ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ: "Do some good and help some people wherever we can."
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"THE CHECK WOULD BE NICE."

Venus spoke, sending the flirty waitress a honey-sweet smile.

She had been sitting next to Dean at the diner counter angrily chewing her food as the blonde woman made multiple trips to them to flirt with Dean as if she wasn't sitting right there. She nearly broke her fork when Dean started flirting back.

Dean hung his head in defeat and turned to face her. "You know as someone who shares my love of women," he began, "I would expect you to understand what fun looks like," he pointed in the direction the waitress exited, "That's fun!"

Venus offered him no words in response but the angry scrape of her fork against her nearly empty plate of waffles.

Sam returned from his trip to the bathroom and sat on the empty chair to Venus' left.

Dean rolled his eyes at Venus' attitude and slid the newspaper he was scribbling on to Sam, "Here, take a look at this. I think I got one," he pointed to the circled obit of a young girl from Wisconsin.

Venus swallowed the last of her waffles and turned to Sam, "Last week, Sophie Carlton here went for a swim and never came out. Police dragged the lake and nada."

"Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year and none of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago," Dean added.

"A funeral?" Sam raised a brow.

"Yeah, they buried an empty coffin for closure...or whatever."

"Closure?" Sam scoffed, "What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean, other people just stop looking for them."

Venus took a sip of her coffee and kept her eyes straight ahead, feeling the lingering tension between the brothers.

"Something you wanna say to me?" questioned Dean, picking up what Sam was putting down.

"The trail for Dad," he snapped, "It's getting colder every day."

"Exactly, what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know. Something. Anything."

"You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do? I'm the one who's been with him every single day for the past two years while you've been off to college going to pep rallies-"

Venus slammed her coffee cup onto the counter and spun on Dean. "I'm gonna stop you right there before you say something else that you can't take back."

Dean swallowed harshly at the bitterness in her tone.

She then turned to look at Sam. "You need to take a deep breath and listen to me. We are going to find John. Can't tell you when but we're gonna find him, I swear to you," she affirmed, "But until that time, we're gonna do some good and help some people wherever we can. ¿Comprendes?"

Sam released a sigh before nodding.

"Good," Venus faced the counter and brought her cup of coffee to her lips. After a few seconds of silence, still facing her coffee cup, she spoke again, "Dean you better not be staring at that waitress' ass or so help me God..."

Dean immediately brought his eyes back front and center.

-ˋˏ [        ] ˎˊ-

A day of driving and a change of clothes later, Venus and the Winchesters arrived at the Carlton's.

Venus tugged on the sleeve of her blue cable-knit sweater as they stood on the porch of the home waiting for an answer. She was suddenly regretting leaving her jacket in the car.

"Will Carlton?" Dean greeted the average-looking young man who answered the door.

"Yeah, that's right," Will nodded giving each of them a once over.

Dean brandished his fake wildlife service ID, "I'm Agent Ford, these are agents Hamil and...Mayhew," he gestured to Sam and Venus.

Chewbacca? Really?

"We're with the US Wildlife Service," Dean finished.

Will then escorted them to the lake behind the house where his sister drowned. They proceeded with the normal line of questioning about the accident, trying to get a feel of what Will may have seen but came up more or less empty. 

He wouldn't even let them question his father on the matter.

So Venus, Sam, and Dean made their way over to the sheriff's office.

"Now, I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?" the sheriff asked, leading them further into the station.

"What makes you so sure it was accidental?" Venus raised a brow.

Sam backed her up, "Will Carlton saw something grab his sister."

"Like what?" the greying sheriff rolled his eyes, "Here, sit, please," he directed them to two chairs. Venus pulled a fold-up chair from the back corner of the office and sat between the boys. "There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake," the sheriff insisted, "There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person. Unless it was the Loch Ness monster."

"Yeah, right," Dean offered him a phony chuckle and glanced over at Sam and Venus.

"Will Carlton was traumatized and sometimes the mind plays tricks," Sheriff Devins took a seat, "Still, we dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."

Venus shook her head and leaned forward, "You gotta admit though sheriff, this is looking a little funky. That's the third missing body this year," she tried to reason with him.

"I know," he started, "These are people from my town. These are people that I care about."

"I know," Dean empathized.

The sheriff sighed. "Anyways, all this? It won't be a problem much longer," he disclosed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the dam, of course."

Venus had no clue what he meant but nodded along regardless.

"Of course, the dam, it's uh..." Dean looked to Sam for help, "...sprung a leak."

"It's falling apart," the sheriff corrected, "and the feds won't give us the grant to repair it. So they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town either, but as Federal Wildlife you already knew that."

"Exactly," agreed Dean.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" a new voice entered the office.

The group turned and stood, giving the young woman their attention, "I can come back later," she continued.

"Agents, this is my daughter," the sheriff introduced.

Dean stepped forward first. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Dean," he offered her a hand and his dazzling smile. Venus clenched her jaw, silently resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Andrea Barr, hi," the sheriff's daughter shook his hand.

Dean's eyes damn near twinkled in the office light as he looked at her. Yuck.

Sam took note of Venus' strained expression and furrowed his brows in response. Feeling his stare pierce the side of her head, Venus forced her face to revert back to normal.

"They're from the Wildlife Service, about the lake," Devins explained.

Andrea's face fell instantly. "Oh."

Seconds later a young boy showed his face from behind Andrea. 

Venus' face immediately morphed into a softer expression, locking eyes with him first.

"Oh, hey, there," Dean greeted the child, "What's your name?"

The young boy gave no response other than turning away and running out of the office. His mom sent them a small smile before following after him.

"His name is Lucas," the sheriff explained.

"Is he okay?" Venus turned to the older man, concerned.

"My grandson's been through a lot," Devins disclosed, "We all have."

Venus turned back to see Lucas already staring at her. She sent him the tiniest smile but didn't get one in return. Yet, from the look in his eyes, she felt acknowledged enough. 

"Well if there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know," the sheriff began escorting them out.

"Thanks," Dean mumbled as they walked out.

"You know, now that you mentioned it," he backtracked at the sight of Andrea, "Could you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced, motel?"

Andrea pleasantly smiled, "Lakefront motel. Go around the corner, it's two blocks up."

Dean paused in thought before responding. "Would you mind showing us?" he requested.

"You want me to walk you two blocks?" the woman scoffed.

"Not if it's any trouble."

"I'm headed that way anyway."

Venus narrowed her eyes at the back of Dean's head hoping that if she did it long enough maybe laser beams would shoot from them.

Andrea said her goodbyes to her father and son and then accompanied them to the motel as she promised.

"Cute kid," Dean attempted to make conversation on the way.

Venus couldn't even bother to be annoyed anymore because it was pretty obvious that Dean's lame attempts at flirting were tanking.

"Thanks," Andrea replied with an awkward smile.

"Kids are the best, huh?"

Venus bit her tongue trying to stop herself from exploding in laughter. 

Andrea brought them to the curb of the motel and turned to face Dean. "There it is. Like I said, two blocks."

"Thanks," Venus and Sam chorused from behind her.

But she wasn't done. "Must be hard with your sense of direction," she addressed Dean, "never being able to find your way to a decent pick-up line," and with that, Andrea was gone.

Venus' jaw dropped in delight, her brown eyes widening. She didn't even bother to stop her laughs this time.

"Bravo, Dean," she paused mid-laughter and clapped in his face, "Was that the fun you were looking for?"

Dean clenched his jaw and glared at her.

"Cause I'll tell you what," she continued, "that was very fun for me," she broke off into laughter again, leaning against Sam to stay upright.

" 'Kids are the best'? You don't even like kids," Sam taunted his older brother.

"I love kids!" Dean argued.

Sam raised a brow, "Name three children that you even know."

Dean lifted a hand and looked away in thought, but said nothing. Sam waved him off and swung his arms around the shoulders of a still-chuckling Venus before walking to the motel's entrance.

"Loser," Venus looked back and mouthed at Dean, who was still trying to come up with the names of three children.

They were eventually checked in and given the only triple room on the property, which they quickly settled into.

Venus, now feeling warmer, removed her sweater and sat on one of the beds in a tank top checking her emails from a few worried professors and friends.

Dean stood on the other side of the room sorting through some of his clothes in his duffle bag. He glanced over at Venus for a moment, noticing something, "When'd you get the ink?"

She glanced down at the small tattoo on her left shoulder, two butterflies— one bigger than the other— with the word Mariposa written beneath them, and smiled at the memories of being called that very word by her mother, "Two years ago," she answered Dean, "I lost a bet but I don't regret it," she paused and flipped her hair behind her neck, allowing Dean to see another tattoo beneath her ear. It was an upside-down sword with a tiny castle behind it—signifying the literal translation of her last name Castillo, "I went back and got this one the week after," she finished.

Dean let his eyes dance over Venus' body for a few seconds longer, noting the few other changes about it since he'd last seen her, before pulling himself away, reminding himself that she was only back in his life temporarily.

"So there's the three drowning victims this year," Sam began to inform them from where he sat behind his laptop at the table.

"And before that?" Dean asked.

"Yeah six more, spread out over the past thirty-five years," Sam clicked through a few more articles, "Those bodies were never recovered either."

Venus switched her phone off and paid more attention. "Whatever's doing this is picking up the pace then," she commented.

"So what, we got a lake monster on a binge?" Dean theorized.

"This whole lake monster theory, it just bugs me," Sam contested.

Dean moved closer to Sam, looking down at his laptop, "Why?"

"Loch Ness, Lake Champlain. There are literally hundreds of eyewitness accounts. But here, almost nothing. Whatever it is out there, no one's living to talk about it," Sam explained.

Venus moved from her bed to stand on the other side of Sam, reading the records he found.

"Wait, Barr," Dean suddenly spoke, pointing at the screen, "Christopher Barr, where have I heard that name before?"

Venus thought back to the sheriff's daughter whose last name was Barr. She was surprised Dean had forgotten that quickly.

"Christopher Barr, the victim in May," Sam clicked on the article revealing a picture of who Venus instantly recognised to be Lucas soaking wet and wrapped in a towel, "Oh, Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband and Lucas' father. Apparently, he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescued."

Venus frowned, thinking about how traumatic it must have been to not only survive the ordeal but to have a crowd of photographers swarming him immediately after.

"Maybe we have an eyewitness after all," Sam noted.

"No wonder that kid was so freaked out," Dean voiced, "Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over," he locked eyes with Venus who looked back sadly. 

They both, unfortunately, shared a similar experience with Lucas.

-ˋˏ [       ] ˎˊ-

Venus, Dean, and Sam arrived at the county's park a few minutes later, hoping to find Andrea and Lucas.

Their wish was granted when they spotted the surviving Barrs in a corner of the park near the slides. Venus smiled at the children they passed on the way there, watching them frolic and play without a care in the world, missing the days when she was as blissfully unaware as they were.

After her family's death, any spare time she had during her childhood was spent either with the Winchesters taking care of Sam, or learning how to use any and all weapons her uncle thought she needed to master. It took years for her to stop crying at the sight of a playground. 

"Can we join you?" Sam spoke first, putting on a pleasant smile as they approached Andrea.

"I'm here with my son," she replied, gesturing over to where Lucas sat some distance away drawing.

Venus and Dean turned in the boy's direction, pretending to not have noticed him there earlier.

"Mind if we go say hi?" Venus smiled.

Dean didn't bother to wait for an answer and took off. Venus followed.

"Hey, little man," Venus greeted the kid with a bright smile, "How's it going?"

Lucas continued to color his picture, not paying them any attention as they knelt on the other side of the bench.

Dean first noticed the tiny plastic green army men. A grin spread across his face at the sight. "Oh, man I used to love these things," he picked one up and began to mimic gunfire and explosions.

Venus released a genuine chuckle at his actions, finding it cute.

Dean looked back at her, finding himself smiling at the sound of her laughter.

But they eventually noticed that Lucas still didn't offer them a response, obviously taken up with his drawing.

"So crayons are more your thing?"  Dean commented, "That's cool. Chicks dig artists."

Venus looked away in thought before nodding in agreement, recalling her own dating history.

She then noticed Lucas' stack of already completed drawings, tapping Dean to draw his attention to them.

"Hey these are pretty good, buddy," Venus commended the young boy, flipping through some of the drawings.

Dean picked up the red crayon and handed it to Venus, remembering it was her favorite color, and picked up the blue crayon for himself. "You mind if we sit and draw with you for a while?" he gently questioned the kid.

Dean moved to sit at the edge of the bench and Venus moved over to remain knelt on the grass but now closer to Lucas. Dean handed her a piece of paper and started drawing on one himself.

Venus drew stray lines and patterns on the piece of paper and then decided to shape it into an airplane. The folds came as easy to her as breathing, having done it so much as a child.

"You know I'm thinking you can hear us," Dean addressed Lucas, "You just don't wanna talk."

Venus continued to fold her piece of paper while looking down at Lucas. "We don't know what exactly happened with your dad, but we know it was something really bad. We're so sorry, kiddo," she leaned in closer, sadly smiling at the boy.

"Venus and I know how you feel," Dean chimed in, already looking at Venus when she turned to meet his eyes, "When we were around your age we saw something," he paused his drawing, deep in thought.

Venus swallowed harshly and continued, breaking away from the intensity of Dean's stare and facing Lucas, "Maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you or believe you. But I will," she then pointed at Dean, "and he will too," her voice lowered to a dramatic whisper, "he's nicer than he looks I promise," she joked, only gaining a smile from Dean and nothing more from Lucas.

"You don't even have to say anything," Dean added, "You can draw us a picture about what you saw that day...with your dad on the lake."

Lucas looked up for only a fraction of a second and locked eyes with Venus, but then returned to his drawing, seeming even more focused than before.

"No problem. This is for you," Dean turned his picture to face Lucas, "This is my family. That's my dad, that's my mom, that's my geek brother, that's my uncle, Artie—he's not actually my uncle but I call him that anyways," he then pointed to a stick figured girl with curly hair, "and this is my best friend, Venus," at this Venus looked up with furrowed brows, somewhat honored that despite everything Dean still considered her a part of his family, "She's super smart, just like my geek brother. Oh, and that's me."

Venus found herself tearing up and quickly wiped away the tears before either of them could see it.

"So I'm a sucky artist," joked Dean as he stood up and returned Lucas' crayon and paper, "We'll see you around Lucas."

Venus stood to her feet and brushed the grass off her legs. She placed her paper airplane in front of Lucas, "My mom taught me how to make these when I was little. You can keep it. Consider it a little something to remember me by, yeah?"

Dean and Venus walked back to Sam and Andrea with sullen faces, each burdened by the memories of their passed loved ones.

"What are the doctors saying?" Venus heard Sam ask once she rejoined the others.

"That it's some kind of post-traumatic stress," Andrea shook her head.

Sam sighed, "That can't be easy for either of you."

Venus nodded along, "Right, but I'm happy Lucas still has you by his side."

Andrea sent her a grateful smile, "Thanks. We moved in with my dad, he helps out a lot too," she replied, "It's just...when I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw..." she trailed off, glancing over at her son.

"Kids are strong," Dean reminded her, "You'd be surprised what they can deal with."

"You know, he used to have such life," Andrea chuckled, "He was hard to keep up with to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there, drawing those pictures, playing with those army men."

Lucas then walked over, coming to stand between Venus and Dean holding two pictures.

"Hey, sweetie-" Andrea paused in shock as her son handed Venus and Dean each a picture.

Venus took the picture with a smile, "Thanks Lucas," she and Dean chorused.

Dean looked at his picture of a well-drawn house then looked at his brother.

But Venus' eyes remained locked onto her picture.

It was a drawing of a woman with wings, a small bow and arrow, and a pink halo. There were even small hearts drawn in the background. She thought that it was Lucas' way of saying he liked her, but she couldn't help but wonder if it meant anything else.

-ˋˏ [   ] ˎˊ-

Somewhere on the road...

John Winchester was Arturo Castillo's best friend.

But every once in a while the older man did things that royally pissed him off.

This week it was leaving him behind in a nest of vampires. Arturo knew from the very first hunt he'd worked with John 22 years ago that the older man had a horrible concept of teamwork. But over the years the Winchester had made progress, putting aside his lone ranger ways and even coming to enjoy hunting with a partner.

At least that's what Arturo had thought...

"Look, 'turo, I'm sorry man," John attempted to apologize for the tenth time. They were seated in his pickup truck, John behind the wheel and Arturo in the passenger seat, parked outside a rest stop.

"You always say you're sorry, and I fall for it thinking 'Maybe he'll finally stop being a selfish pendejo'. Then it happens again, and around and around in a goddamn circle we go," Arturo argued, his accent growing thicker with his anger.

John opened his mouth to say something but closed it and sighed.

Arturo pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the foul stench of vampire guts all over his coat, "Listen, compa, I know you wanna find the thing that killed your wife. I know it's all you think about every second of every day. But you can't face the thing alone. I don't care how tough you think you are, you just can't. And since you refuse to get your boys or mi sobrina involved, then you're stuck with me. But I'm not gonna be there to help you when the time comes if you keep getting me almost killed," he punctuated his last statement with a harsh shove of John's shoulder that made the older man smile.

John turned to face his best friend, his face and tone apologetic, "I truly am sorry, buddy. It's hard to ditch the first instinct I get in situations like this sometimes."

"The first instinct is to leave everything and everyone behind and run?" Arturo raised a brow, "You really are a messed up son of a bitch Johnny boy," he chuckled."

John twisted the key in the ignition, beginning the long journey ahead of them to the next group of monsters that could have information about the demon they sought.

Arturo decided to turn on his phone for the first time in nearly a week, feeling a small smile spread across his face at his niece's name popping up on his screen. She had left him another voicemail a few days prior.

He loved listening to the voicemails she left him, even the sad ones. Anything was good enough to remind him that she was alive and safe.

He quickly clicked on the voicemail and lifted the phone to his ear, his smile growing wider at the sound of her voice.

"Hey, tío. It's me...again. I was hoping I'd get you this time but I always seem to miss you." 

Arturo felt the smile on his face fade at the next sentence

"I'm back on the road. My best friend Jess, I think I've mentioned her in my other voicemails that I don't even know if you listen to...But, uh, yeah she was killed about a week ago. So I'm with the Winchester boys trying to find John so we can find the thing that did it and ice the son of a bitch."

"Damnit, chiquita," he muttered to himself. Venus going off to college and leaving hunting behind was one of the best decisions she'd ever made. Arturo may not have let her know, but he was proud of her for choosing to walk away on her own. Although he couldn't provide it, a normal life was all he ever wanted for her. A life away from killing things and losing people. A life away from the disappointment of a guardian he was.

And now she was diving head first back into that life...

Hunting the same dangerous thing he was...

"Bet you're grinning on the inside, huh?" 

Her message continued as more of a taunt than anything. He was not happy.

"..It's just that I heard something today that got me thinking about you and I wanted to say I'm sorry...and I love you, tío. Stay safe."

Arturo clicked off the message and turned his phone off once again.

"How's V doing?" John asked, looking away from the road for a moment.

Arturo sighed deeply.

"That bad huh?"

"A demon killed her best friend so she's hunting again," he informed the older Winchester.

John's eyebrows shot up in shock. "Well hot damn. Never thought I'd see the day."

"Yeah me neither," Arturo admitted, sinking further into his seat, "She's with your boys and they're hunting the same demon we are. They even found your journal."

"Shit," John protested, "Did she say where they were?"

Arturo nodded, "Yeah, Colorado. But this message is a couple of days old, they could be someplace else by now."

John pulled off the road and flipped open his phone, "We gotta slow 'em down," he voiced, "I can't have them anywhere near this."

Arturo turned to look at the older man, his face wearing a confused expression.

"This is John Winchester, I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son Dean— 785-555-0179— he can help."

"Who was that?" Arturo asked as John turned off the phone and pulled back onto the road.

"Nobody, I just changed my voicemail message."

Arturo's eyes widened. "You mean you're about to redirect everybody you know with monster problems to our kids?" he exclaimed.

"Calm down!" John matched his volume, "Now we trained them right. They should be able to handle whatever monsters get sent their way."

Arturo leaned against the window, turning away from his friend and looking at the passing landscape, "Doesn't mean they should have to, John."

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A/N: Hey. Thank you guys so much for 150 reads on this book.
I appreciate all the votes and support and I'm hoping y'all stick
around cause it's just gonna keep getting better I promise.
Now I personally hate reading slowburns but somehow found
myself writing one here? Lmao
But I promise it's worth it. Dean and Venus have some shit to work through!

As always, votes and comments are always appreciated.

Happy reading pookies! 🫶🏽

Translations:
Nada - nothing
¿Comprendes?- You understand?
Mariposa - Butterfly
Compa - Friend
Pendejo - Dumbass
Mi sobrina - My Niece
Tío - Uncle
Chiquita - Little one

EDIT 01/27/24: Lovely GIF banner up above made by the crazy talented prodigybitxhhh 

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