╭-°—✞——✞—°-╮

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗘𝗡

𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦

╰-°—✞——✞—°-╯

Delaney sat on a wooden fence that was on the side of the road and it looked out to the river just below. The sun was shining brightly and it made the water look bluer than it would normally. Dean and Sam leaned on the fence on either side of her with a beer bottle in both of their hands while she fiddled with the water bottle in hers. She was legal to drink, but at the moment she wanted to be hard cold sober. 

"So... are you going to tell me what you were talking about last night?" Delaney asked her brothers, referring to when Dean quite literally told her he wanted to give up along with Sam. It had only been a few hours since the Croatoan disaster and it kept Delaney up the whole car ride so far, until Dean eventually pulled over and the three just sat outside for a bit to have a break.

Dean took a long sip from his beer as he kept his gaze across the river, avoiding eye contact with his sister. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Delaney repeated incredulously. "I mean you said you were tired of the job and that it wasn't just because of Dad. Sam even agreed with you, which he usually doesn't do when it comes to giving up. So... what is it about?"

"Forget it," Dean brushed off.

Delaney shook her head defiantly. "No. No way. I can't."

"Come on, Delly. We both thought we were all going to die," Sam said, taking a sip from his own beer. "You can't hold that over us."

"No, no, no," Delaney laughed, giving both of her brothers a pointed stare. "You aren't pulling that crap with me. You're both gonna talk."

"And what if I don't?" Dean challenged with a smile. "Or Sammy."

Delaney shrugged and took drink from her water. "Then I guess I'll just go into annoying baby sister mode and continue to nag you until you tell me."

Dean scoffed lightly and turned so he could lean against the fence. "I don't know, baby girl. I just think maybe we ought to... go to the Grand Canyon."

Delaney barked out a laugh as she glanced between her two brothers with wide, amused eyes. "What?"

"Yeah, you know, all this driving back and forth across country, you know we have never been to the Grand Canyon?" Sam added, turning around as well and leaning against the fence. "Or we could go to T.J. Or Hollywood and make fun of all the celebrities."

Delaney reached out and felt both of her brothers' foreheads for fevers. "Are you sure you guys didn't get infected instead? You're making no sense."

"We just need a break from all of this, you know," Dean admitted, crossing his arms. "Why do we get stuck with the responsibility? Why can't we live life a little bit?"

Delaney slowly slid off the fence and turned so she stood in front of bother her brothers, eyeing them both suspiciously. There was something neither one of them were telling her and it was actually starting to scare you. "Okay, you guys are actually scaring me now. What's going on to make you guys say all this?"

Dean and Sam exchanged a look before shaking their head and turning away to walk back to the Impala.

Delaney stuck both of her hands out, placing a hand on both of their chests and pushing them back. "No, no, no. You can't do that. You're my big brothers and you shouldn't have to carry all that weight alone. Tell me what's wrong."

"Delly, we can't. We promised."

Delaney furrowed her eyebrows as her eyes flickered to Sam. "Promised who... what?"

Dean exhaled heavily and Delaney could see the pain in his face. "Dad."

"Wh... what are you talking about?"

Dean bowed his head, trying to hide the moisture that built up in his eyes from his sister. "Before he died... he told Sammy and I something when you, um, when you went to go get him a coffee."

"Something about you," Sam added, his face screwing up in the same painful expression that Dean had.

Delaney cleared her throat as she licked her dry lips. "Boys... what did he tell you?"

The boys had a silent conversation with each other on who would be the one to break the news to her. As usual, it seemed Dean had to be the one to drop the weight on her and he scratched the side of his face as he thought of how to even begin to tell her what John told the boys moments before he died. 

"He said that he..." Dean trailed off, glancing off across the river to his right, not finding the strength to look into his sister's eyes as he continued. "That he wanted Sammy and I to watch out for you... take care of you."

Delaney relaxed a bit at that and laughed softly. Was that really what the boys had been freaking out about? "Dad told you boys to do that a million times, especially right before he would leave for hunts. Even before he ran off on his own before we met up again, he ordered you both to watch out for me. That's nothing new."

Sam shook his head and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Um... no... this is different."

When Dean realized Sam couldn't get the words to form, he took over again. "He said that we had to... save you."

"Save me from what?"

"He just said that Sammy and I had to save you and nothing else mattered and that if neither of us could, we'd..."

Delaney felt her heart rate increasing along with her anxiety. She just wished the boys would rip the band-aid off in one go instead of little tugs. "You'd what, Dean?"

"We'd have to kill you," Sam whispered.

Delaney stumbled back as if the boys had physically pushed her, her eyes wide as she stared at her brothers who both had tears in their eyes. If her anxiety wasn't already bursting and thriving, it sure as Hell was now as it closed its grip around her throat and made it nearly impossible to breathe. 

"He said that we might have to kill you, Della," Dean repeated.

Delaney wheezed slightly as the tightening of her throat only increased. "Kill me? What the Hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," Dean admitted, shaking his head. "He didn't say."

"Well, he had to have some reason for saying it, Dean!" Delaney screamed, throwing her arms in the air. "Did he know the demon's plans for me? Am I supposed to go Darkside or something? What else did he say?"

"Nothing, that's it. We swear."

Delaney stared at her brothers as her eyes darkened, pissed that neither one of them had even bothered to tell her about any of this. John had been dead for months now and they had been carrying this around with them the whole damn time?! 

This was the exact reason Dean had acted the way he was when they first stayed at Bobby's and was such a dick and why Sam could barely even look at her without looking like he wanted to burst into tears. She just let it go when they both admitted to it being about John being dead because it made the most sense then. Hell, even she was feeling the weight of depression just after his death even though the two had always gone at each other's throats her whole life.

Both boys flinched at her dark gaze and as she stepped closer to the both of them, neither one bothering to move a muscle. "How could you not have told me this?"

"It was Dad and he begged Sammy and I not to," Dean responded, which was the wrong response because Delaney screamed and started to hit against Dean's chest.

"I" punch "don't" punch "care" punch "what he wanted!" Delaney yelled, every hit getting harder as more of her anger, hurt and betrayal flowed into the hits. He took every single hit like a champ. "Take some responsibility for yourselves! You had no right to keep this from me!"

"Okay, first of all, why are you only hitting me? Sam kept this from you too!" Dean huffed, earning a deadpan look from both of his siblings at that. "What? It's true!"

"You're the oldest, Dean, you should have told me," Delaney yelled at him, pushing him away from her. "It's on you to do that." She turned to Sammy with a dark look. "That doesn't mean you're off the hook either, Sam. You could have easily told me since you tend to have a big mouth with stuff like that. So much for always wanting to do the right thing, huh?"

Dean pointed a stern finger at his sister. "Don't you dare start with that shit, Delaney Elizabeth! You think either one of us wanted this, huh? I wish to God he'd never opened his mouth. Then I wouldn't have to walk around with this screaming in my head all day. I can barely even look at you without wanting to cry because I can't even begin to imagine having to put a damn bullet in you skull!"

Delaney scoffed and turned away from her brothers, tugging at her hair in frustration. Too many thoughts were rushing across her mind and it was beginning to cause a migraine. She shook with anger and her anxiety clawing its way through was just making her more nauseous than need be. "We've just got to figure out what's going on, then, what the Hell all this means."

"I don't think we do, Delly," Sam said, chewing on the inside of his lip. "I think we should just lay low, you know. At least for a while - it would be safer. That way Dean and I can make sure..."

"What?" Delaney remarked, laughing humorlessly as she slapped her hands to her sides. "That I don't... go evil? That I don't turn into some killer?"

"I never said that," Sam whispered.

Delaney smiled at her brothers and threw her arms out to her sides. "Boy, if you're not careful then you're both gonna have to waste me, boys. I'll even make it easy for you and give you an easy target!"

"Stop it right now, Delaney!" Dean yelled at her. "Sam and I never said that we thought you were going to become evil or die, okay? This whole thing is spinning out of control. You're immune to some weirdo demon virus and I don't even know what the hell anymore. And you're pissed at Sammy and me, I get it. That's fine, we deserve it. But we lay low until we figure out our next move, okay?"

"Forget it."

Dean deflated as he stared at his sister desperately. He stepped closer to her and grabbed her hand. "Della, please, baby girl, okay? Just... just please give Sammy and I some time. Give us time to think, okay? I'm begging you, Della."

Delaney reluctantly nodded and pushed past her brothers to go sit in the Impala. She had nothing else to say to either one of them and Lord only knew if she would ever again.

-°—✞——✞—°-

Delaney sat outside the Roadhouse in the car she stole the night prior. Once she had made sure both boys were out, she snuck out of the motel room with her stuff and took one of the cars that sat in the motel room parking lot. It was something that was out of character for her, but Delaney needed to be far away from the boys right now and she obviously couldn't take the Impala. Hopefully the owner of this car wasn't too fond of it because they'd have to go a bit away to come get it from her.

Turning off the engine, Delaney pushed open the driver's door and stepped it, shutting it behind her. She walked along the dirt to the door to the Roadhouse and opened it, earning the attention of everyone in the bar. She walked over to Ellen with her hands dug deep into her leather jacket and offered the woman a small smile.

"Delaney."

"Hey, Ellen," Delaney greeted and noticed the knowing smile on the woman's face. "You don't exactly look too shocked to see me."

Ellen placed the glass that she was cleaning down onto the bar and threw the rag over her shoulder. "Your brothers have been calling, looking for you. They sounded worried sick."

"I figured they might," Delaney said, not putting it past them to still act like they had done nothing even though they had just turned her entire world upside down in the matter of five minutes. She was pretty sure she had every right to be pissed at them.

Ellen tilted her head as she narrowed her eyes at Delaney. She usually didn't want to be apart from her brothers and yet here she was, seeming like she couldn't be further from them even if she were on a whole different planet. "What happened between you three?"

Delaney cleared her throat awkwardly and sat on the stool in front of Ellen. "So... how's Jo?"

Ellen nodded, seeing as how she was not going to be getting any information out of Delaney. "Well, I don't really know."

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't seen her in weeks. She sends a postcard now and again," Ellen explained.

Delaney frowned, not understanding what could have happened that made her want to run off like that. "I'm so sorry, Ellen. What happened?"

"After she worked that job with you and the boys, she decided she wanted to keep on hunting. I said "not under my roof", and she said "fine"."

Delaney bowed her head and chuckled softly. "I'm sorry. I am probably the last person you want to see right now, then."

Ellen smiled and gave Delaney a throaty chuckle. "No, no. Don't get me wrong, I would love to be able to blame you and the boys. It'd be easier. Truth is, it's not your fault, Delaney. None of it is. I want you to know that I forgave your daddy a long time ago... for what happened to my Bill. I just don't think he ever forgave himself."

"What did happen?" Delaney questioned.

Ellen cleared her throat and shook her head. "Um, so why did you come here, sweetie?"

"I need help."

-°—✞——✞—°-

A little bit later when Ash finally emerged from his "cave" as Ellen called it, they called him over to the bar. 

"I need you to do me a huge favor, Ash."

Asher raised his eyebrows, stroking his chin. "Oh? What exactly do you need me to look for then?"

"Other people, other psychics...like me. As many as possible, and I need a nationwide search."

"Wait, I thought there was no way to track them all down," Ellen said. "Not all of them had a nursery fire like you did."

"Well, no, but some had to. Start there."

It was barely even two hours later when Ash emerged from the back, flourishing a piece of paper between his two fingers. "Done... and done."

Delaney froze mid sip of the beer Ellen offered her to help relax her nerves a bit. She slowly followed Ash's movements to stand in front of her at the bar. "That was fast."

Ash leaned his elbows on the bar and flashed her a grin. "Well, apparently, that is my job. Make the monkey dance."

"Just tell us what you got, Ash," Ellen ordered, cutting off the beginnings of Ash's rambling.

"Four folks fit the profile nationwide. Born in '87, mother died in a nursery fire, the whole shebang," Ash informed.

Delaney sighed in frustration. That was the most Ash could find in the whole country? Seriously? "Four people? That's it?"

"Delaney Winchester from Lawrence, Kansas, Max Miller from Saginaw, Michigan, Andrew Gallagher from Guthrie, Oklahoma, and uh, another name. Scott Carey," Asher listed off from the names he wrote down on the small piece of paper he had in his hand.

"You got an address?"

"Kind of. The Arbor Hill Cemetery in Lafayette, Indiana. Plot four-eighty-six," Ash replied, scrunching up the piece of paper in his hand.

Delaney blinked as she stared at Ash. "He's dead?"

"Killed actually. About a month ago. Got stabbed in a dark parking lot. Fuzz don't have much though, no suspects."

Delaney chugged the last bit of her beer and placed the bottle down on the bar, barely even feeling anything from the alcohol whatsoever. Maybe she really was a Winchester. She hopped off the stool as she thanked Ash, making her way towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" Ellen asked.

"Indiana."

"I have to call your brothers, you know," Ellen informed the girl, causing her to stop by the door to the Roadhouse.

Delaney turned to look back at Ellen. "Ellen, I'm trying to find answers about who I am. And my brothers mean well, but they can't protect me from that. Please."

Ellen sighed, but reluctantly nodded. "Okay... fine."

Delaney gave Ellen a grateful smile before rushing out of the Roadhouse and back to the car.

-°—✞——✞—°-

Delaney walked across the parking lot of the motel she found in Indiana, playing with the bottle of pills that she got from Scott's house. She had gone to visit his dad earlier that day to try and figure out what had happened with the boy. According to his father, Scott was a good kid and he just suddenly changed about a month ago when he started getting the headaches and nightmares. 

She was allowed to look around his room and he was prescribed three different pills which clearly wouldn't do much to help him since the visions and headaches were because of the Yellow-Eyed Demon and not some kind of mental illness. Though his father did mention depression so maybe at least one of the pills that were prescribed to him by a Dr. George Waxler helped at least one thing. He had become so paranoid that he had a collage of yellow eyes cut out from magazines and printed photos hidden behind his clothes in the closet. It was as if Scott was trying to figure out what the yellow eyes from his nightmares were. Too bad, none of the eyes were the actual yellow eyes that haunted him.

As Delaney reached her motel room door, she felt the hairs on her neck stand up as if to warn her she was being followed. She whirled around to see a woman with short brown hair and blue eyes stood behind her.

"Who are you?"

"Please, you have to listen to me. You're in danger."

Delaney lead the distraught girl into her motel room and leant against the tv stand in the very blue motel room as the woman rambled on about having a dream where Delaney was killed by a trip wire attached to a grenade and this wasn't the first dream she's had before.

"Okay, I know this is going to crazy, but I am not insane and I am not on drugs," Ava cut Delaney off before she could any words out. "Okay? I am normal, and this is way, way off the map for me."

"I believe you," Delaney assured the girl, holding her hands up. "Just... just take a deep breath, okay? What's your name?"

"Ava. Ava Wilson."

Delaney nodded and offered the girl a smile. "Hi, Ava. I'm Delaney, now can you tell me more about these dreams you were having?"

"Uh, yeah, uh, okay, about a year ago I started having these, like, headaches, and just... nightmares, I guess. And I really didn't think much of it until I had this one dream where I saw this guy get stabbed in a parking lot."

Delaney stood up straight at the mention of one of the nightmares. "Wait, you said a guy getting stabbed in a parking lot? When was this?"

"About a month ago," Ava replied and dug in her purse, retrieving a newspaper clipping that read LOCAL MAN STABBED TO DEATH IN A PARKING LOT with a photo of Scott Carey next to it. "Then a few days later I wake up to this. I saw this guy die, days before it happened. I don't know why, I don't know, it's just for some reason, my dreams are coming true. And last night I had another one."

"How did you find me?" Delaney asked after a beat of silence.

Ava motioned to the stationary on the bedside table. "Oh you had the motel stationary with you when you went to the warehouse.  I Googled the motel, and it was real, and so I just thought that I should warn you."

"I don't believe this," Delaney whispered, running a hand through her hair.

Ava threw her head back as she whined. "Oh, oh, of course you don't. You think I'm a total nut job," she groaned as she paced around the room again.

"What? No, no, no. I mean... you just might be one of us."

Ava slowly turned to face Delaney with a confused expression. "One of who?"

"One of the Psychics. Like me. Look, Ava, I have visions too, all right? So we're connected."

Ava laughed as she shook her head. "Okay, so, you're nuts. That's great," she complained, slapping her hands to her sides.

"Okay, okay, look. Did your mother happen to die in a house fire?" Delaney asked and earned a freaked out expression from Ava. 

"No, my mother lives in Palm Beach!"

"So you don't fit the pattern either," Delaney noted, trying to figure out what exactly the Yellow-Eyed Demon's plan even was. She dropped down onto her bed and rubbed her hands over her face. 

Ava sat on the bed next to Delaney and gave her a desperate look. "Can you please just leave town before you blow up!"

Delaney shook her head and smiled sadly at the girl. "Sorry, I can't."

"Oh, God. Why not?"

"Because there's something going on here, Ava. With you, with me. I mean, there are others like us out there and we're all a part of something. I've got to figure out what."

Ava laughed lightly and threw her hands in the air. "Okay, you know what? Screw you, sister. Okay? Because I'm a secretary from Peoria and I'm not part of anything! Okay? Do you see this?" She held up her hand to show off the shiny engagement ring on her hand as she stood up from the bed. "I am getting married in eight weeks. I am supposed to be at home addressing invitations, which I am way behind on, by the way. But instead, I drove out here to save your weirdo ass. But if you just want to stay here and die, fine. Me? I'm due back on Planet Earth."

"Don't want you to know why this is happening?" Delaney asked Ava, causing the girl to pause from exiting the motel room. "I mean, don't these visions scare the hell out of you? Because if you walk out that door right now you might never know the truth."

Ava sighed and turned back to look at Delaney with a deadpan expression.

"I need your help."

-°—✞——✞—°-

The next day, Delaney had Ava go to Dr. Waxler's office and have an impromptu session with him while she dug around for Scott's files. It took a bit of digging and searching, but Delaney eventually got what they needed and the two girls were back at the motel room by noon. She lead Ava into the motel room and placed the file and voice recorder onto the table.

"You okay?" Delaney questioned, noticing Ava pace again which she seemed to do when she was nervous.

"Am I okay?" Ava repeated, turning to face Delaney with a grin across her face. "I just helped you steal some dead guy's confidential psych files. I'm awesome!"

Delaney laughed along with Ava and got the voice recorder ready to play. She pressed play on the recorder and Scott's voice emitted from the speakers.

"It started a little over a year ago. Migraines, at first. Then I found I could do . . . stuff."

"What do you mean, do stuff?" Dr. Waxler asked.

"I have this ability. When I touch something, I can electrocute it if I want."

Delaney and Ava exchanged equally troubled glances. This was way different than either of them had dealt with before.

"What else does the yellow-eyed man say?" Dr. Waxler asked after Scott explained to him that a yellow eyed man appeared to him in his nightmares.

"He has plans for me. He says there's a war coming. That people like me - we're going to be the soldiers. Everything's about to change."

Delaney quickly shut the recorder off not wanting to hear any more. She pushed away from the table as she took in Ava's footsteps and paced around the room, tugging her hands through her hair. 

"He's not talking about us... right?"

Delaney rubbed her hands down her face as she let out a quiet breath of frustration and panic. "Yeah, I think he is."

"How can we turn into that?"

"I don't - "

The window above Delaney's head suddenly shattered as it was hit with a bullet. She dived to the floor with Ava, shielding her body with hers. 

"What's happening?" Ava yelled over the constant shattering of glass as more and more bullets were fired into the room.

"I don't know!"

"Oh my God, Delaney! Who is shooting?!"

Eventually, the bullets stopped raining down on them and Delaney slowly rose to her feet, helping Ava up in the process. Much to Ava's dismay, Delaney dragged the woman across the street and up onto the roof that the gun shots were coming from.

"I don't understand. Shouldn't we be going to the cops?" Ava asked.

Delaney shook her head as she slowly walked around the roof to look for the gun shells left behind by the shooter. "That won't do us much good," she replied, squatting down the edge of the roof and picked up gold nugget from the ground and examined it. "These are .223 Caliber - subsonic rounds. This guy must have put a suppressor on the rifle."

Ava scoffed lightly and slapped her hands to her sides. "Okay, seriously, who are you?"

Delaney stared up at Ava as it did seem a bit odd that she would know so much about guns and bullets. Not her fault she had been surrounded by guns the past year and had two older brothers that drilled it all into her head so she could always be prepared no matter what happened. "Uh... I just... my brothers made me watch TJ Hooker a lot." She stood to her full height and reached into her back pocket, ready to dial the only person she could think of.

"Who are you calling?"

"My brothers," Delaney explained, putting in Dean's number. "I think we actually need the help."

"Hello?"

Delaney, even though she was still beyond pissed at both him and Sam, hearing his voice still had the power to calm her when she was in a tight spot. "Dean."

"Della, we've been looking for ya."

"I know, I know. Look, I'm in Lafayette, Indiana."

"We already know, sweetheart."

Delaney furrowed her eyebrows in confusion since she didn't tell him and she doubted the boys tracked her phone. "You do?"

"Sammy kind of talked to Ellen and she told him where you were. We just got here. It's a real funky town, kiddo. I cannot believe you left us."

Delaney's whole body froze at Dean's secret code word funky town. It was one of the many code words the three had come up with any time one of them had been in danger. Someone had a gun to both him and Sammy and alarms suddenly went off in her head. "Um... I'm sorry, Dee. Look, right now, there's someone after me."

"What? Who?"

"I wish I could tell you. That's what we need to find out. Tell me where you are."

"We're staying at 5637 Monroe Street. Why don't you come meet Sammy and I here?"

Delaney licked her lips and glanced behind her at Ava who stood to the side awkwardly as Delaney spoke on the phone. She needed to go save her brothers, but there was no way she would drag Ava into that. It wasn't her mess to clean up. "Um, yeah I'll meet you guys there. I promise."

"Bye, kid."

"Bye," Delaney whispered and hung up the phone, closing her eyes for a moment as she tried to settle her rapidly racing heart. The thought of her brothers being in danger scared her, especially when she didn't know what was going on or who was holding their ransom.

Ava stepped closer to Delaney and placed a hand on the girl's arm, rubbing it softly. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Delaney's eyes slowly fluttered open again and she gave Ava a grateful smile for being so concerned with her. "My brothers are in trouble. My eldest brother, Dean, he gave me a code word. Someone's got a gun on him." She quickly took out the motel room pad from her pocket and scribbled 5637 MONROE STREET across the white sheet.

"Code word?" Ava questioned in confusion.

"Yeah.... funky town," Delaney explained and paused when she saw the look Ava was giving her. "Well, Dean thought of it, not me or Sammy. It's kind of a long story."

Delaney and Ava walked back over to Ava's blue Volkswagen Beatle that was parked in the motel's parking lot. "I think you should go, Ava. I want you out of harm's way."

Ava frowned as she seemed against the idea of having to leave Delaney behind. "What about you?"

"Harm's way doesn't necessarily bother me anymore," Delaney replied with a shrug. "I'm in it all the time. Gives me anxiety, but I get over it."

"No, but you are walking into my vision. This is how you die!"

"It doesn't matter. It's my brothers."

Ava was silent for a moment as different decisions floated across her mind. She gasped and grabbed onto Delaney's hands with a hopeful look. "Maybe I can help you."

Delaney smiled at Ava, thankful that she was so willing to put herself in danger to help her and her brothers out. "You have seriously done all you can. Just - go back to your fiance, okay? You'll be safe there." She opened the driver's door for Ava who reluctantly got in and she closed it behind her.

Ava started up the car and pouted as she glanced out the window to Delaney. "Well, just...promise me you'll call, then. When you get your brothers, just let me know that everything's alright."

"I promise."

-°—✞——✞—°-

Delaney approached the cabin, holding up the sheet of motel stationery that showed the address on it. The surrounding area was dark, deserted and in the middle of nowhere. Just the cabin and nothing but trees and road for miles. She peeked through the slits of the boarded-up window to see both Dean and Sam tied and gagged with their chairs back to back and tied together. Gordon slowly circled them with a rifle in his hand near the front entrance to the cabin. Guess she wasn't going through that way. 

Delaney slowly backed up from the window and ran around the back. She tried the door and found out that it was locked, pulling out her lockpick and worked the door open. However, she knew about the tripwires thanks to Ava and slowly slid off both her boots. She kissed the tops of both for luck and braced herself against the wall next to the door, chucking the first boot at the first wire and an explosion immediately went off.

Covering her head and covering herself enough to not be hit by any debris that flew out the open door, Delaney waited a moment for the dust to clear and she poked her head around to search for the second wire that was just across the room. Not giving herself enough to overthink it, Delaney chucked the other shoe and it just hit the tripwire, setting off another explosion. 

While the dust was still clearing, Delaney snuck into the cabin and hid behind a wall in the room that was connected to the room that Gordon sat in with the boys. She could hear the boys screaming and sobbing into their gags since they both believed Delaney had fallen for Gordon's trap. It only helped her case more because it made Gordon enter the room and she smirked, watching him circle the room.

When his back was to her, Delaney stepped out of her hiding spot and cocked her gun, holding it to the back of Gordon's head. "Drop the gun, asshole."

Gordon froze, clearly not expecting Delaney to be breathing. "You shouldn't take your shoes off around here. You might get tetanus."

Delaney growled at him, pressing the barrel of her gun further into Gordon's bald skull. "Put it down now!"

Gordon slowly placed the rifle down on the floor and stood back to his full height with his hands held up. "You wouldn't really shoot me, would you, Della? Because your brothers, man, they think you're some kind of saint."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be so sure," Delaney retorted, keeping the gun pointed at Gordon's skull.

Gordon tsked lightly. "See, that's what I said," he said and suddenly turned, knocking the gun out of Delaney's hand. He attacked the smaller girl until she finally collapsed to the ground through the wall behind her and into the room behind it. Gordon slowly approached Delaney, who's flat on her back, coughing. He slowly pulled out his knife from his back pocket.

"You are no better than the filthy things you hunt," Gordon spat, twirling the knife in his hand.

As Gordon raised the knife, Delaney lashed out and flipped Gordon over. She punched him twice, then grabbed the rifle and points it at Gordon's head. 

"Do it. Do it! Show your brothers the killer you really are, Della."

"Say goodnight, scumbug," Delaney huffed, raising the rifle and slamming it into the side of Gordon's head, knocking him out. She threw the rifle at him, running her hand under her bleeding nose. "Also, it's Delaney to you. Only Dean can call me Della."

Once she was sure Gordon was knocked out, Delaney half walk and half limped into the front area where Dean and Sam were tied up. Both of their eyes widened when they saw her and she smiled at them. "You both look like you've seen a ghost!" she teased as she walked over to the boys and removed their bonds and the boys removed their own gags.

Dean was the first one out of his chair and he rushed over to Delaney, forcing her to stand to her feet and twisted her face to inspect the cuts and scratches left on her face from her fight with Gordon. His eyes softened and worry filled his eyes as he took in his beaten and bruised baby sister. "That son of a bitch!"

"Boys, no!" Delaney yelled, grabbing the back of both of her brothers' jackets to stop from going and killing Gordon. "I took care of Gordon already, okay? Don't kill him."

"I let him live once and if you think I am going to let him live after what he just did to you, then he's lucky I'm even still stood here negotiating!" Dean barked and went to make a move again, but was pulled back by Delaney.

"I said he's taken care of. Can we just go, Dee?" Delaney begged, wanting to to be far from this cabin and just go to a motel and shower then sleep.

Sam nodded at his brother to just listen to their sister and the three siblings exited the cabin, Sam's arm around Delaney's waist to help her walk since she was still stumbling and limping around from her scuffle. 

The siblings only got a few feet away when gun shots went off behind them. They turned to see Gordon with two guns in his hands and the trio were quick to duck and run for cover. Delaney pulled the boys into a ditch to hide. They just had to wait this out a few minutes for her back up to come. Then the three would be free of Gordon.

"You call that taken care of?!" Dean snapped. "What the hell are we even doing in a hole?"

Delaney gave her brothers a knowing smile, leaning against the dirt wall behind her. "Oh, trust me. I have a plan."

Sam and Dean both gave her an odd look and before either one could make a comment, the sound of police sirens were heard. The three poked their head out of the ditch to see three cop cars surrounding a fully armed Gordon. 

"Drop your weapons! Get down on your knees!" the cop yelled as he stood behind his opened car door, gun held tightly in his hand as he aimed it at Gordon.

When Gordon turned to the direction the siblings ran in, Delaney poked her head out and gave Gordon a mocking wave, wiggling her fingers at him with a smirk on her face. Oops?, she mouthed at him before ducking back down again so the cops wouldn't see her.

"Wha -"

"Anonymous tip," Delaney replied nonchalantly.

Dean and Sam chuckled as they both wore both amused and proud expressions. "You are a fine, upstanding citizen, baby girl."

-°—✞——✞—°-

"Hey, Ava, it's Delaney... again. Um... call me when you get this please. Just want to make sure you got home okay. Obviously, my brothers and I are so... just worried about you now. Okay, bye," Delaney said before hanging up the phone with a sigh.

"Everything okay?"

Delaney shrugged, tossing the phone onto the seat next to her in the back and tucking her feet underneath her. "Yeah, I hope so."

"Well, Gordon should be reaching for the soap the next few years," Dean announced, trying to lighten the mood at least a little.

"Yeah, if they pin Scott Carey's murder on him... or if he escapes," Sam added and quickly shut his mouth when Dean shot him a look.

"Way to be positive, Sammy boy!" Delaney exclaimed, patting her brother on the shoulder.

Dean glanced at his baby sister through the rearview mirror, giving her a stern look. "Delaney, you ever take off like that again..."

"What? You'll kill me?" Delaney mused with a giggle.

Sam laughed at Delaney's attempt of a joke, but Dean found it anything but and glared at her. "That is so not funny."

"One word - Amsterdam!"

"Dean!"

"What? Come on. The coffee shops don't even serve coffee there."

Delaney shook her head and crossed her arms. "Nope. I am so not ditching the job."

"Hate to say it, but the kid is right."

Dean narrowed his eyes at Sam for not backing him up for once. "Screw the job. Screw it, Della, I'm sick of the job anyway. I mean, we don't get paid, we don't get thanked. The only thing we get's bad luck.

"That's kind of what being a hunter is, Dean," Sam reminded his brother. "It's what you're meant to do."

"I don't believe in that destiny crap."

Delaney raised an eyebrow at him. "You mean you don't believe in my destiny."

"Yeah, whatever," Dean grumbled.

Delaney ran a hand through her hair and poked her head into the front seat so she could properly look at Dean. "Look, I've tried running before. I mean, I ran all the way to California and look what happened. You can't run from this and neither one of you can protect me. You have to let it go."

"We sure as hell are gonna try," Sam countered. "We're not going to let anything happen to you, Delly. Older brother's honor."

"Thanks for that," Delaney said and smiled softly at bother her brothers. "Look, I'm gonna keep hunting. I mean, whatever's coming, I'm taking it head on. So if you boys want to watch my back, then I guess you are both stuck here."

Dean turned to look at her and playfully glared at her, pushing her head. "Bitch."

"Jerk."

Delaney tried to dial Ava again, but was met with the same fate. Something wasn't sitting right with her and she didn't like it. "Dee?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?"

"How far is it to Peoria?"

-°—✞——✞—°-

About an hour later, Delaney, Dean and Sam lock picked their way into Ava's house when no response came. The bad feeling only seemed to increase tenfold when Delaney entered the house and she didn't like the cold chill that ran down her spine. 

"Hello? Is anyone home?" Dean yelled as the trio inspected the house.

Delaney slowly followed a blood trail that lead right into Ava's bedroom where her fiance laid in a pool of his own blood on the bed. She gasped and stumbled back into Dean's chest who stood behind her. "Oh my God."

Sam walked over to the opened window and ran his hand along the dust along the sill, rubbing it  between his fingers. "Delly?"

"Yeah?"

Sam held up his yellow dusted fingers with a worried expression. "The demon's been here. There's sulfur all along the windowsill."

Delaney felt dread settle into the pit of stomach and she went to inspect the window when her foot stepped on something. She moved her back and squatted down to pick up the small, round item. Her eyes widened when she saw the glinting diamond on the ring - Ava's engagement ring.

"Ava..."

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

YALL THE ANGST IN THIS EPISODE ALONG WITH SASSY!DELANEY WAS JUST RAGING WOW. We finally got introduced to Ava and she'll make a reappearance later on, along with Andy of course. But now Delaney knows the demon's plans for her and so does Dean and Sam since Gordon had voiced it to them during the time it took Delaney to make it to the cabin. So now they all know the demon's plans for Delaney and the other psychics and it'll only get worse from here. SO THAT'S GONNA BE FUN WHEE

THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO winchessta bECAUSE I THINK SHE WAS MORE EXCITED FOR THIS CHAPTER THAN I WAS AND I LOVE HER FOR LISTENING TO MY 50 MILLION MESSAGES ABOUT THIS EXACT CHAPTER. LOOVEEE YOU!