, holding her hands up to show she was harmless. "Hunters have been known to pass through now and again, including your dad a long time ago. John was like family once."

Dean snorted around his cloth of ice. "Oh yeah? How come he's never mentioned you before?"

"You'd have to ask him that."

Delaney rolled her lips into her mouth as her gaze drifted to her hands clasped in front of her on the bar. Her brothers stayed quiet on either side of her as well. All three of them having a silent agreement to not bring up the fact that he was dead so they couldn't exactly ask him.

"So, why exactly do we need your help?" Dean eventually asked.

"Hey, don't do me any favors. Look, if you don't want my help, fine. Don't let the door smack your ass on the way out. But John wouldn't have sent you if..." Ellen trailed off at the grim expression on the three siblings' faces. "He didn't send you."

Delaney shook her head and tried to force back the tears that threatened to fall down her face. She effectively ignored the look that Dean and Sam seemed to give her as they both noticed the moisture in her eyes.

"He's all right, isn't he?" Ellen asked, eyes darting between the three siblings as she seemed to stand up straighter as the air in the room grew tense.

"No," Sam spoke up, shaking his head. His voice sounded a lot stronger than Delaney would have thought it would when talking about this. "No, he's not. It was the demon we think. It just got him before he got it, I guess."

Ellen and Jo's faces seemed to fall at the fact that John was now dead. "Oh, I'm so sorry, guys."

"We're okay," Dean assured, fixing the cloth on his nose so it pressed more against the bruised area.

"Really?" Ellen seemed shocked by that and Delaney wanted so bad to give Dean a smirk that screamed I TOLD YOU THAT YOU WEREN'T BEING SUBTLE but she decided to not do that and avoid another argument. "I know how close you and your dad - "

"Really, lady, I'm fine," Dean harshly cut her off.

"Dean," Delaney scolded before turning to Ellen with a small smile. "Um, look, if you can help... we could really use all the help we can get right now."

Dean shot Delaney a stern look, clearly not happy with the fact that she was asking this woman they didn't know for help.

"Well, we can't," Ellen answered. "But Ash will."

"Who's Ash?" Sam questioned.

"Ash!"

A grunt was heard from behind them as the guy knocked out on the pool table startled awake, falling backwards off the table and onto the hardwood floor beneath him. "What? Is it closing time?"

Sam blinked as he stared at Ash who had a flannel on with the sleeves ripped off, ripped jeans and dirty brown boots. His dirty blonde mullet hair was sticking up everywhere. "That's Ash?"

"Mm-hmm. He's a genius."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Ash sat himself down on the corner stool at the bar as his eyes traveled to the accordion folder that held all of John's work during his years of hunting, something Delaney had threw together when going through his stuff. Delaney and Sam sat down on the two stools on the other set of stools while Dean stood in between his siblings and Ash at the corner of the bar.

"There's no way he's a genius. He's a Lynyrd Skynyrd roadie," Dean scoffed, crossing his arms across his chest. He glared at Delaney when she elbowed him in the stomach for being rude and pushed her head.

"Knock it off, children," Sam scolded and gave Dean a look to stop.

"I like him," Ash stated and pointed at Dean.

Dean beamed. "Thanks."

Jo walked over with empty glasses and a bottle of scotch, pouring a glass for the two Winchester boys and giving Delaney a water since Dean had dropped the bomb that Delaney was still under the drinking age. She only had two months left of being twenty, but Delaney wasn't going to argue with him when he was already off with her. "Just give him a chance."

Dean glanced from Jo to Ash who gave him a cocky smirk. When he noticed his siblings giving him the same look to just let him speak, he sighed and plopped down onto the stool at the corner of the bar that was next to Ash's corner stool on the other side and next to Delaney. "Fine. Well, this stuff is about a year's worth of our dad's work, so let's see what you make of it."

Ash slid the folder over to him and opened it up, taking out all the pages Delaney had tossed inside. He flipped through the decently sized stack as he shook his head, laughing quietly to himself. "Come on. This crap ain't real. Ain't nobody can track a demon like this."

"Our dad could," Sam boasted, gesturing to the stack of obvious information that John Winchester had, infact, tracked the yellow eyed demon.

Ash continued to flip through the pages. "These are nonparametric statistical overviews, cross-spectrum correlations. I mean...damn. They're signs, omens. If you can track them, you can track this demon - you know, like crop failures, electrical storms. You ever been struck by lightning? It ain't fun."

Delaney blinked at Ash's rambling. She had to take a second to actually process everything he had said, but was still confused on if he could actually track the demon or not. He made it seem like he could with giving them the signs. At this point, though, she wasn't sure of anything. "So... you can track the demon or not?"

"Yeah, with this, I think so," Ash replied, eyes skimming the page currently held in his hand. "It's gonna take time. Give me... fifty-one hours." He gave one final nod to the siblings and hopped off his stool, making his way back towards his room in the back.

"Hey, man!" Dean called and Ash turned back around to face him. "By the way, I dig the haircut."

Ash shrugged, running his hand through the top of his head. "All business up front," he began before moving his hand to tug on the back of his head. "Party in the back."

Sam scanned the bar that was now just him, Delaney, Dean, Jo and Ellen. He stopped when he saw something behind Ellen. "Hey, Ellen, what is that?"

Ellen glanced behind her from where she stood filling up the beer taps behind the bar. "Oh, that? It's a police scanner. We keep tabs on things -"

"No, no, no, no. The folder," Sam clarified and pointed to a white folder with red writing on the front.

"Uh..." Ellen trailed off and grabbed the white folder, walking over to Sam and Delaney who still sat at the bar while Dean went to sit with Jo at the table a few feet away. "I was going to give it to an old friend of mine, but you kids take a look if you want."

Delaney scooted closer on her stool to her brother to look over his shoulder at the folder in his hand. It had a newspaper clipping clipped to the front of it.

COUPLE MURDERED

CHILD LEFT ALIVE

MEDFORD, WISC.

"Supernatural?" Delaney asked Sam as he flipped it open, shifting through all the files inside.

"We'll find out," Sam responded.

Delaney grabbed one of the newspaper articles that had been placed inside and skimmed it. "Sammy, I think I found something."

"Dean, come check this out!" Sam called to his brother as he read over his sister's shoulder.

Dean placed his hands on either side of his sister on the bar in front of her as he peered over her shoulder to look over the article in her hands. Any other time, Delaney would have yelled at him about personal space, but since this was the first time in about a week that he had been this close to her, she decided not to say anything.

"Um, so, a few murders not far from here that Ellen caught wind of - looks to me like there might be a hunt."

"So?"

"Since we have fifty-one hours to kill... we're going."

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"You have got to be kidding me, Delaney - a killer clown?" Dean groaned, obviously finding the whole thing stupid and ludacris.

Delaney held her flashlight between her cheek and shoulder as she continued to go through the folder they took from Ellen's. "Yeah, says he left the daughter unharmed and killed the parents. Ripped them to pieces."

"This family was at some carnival that night?" Sam asked, remembering one of the bits of information that Delaney mentioned when they first started to shift through everything to be ready when they reached Wisconsin.

"The Cooper Carnival," Delaney informed.

"How do you know we're not dealing with some psycho carny in a clown suit?" Dean challenged.

Delaney sighed and dropped the flashlight from between her shoulder and cheek, wishing Dean would just go with this since it did sound quite odd. "The cops have no leads and all the employees were tearing down shop - alibis all around. Plus the little girl said she saw a clown vanish into thin air. Cops think it's trauma, of course."

Dean smirked at his brother next to him. "I know what you're thinking, Sammy - WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE CLOWNS!"

"Sammy, you're afraid of clowns?" Delaney giggled. "You kill demons, ghosts and vampires for a living, but you're scared of a face painted guy with horrible wig and outfit choices?"

Sam glared at his two siblings who were both struggling to hide their obvious amusement at Sam's childhood fear. "Give me a break."

"Dude, you still cry at the sight of Ronald McDonald when he comes on the TV," Dean teased.

"At least I'm not afraid of flying or heights," Sam defended.

"Planes crash!"

"Yeah and if you fall from a tall height you aren't surviving. I'm used to being close to the ground so I don't need to be up high. Thanks," Delaney huffed at her brother.

"Yeah, well, apparently clowns kill."

Dean rolled his eyes before asking, "So, these types of murders - that ever happen before?"

Delaney flipped through the pages before she came to the page with the other occurrences. "Um, according to this, in 1981 at the Bunker Brothers Circus. Same M.O. - it happened three different times, three different locales."

"If it is a spirit, it's usually bound to a specific locale - a house or a town," Sam explained, not understanding how this could be a haunting since the places keep changing.

"How's this one moving from city to city?" Dean finished his brother's thought.

"Could it be a cursed object?" Delaney asked.

Dean hummed as he leaned his head from side to side as he thought about Delaney's question. "Spirit attaches itself to something and the carnival carries it around with them."

"Great. Paranormal scavenger hunt," Sam complained.

"Blame Delaney she's the one that wanted to take this hunt. By the way, why is that? You were awfully quick to jump on this job, Della."

Delaney furrowed her eyebrows as she shut the folder and put it beside her along with the now turned off flashlight. "Um, so? Your point?"

"It's just not like you, that's all. I thought you were Hell-bent for leather on the demon hunt."

"I don't know. I just thought maybe taking this job is what dad would want us to do."

Dean raised an eyebrow, glancing at his baby sister through the rearview mirror. "What Dad would have wanted?"

"Again... what's your point?"

Dean narrowed his eyes at her as he tried to analyze her mood, but his sister seemed to be sincere about wanting to do this for John. It threw him off slightly since Delaney and John never saw eye to eye on much. "Nothing."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

It had just reached mid-morning by the time the Winchesters made it to the carnival. Dean slowly pulled into a spot and parked, groaning quietly. "Check it out - five-o," he announced and nodded towards the two detectives talking to two clowns.

The three hopped out of Bobby's van. Sam and Delaney went to wait by a ride while Dean went alone to talk to the two clowns once the two detectives walked off. A few clowns passed by the two siblings and Delaney felt Sam tense slightly next to her.

"Do you want me to hold your hand, Sammy?" Delaney mused and she grinned when he shot her a heated glare.

"Shut up, Delly, don't patronize me or I'll put you on the ferris wheel."

Delaney's eyebrows shot up at her brother's lame comeback. "Good one."

Sam mocked her and leaned against the side wall of the tilt-a-whirl ride they stood next to. A woman that couldn't be taller than Delaney's knee walked by and stared at Sam the whole time. Sam shifted uncomfortably under her gaze and Delaney smiled brightly at the woman who remained straight faced until she was gone.

"You get her number, Sammy?" Dean teased as he walked back over to his younger siblings.

"Any more murders?" Sam asked, completely ignoring his brother.

Dean's eyes squinted against the blazing sun as he scanned the area around them. "Well, there was another one last night. Apparently, they were ripped to shreds, and they had a little boy with them."

"A little boy who fingered a clown."

Delaney's face scrunched up in disgust at Sam's choice of words. "Sam, never word anything like that ever again. Please."

Dean shook his head as he tried to rid the image that popped into his head thanks to his brother. "Yes, a clown, who apparently vanished into thin air."

"You guys know that looking for a cursed object is like looking for a needle in a stack of needles. It could be anything."

"Well, it's bound to give off EMF," Dean explained. "So we'll just have to scan everything."

"That's nice and inconspicuous," Delaney retorted.

Dean looked around them and his eyes landed on a help wanted sign nailed to wooden post outside a white and red striped tent. "I guess we'll just have to blend in."

The three siblings made their way over to the tent and glanced inside to see an older man dressed in a black suit throwing knives at a dartboard. They slowly made their way inside and looked around, even though there wasn't much to see except for the man and the dartboard.

"We're looking for Mr. Cooper, you've seen him around?" Dean questioned the older man as they stopped a few feet from the platform he stood on.

The man turned around and Delaney grimaced when she noticed he had black sunglasses on, the type that blind people wore. Wrong choice of words there, Dean. "What is that - some kind of joke?" He removed his glasses to show two glassed over eyes, that were a shade blue-gray and almost no pupils present.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry," Dean quickly apologized as he didn't know the man was blind.

"You think I wouldn't give my eyeteeth to see Mr. Cooper or a sunset or anything at all?" the older man continued on his loud rant.

Dean turned to his siblings with a desperate expression. "Want to help me out here?"

Delaney and Sam stood a few feet back, wearing the same amused grins and trying to contain their laughter. "Nope, not really," they replied in unison and high-fived at their synchronization.

"Barry, is there a problem?" a tiny man around the same height as the woman that passed by Sam and Delaney just a few minutes prior, stepped into the tent. He wore a blue wrestling singlet with white stars on it that looked more like a pair of tight boxers with two thin straps on it to go over his shoulders and then a red sequined cape.

"Yeah, this guy hates blind people."

"No, I don't," Dean chuckled nervously and his anxious gaze turned to his siblings who still stood there watching the whole scene in amusement.

"Hey, buddy, what's your problem?" the small man in front of Dean snapped.

"Nothing. It's just a little misunderstanding."

The small man's face turned dark at Dean's term. "Little? You son of a bitch."

Delaney's eyes widened when she saw the small man raise the pole in his hand while Sam stood next to her laughing hysterically. Something she couldn't help but join in on. She half wanted to record the whole thing and watch it on repeat for the rest of her life.

"No, no, no! Could somebody just tell me where Mr. Cooper is?" Dean exclaimed, waving his hands in frustration. "Please?"

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"You three picked a hell of a time to join up," Mr. Cooper said as he lead the three Winchesters into his office. "Take a seat."

Delaney and Dean exchanged look when they saw two chairs sat in front of Mr. Cooper's desk. One was a basic black cushioned chair with metal legs and a clown chair. They nodded to each other and pushed past Sam to get to the black chair and Delaney plopped herself down on it just before Sam could, making him have to take the clown seat. Dean chose to stand behind his sister and leaned his hands on the back of it, subtly bumping fists with her as Sam begrudgingly took the clown chair.

"We got all kinds of local trouble," Mr. Cooper finished as he took his own seat behind his desk.

"What do you mean?" Delaney inquired as if she didn't already know.

"A couple of folks got themselves murdered," Mr. Cooper sadly explained. "Cops always seem to start here first. So, you three ever work the circuit before?"

Sam nodded as he uncomfortably shifted in the seat, the clown nose poking into his back. "Uh, yes, sir. We worked last year through Texas and Arkansas."

"Doing what?" Mr. Cooper questioned. "Ride jockeys? Pull shoot? A-and-S men?"

"Little bit of everything, I guess," Delaney replied, smiling as innocently as she could so Mr. Cooper wouldn't suspect they were lying.

Mr. Cooper tilting his head, clearly not believing a word the siblings were saying. "You never worked a show in your life, have you?"

"Nope," Dean confessed. "But we really need the work. Plus, my brother has a thing for the bearded lady."

Delaney snorted and tried to cover it up with a cough, but she knew Sam heard it when she felt him shoot her a harsh look for not backing him up.

Mr. Cooper pointed behind him towards a black and white photo with a man dressed in a black suit and black fedora, a ferris wheel behind him. He kind of looked like Mr. Cooper with the same leathery skin and smile. "You see that picture? That's my daddy."

"You look just like him," Delaney complimented with a small smile.

"He was in the business - ran a freak show till they outlawed them most places," Mr. Cooper informed the trio in front of him. Apparently displaying the deformed isn't dignified. So, most of the performers went from honest work to rotting in hospitals and asylums. That's progress, I guess."

The three siblings just stared at Mr. Cooper, not really knowing what to say to something like that.

"You see, this place is a refuge for outcasts, always has been, for folks who don't fit in nowhere else. You three... should go to school, find a boyfriend and girlfriend, have two and a half kids, live regular."

Sam turned to Dean in confusion mouthing "two and a half" at him. How did someone have half a person?

"Sir... we don't want to go to school," Delaney responded as she leaned her elbows on her knees. "We don't want regular. We want this."

The conversation with Mr. Cooper continued for another few minutes before he was giving them the job. The three thanked him politely and exited the office, making their way across the carnival grounds.

"Huh."

Delaney turned to Dean who seemed to be eyeing her. "What, Dean?"

"That whole I don't want to go back to school" thing - you just saying that to Cooper, or were you, you know, saying it?"

Delaney let out a heavy breath and shook her head. "I don't know."

It was true, she really didn't know what she wanted any more at this point. Going back to school would just be too hard with Will no longer being there, even though by now he would have graduated anyway and wouldn't be there and she would be getting ready to start her final year as a college student. However, being back on campus with Will's memorial being shown proudly by the football field, created by his teammates, all of them sending a picture to her when it was done and checking on her.

Being with her brothers just felt right now and Delaney couldn't even begin to picture being away from them again. She almost felt comfortable being around them twenty-four seven. Dean might be an annoying ass half the time and Sam was just... well... Sam, but she still enjoyed their company. With John being gone now, it felt almost wrong to even go back to school.

"You don't know?"

"I'm having second thoughts," Delaney confessed and was stopped by Dean's shooting out and cutting them all off from walking.

"Really?"

Delaney licked her lips and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. "Yeah, I think Dad would have wanted me to stick to the job and stay with you guys."

"Since when do you give a damn what he wanted?" Dean shot at her and Delaney fought off the wince that wanted to take over. "You spent half your life doing exactly what he didn't want."

"Dean, lay off," Sam chided and back handed his brother's arm. However, as usual, Sam's attempts at trying to stop a Dean and Delaney argument went unnoticed.

"Since he died, okay?" Delaney snapped. "You have a problem with that?"

Dean's eyes narrowed as he obviously fought off whatever he truly wanted to say to her. She could see the emotions flash across his face. "No, I have no problem at all," he grumbled before walking off.

"Can I seriously punch him yet?"

"Nope and to make sure you don't, you're sticking with me on this, little one," Sam replied, kissing the back of her head before pushing her along so they could go and get their uniforms.

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Delaney walked along the grounds with Sam in their matching red windbreaker jackets with COOPER CARNIVAL ON-THE-GO written across the back, the O's in both on and go were replaced with tire wheels. The three siblings got clean up duty and just had to walk around and sweep up whatever litter was thrown onto the ground into the large blue trash bags they carried. It was the best option since they had to find the possessed item and fast before another family was murdered by this psycho clown.

"You get anything?" Sam asked, checking his EMF meter that was hidden in the inner pocket of the windbreaker.

Delaney checked hers as the two stopped next to fun house to their left, but it was still dead. "Nothing. You think we should check the haunted house? Might be something in there."

"It's a fun house, not a haunted house, Delly" Sam chuckled at her, but shrugged nonetheless. "Wouldn't hurt."

Delaney jogged up the metal steps that lead to the front door to the haunted house and walked inside with Sam following after her. The fun house was pretty empty compared to what Delaney thought it would be. Didn't people usually like these type of things?

Now that she'd faced demons and spirits the creepy music and random creepy laughs and sounds did almost nothing to faze her as her and Sam slowly walked around the inside. Any other time she might have clung to her brother as things popped out and randomly went off as you walked by it. Wil had tormented her for months after they had gone through a haunted house the campus set up for Halloween and she had practically been carried out of it by Will.

When Delaney went to go to the other side of a room that her and Sam had entered, a skeleton had dropped down from the ceiling just inches from her face. She let out a scream and stumbled back into Sam who placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"You kill demons, ghosts and vampires for a living and you're scared of a skeleton?" Sam mocked Delaney from the previous night when she teased him about being scared of clowns.

Delaney elbowed him in the ribs and took a step closer to the bones once she sobered up. "Um... Sammy?"

"Yeah?"

"These are real skeleton bones."

"We gotta call Dean," Sam said and dragged his sister back out of the fun house as she whipped her phone out.

Delaney unlocked her phone and quickly dialed Dean who eventually answered after the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, De."

"What's wrong? Did Sammy take you on the ferris wheel?" Dean laughed at his own joke but Delaney merely gripped her phone tighter since he wasn't there for her to hit.

"Shut up. Look, Sammy and I found something. A skeleton," Delaney continued and jumped slightly when Sam suddenly put his ear to her phone so he could hear the conversation.

"Like a real human skeleton?"

Delaney wanted to give him a stupid remark for the question, but held herself off. "Yes, a real human skeleton. In the Fun House. What if the spirit isn't attached to a cursed object?"

"What if it's attached to its own remains?" Sam finished for his sister, clearly having the same thought as she did.

"Did the bones give off EMF?"

"Well, no, but - "

"We should check it out anyway," Dean cut Delaney off. "I'm coming to you guys now."

Delaney stuffed her phone back in back pocket and chewed on her lip. "You really think this is it?"

"I mean... it didn't give off any EMF, but who knows? Couldn't hurt to look into it to be safe."

It was another good ten minutes before Dean came rushing over to his younger siblings who were leaned up against the front of the Fun House, the door being a clown's mouth with mist coming out of it. The whole time Sam had effectively avoided looking up at the clown that was painted onto the front of the Fun House. Of course, Delaney couldn't help but poke fun at him, quite literally as she continued to poke him while teasing him about the painted clown.

"What took you so long?" Sam asked as Dean stopped in front of them, looking annoyed.

"Long story."

"Mommy, look at the clown!" a little girl with her mother exclaimed as she pointed to an empty space in front of the game booth in front of them.

Delaney exchanged glances with her brothers, none of them seeing what the little girl was. Hopefully, this could give them some sort of lead. She slowly walked closer to the girl and her mother as the mom asked the girl where the clown was. It had disappeared according to the little girl, even though to the four adults there had been nothing but a game booth.

"You know what we have to do right?" Dean asked as the three watched the mother gently take the daughter away from the game booth.

"People stalking...fun."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

A few hours later, Dean was pulling up just outside the little girl's house as shut the car off so the family that just entered their house wouldn't see them parked in the car outside.

"I cannot believe you the Papasian about the homicidal phantom clown," Delaney said, poking her head in between the front of two seats of Bobby's van.

Dean had told them on the way over to the family's house how the older man from earlier had overheard him talking about the human skeletons that Delaney and Sam saw in the Fun House back at the carnival. To keep the old man from being suspicious, he explained to the old man that the three were collaborating together to write some horror story about a psycho killer clown. Much like the one that had been running rampid lately around the carnival.

"I told him an urban legend about a homicidal phantom clown. Never said it was real, Della."

"Keep it down," Sam snapped as Dean had raised his voice slightly at being scolded by his baby sister.

"Oh and get this," Dean said, tearing his eyes from the family's front window to look at his siblings. "I mentioned the Bunker Brothers Circus in '81 and their evil clown apocalypse. Guess what."

"What?" Delaney prodded.

"Before Mr. Cooper owned Cooper Carnival, he worked for the Bunker Brothers. He was their lot manager."

Sam turned in his seat so he could face Dean and gave him a sort of incredulous look. "You think whatever the spirit attached itself to that Cooper just brought it with him?"

"Something like that," Dean replied and moved his focus back to the house. "I still can't believe we're talking about clowns."

"Sammy will be the one having nightmares next," Delaney mused and laughed when Sam playfully nudged her shoulder.

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

It had been a couple of hours that the Winchesters staked out the house and Delaney wound up falling asleep on Dean's shoulder who had leaned his head against the window to fall asleep also. The only one being up was Sam, which was ironic as he was the last one that wanted to see this clown show up at the little girl's house.

"Delaney, Dean," Sam called quietly as he nudged them both awake.

Delaney groaned and peeled her cheek off Dean's shoulder, stretching her back seeing as how sleeping hunched over was not an ideal sleeping position. She could practically hear her whole spine crack at once as she reset it so it wasn't bent out of shape. "What?"

"The clown," Sam said and motioned to the front door where the little girl was letting the clown in.

Without so much as a second thought, the siblings were racing out of the car and sneaking in through the front door that the clown and little girl left unlocked and snuck around the other side to the where the little girl and clown would be walking to that lead upstairs. Dean, Sam and Delaney stood on either side of the entryway that lead to the backdoor and the little hallway that would lead to the stairs.

"You want to meet my mom and dad? They're upstairs," the little girl said as she lead the clown past the entryway, holding onto the clown's gloved hand.

"Hey!" Dean yelled and jumped out from his hiding spot, shooting the clown twice which sent it flying to the ground as the little girl screamed.

Delaney rushed over to the little girl and held her close, pulling her away from the psycho phantom clown and hiding the girl's face from view.

"Della, watch out!" Dean warned and Delaney quickly moved out of the way just as the clown bounced back up.

Dean shot the clown again only for it to turn and jump through the door, vanishing into thin air as the glass in the middle of the door shattered into a million pieces.

"What is going on here?" the father of the little girl screamed as he rushed into the room followed by his wife who was tightening her robe. "Get away from my daughter!"

Delaney scrambled away from the little girl and moved to stand between Dean and Sam, holding her hands up to show she wasn't harming anyone and neither were her brothers as they followed suit.

"Daddy, they shot my clown," the little girl cried as she was pulled into his side.

Now Delaney saw why Sam hated clowns so much. They sucked.

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

The next morning, Dean was stuffing the license plate from Bobby's van his duffle. He was paranoid the family caught sight of their car and plates, so they had to ditch the van in the brush of trees on the side of a highway and trek their way back to the carnival.

"You really think they saw the plates?" Sam asked, lifting his duffle onto his shoulder.

Dean shut the trunk and swung his own duffle onto his shoulders and took Delaney's as well so she wouldn't have to lug hers for the few miles they had to walk back to where they ran from and lead his siblings down the empty stretch of road. "I don't want to take the chance. Besides, I hate this freaking thing anyway. I can tell you one thing for sure."

"What's that?" Delaney questioned as she walked between her brothers.

"We aren't dealing with a spirit. That rock salt hit something solid."

"A person or a creature that can make itself invisible," Sam suggested.

Delaney snorted. "Yeah and dresses up like a clown for kicks and giggles?"

"Did you see anything in Dad's journal, Della?" Dean asked her since she had taken to flipping through their Dad's journal as Dean sped off from the house to find some place to chuck the van.

Delaney shook her head and a ran a hand through her hair in slight frustration. Of course, the one thing that John didn't hunt they had to be facing right now. "Nope."

Dean groaned and threw his head back, just as annoyed that they were bone dry on where to go.

"I'll call Ellen or Ash to see if they know anything," Delaney offered after a long moment of silence and whipped her phone out, but paused when a thought occurred to her. "You think Ellen and Dad ever had a thing?"

"No way," Dean immediately shot down.

"Then why would he keep her hidden like that?"

"I don't know. Maybe they had a falling out of some sort."

Delaney scoffed and placed the phone to her ear as she called Ellen. "Yeah. Notice how Dad had a falling out with just about everybody he ever knew?"

Dean ignored Delaney and just looked at the area around them.

"Don't go all Maudlin on me, Dean," Delaney sighed as she hung up the phone once she got Ellen's voicemail. She could try again in a little bit.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean this whole strong, silent thing of yours," Delaney answered and Dean made a noise of protest at her bringing the topic up again. "It's stupid and I'm over it, okay? This isn't just anyone we're talking about. This is Dad. I know how you felt about the man. Sammy has at least said something to me about it within the past two days, but you have yet to say anything."

"Back off, Della, seriously," Dean snapped and Delaney flinched slightly at the harshness to his tone. "Just because I'm not caring and sharing like Sam has - "

Delaney held her hand up to stop Dean from talking. "No, this is not what this is about, Dean. I don't care how you deal with this, but you have to deal with it, De. I'm your baby sister and I want to make sure you're alright. You and Sam are the most important to me and you're all I have left, okay? I need to make sure you're both alright."

"Delaney, I'm okay!" Dean huffed, throwing his hands in the air. "I'm okay, I'm okay. The next person that asks me if I'm okay, I'm gonna start throwing punches. These are your issues. Quit dumping them on me."

Sam frantically shook his head to stop Dean from continuing. "Dean, stop while you're ahead."

"No, Sam," Delaney said and stopped both of her brothers from walking, turning to Dean with her arms crossed. "Do go on, Dean."

"I just find it kind of funny how you suddenly have this obedience to Dad," Dean laughed humorlessly and the tone he usually used on Delaney when she was in trouble was breaking out. It seemed like he lived to patronize and chastise her lately and she had no idea why. "It's like, oh what would Dad want me to do. You spent your entire life slugging it out with that man, Delaney. Hell you picked a fight with him the last time you ever saw him and now that he's dead you want to make it right? Well, I'm sorry, Delaney, but you can't. It's too little too late."

Delaney bit the inside of her cheek and blinked her eyes a few times to keep the tears that desperately wanted to come out. She had been beating herself up over the fact that she had argued with her dad just minutes before he died. It tore her apart and she laid awake so many nights wishing she hadn't fought with him. That she had just let it go and been happy he was even alive when he was. She felt Sam gently rub her back and she itched to just turn and hide her face in his chest away from Dean. However, Delaney knew she had to have this conversation with Dean because it's been a long time coming now and it was already out in the open.

"Why are you saying this to me?"

"Because I want you to be honest with yourself about this, Della!" Dean yelled. "I'm dealing with Dad's death. Are you?"

Delaney rolled her lips into her mouth as Dean glared harshly at her. How did she even respond to that? It was obvious she had been dealing with his death. Bobby could even prove it because he had to go into her room twice because he heard her sobbing into her pillow at two AM and had to stay in the room until she calmed down and fell back asleep.

"I'm gonna go call Ellen," Delaney grumbled and walked a few feet away to call Ellen and get to the bottom of the whole thing.

It had only taken Ellen all of a minute to tell Delaney exactly what they were dealing with. Delaney had barely even finished telling her what happened the past day and a half when she had explained to Delaney what they were hunting.

"Okay, wow, thanks," Delaney said and hung up before walking back over to her brothers. "Rakshasas."

"What's that?" Sam asked as they continued their walk down the empty road.

"It's a race of ancient Hindu creatures," Delaney explained. "They appear in human form, they feed on human flesh, they can make themselves invisible, and they cannot enter a home without first being invited to."

"So they dress up like clowns and the kids invite them in," Dean concluded, shifting his duffle bag strap as it was digging into his shoulder. "Why don't they just munch on the kids?"

Delaney shrugged, shaking her head. "I don't know. Not enough meat on the bones?"

"What else you find out?" Sam inquired.

"Apparently, Rakshasas live in Squalor. They sleep on a bed of dead insects," Delaney informed and Dean gagged at the mere thought of it. She made a sound of agreement before continuing, "And they have to feed a few times every twenty to thirty years - slow metabolism I guess."

"That makes sense - the carnival today, the Bunker Brothers in '81."

"Probably more before that," Sam added. "Who do we know that worked both shows?"

Dean and Delaney exchanged a knowing look before both glanced to Sam. "Cooper."

"You know, that picture of his father, that looked just like him," Sam noted.

"Well, who knows how old he is?" Dean said.

Dean nudged Delaney who had zoned out for a second as she tried to process all the new information at once, since it was all kind of dizzying really. "Ellen say how to kill it?"

"Legend goes a dagger made of pure brass," Delaney replied and gestured to the weapons that Sam carried in the other duffle in his hand. "Sadly, we don't have that."

"Maybe we don't, but I know where we can get one of those."

"Shouldn't we find out if it's really Cooper though?" Delaney asked.

Dean smirked, which was a stark contrast to the death glare she had received a few minutes prior. "Aw always a stickler for the rules, Della. Okay, fine. You go with Sam to check out Cooper and I'll go get the knives."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Once night had fallen and most of the people left the carnival, leaving a few stragglers here and there that wanted to enjoy the carnival until the very end, Sam had pick locked Mr. Cooper's trailer and the two youngest Winchesters snuck inside. There wasn't much to the trailer except for Mr. Cooper's bed and side table with the lamp turned on and a few boxes strewn about.

Sam was just looking under Mr. Cooper's bed when a shot gun was cocked behind them and the two quickly whirled around to see Mr. Cooper with a gun pointed at them. Sam instinctively stepped protectively in front of Delaney, who peered around his arm to see what was happening.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"We are so sorry, Mr. Cooper. We were just leaving," Delaney quickly apologized before pushing past the man before he could say anything more or shoot them with the gun. As the two raced out of Mr. Cooper's trailer, Dean came barreling through the grounds almost tripping over himself in the process. "Hey!"

"Hey."

"So, Cooper thinks we're Peeping Toms but it's not him," Delaney informed.

Dean walked back over to his siblings as he scanned the area. "Yeah, I gathered. It's the blind guy and he is here somewhere."

"Well, did you get the..." Sam trailed off, not remembering the knife they needed.

"The brass blades? No. It's just been one of those days, kids."

Sam's eyes drifted to the Fun House behind Dean and he perked up as an idea seemed to come to mind. "Hey, I have an idea. Come on."

Delaney was quick to follow after her brother and they made their through the maze of doors, but a scream from Dean made both of the younger Winchester siblings whirl around to see the door had closed behind them, meaning Dean had to go another way. "Seriously?"

"Dean, you have to find the maze, okay?" Sam shouted through the door before tugging Delaney after him through the rest of the maze before they came face to face with the brass pipes that poured out steam while a piano played. "Bingo!"

Delaney reached out to rip one off before hissed and drew her hand as the hot brass burned her. Pulling her hands into her sleeves, she pulled out two of the brass pipes and handed one to Sam just as Dean rounded the corner.

"Hey, where is it?"

"I don't know!" Dean exclaimed as he looked around them. "Shouldn't we see his clothes walking around?"

Suddenly, two knives flew through the air and pinned Dean to the closed door behind him by his jacket sleeve. "Guys!"

Delaney and Sam both raised their brass pipes as they stayed back to back, slowly spinning in a circle as they shuffled forward. Delaney squeaked and pushed Sam back when a knife came flying from somewhere in the next room and it flew past them, missing Delaney's face by an inch.

"Dean, where is it?" Delaney yelled over the loop of creepy music and sound effects.

"I don't know," Dean groaned as he tried to pry the knife out, but failed. He glanced up and noticed a lever to turn the steam up higher, so he reached up and turned the lever, smoke and mist pooling out of the vents in the room.

Delaney turned just in time to see the Rakshasa behind her and shoved the pipe into what she thought was its heart. It stuck there and she stumbled back as a high pitched scream left the Rakshasa and it slowly evaporated, the brass pipe clanging to the ground and Dean switched off the mist.

Dean slowly walked over to his siblings and glanced down at where the Rakshasa used to be. "Man, I hate Fun Houses."

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷

The next day, the Winchester siblings were finally back at Ellen's bar and Delaney had never been so tired in her life. They had to trek their way back since they had to ditch the car when they broke into the little girl's house.

"You three did a hell of a job. Your dad would be proud," Ellen smiled at the three, placing beers in front of Sam and Dean on the bar and a water in front of Delaney.

Jo waltzed over to the bar and leaned her elbows against it next to Dean. She gave Sam and Delaney a look to go away so she could talk to Dean.

"Wow, would you look at the time? Sammy and I have to... go... over there," Delaney stammered as she grabbed Sam's jacket sleeve and tugged him after her towards the pool table in the back to give the two some space. "You think he likes her?"

Sam watched his brother and Jo interact as he took a swig from his beer while Delaney hopped up to sit on the pool table, her legs swinging back and forth and Sam leaned his back against it next to her. "Shocked he isn't flirting with her yet because I saw the way he looked at her when we walked in."

"You don't think it's cause of Dad, do you?"

Sam shrugged and fiddled with the beer bottle in his hand. "I don't know. He seems to be holding a lot back so it could be possible."

"You're really okay, Sammy?"

"I'm as okay as one could be who just lost their father," Sam replied and gave his sister an assuring smile. "I promise I'm fine, though, Delly. Don't worry about me, okay?"

Before Delaney could say anything, Ash burst out of his room in nothing but his jeans and vest with no shirt underneath and looked at the three exasperatingly. "Where have you three been? I've been waiting for you."

"We were working a job, Ash," Delaney informed him. "Clowns?"

"Clowns? What the - "

"You got something for us, Ash?" Dean asked, cutting off whatever Ash was going to say. "You find the demon?"

Ash held up his laptop and motioned for Sam and Delaney to come back over to the bar. He placed it down next to where Jo and Dean were sat and opened it up. "It's nowhere around. At least nowhere I can find, but if this fugly bastard raises its head, I'll know. I mean, I'm on it like divine on dog dookie."

"What do you mean?" Sam questioned as he and Delaney sat on the other side of Dean.

"I mean any those signs or omens appear anywhere in the world," Ash began, flipping his laptop around to show the Winchesters that a Weather Tracker website was pulled up and something else was constantly downloading on the laptop. "My rig will go off like a fire alarm."

Delaney snorted quietly when Ash slapped Dean's hand away from trying to touch the laptop and look through the rig Ash set up. "Ash, where did you learn all of this?"

"M.I.T., before I got bounced for fighting."

"M.I.T.?" Delaney's bugged for a second, not expecting him to have gone to any type of school like that before. Though it should have been obvious at this point that he was a literal genius.

"It's a school in Boston," Ash informed, even though Delaney was fully aware of where it was and the type of school it was.

"Okay. Give us a call as soon as you know something?" Dean asked Ash.

"Si, si, comprade."

Dean flashed him charming smile before taking one last long swig of his beer before he hopped off. He nudged his two siblings to get up so they could hit the road.

"Hey, listen," Ellen spoke up before the three could exit her bar. "If you three need a place to stay, I got a couple beds out back."

"Thanks, but no. I got something I have to finish," Dean politely declined.

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Delaney made her way over to Dean once she had showered and put new clothes on since she had been in the same ones for two days straight and she felt absolutely gross. She was back in Will's football sweatshirt and jeans while Dean had just tossed his jacket inside before rushing back out to continue on the Impala that was looking like it was coming along nicely.

"Hey, De."

"Hey," Dean replied and pushed himself off the ground to grab a different tool from the tool bench behind him.

"You were right," Delaney sighed and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her - Will's - hoodie. "About Dad and me. "I'm sorry the last time I was with him, I tried to pick a fight." She scratched the back of her head as Dean continued to shift for the tool he needed, but it was obvious he was listening since he was still quiet and had his body turned to face her while he looked. "I'm sorry that I spent most of my life angry at him. I mean, for all I know, he died thinking I hate him."

Dean's jaw ticked and his gaze finally met hers with an unreadable expression.

"So you were right. What I'm doing right now - it is too little. It's too late," Delaney continued, her voice wavering slightly as the urge to cry choked her up again. "I miss him, De, and I feel so fucking guilty right now. I'm not okay... not at all... " She paused as a small sob escaped and Delaney took a second to steady her breathing, though made no moves to brush away the water that welled in her eyes.

"But neither are you," Delaney finished and chewed on her lip. "I'll let you get back to work. Just wanted to let you know how I felt." She walked up to him and hugged him for a long minute, his arm wrapped around her loosely and felt a feather of a kiss on the top of her head before she pulled away.

Dean's face was still void of expression, but Delaney could see the pain and anger in his eyes. The sound of Dean hitting the Impala with something metal was heard as she got to the door and every hit was another hit to her heart and she had to fight off running to hug him again.

Sometimes you just needed to let people heal on their own.

authors note

Hi hey hello

Writing all these Dean and Delaney arguments is killing my heart, but we got a cute Sam/Delaney brother and sister moment so that's a thing to be happy with! I'm so not ready to write this emotional rollercoaster of a season.