'Spirit Unknown'

By Charlotte Fuller

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Rating: Fiction rated: T (PG13); some violence, minor coarse language

SummaryTo their great surprise, Sam and Dean receive a message from their old (hunter) friend Catherine, after years of being apart. She seeks their help in a what she suspects to be a supernatural case; it’s one big mystery and presumably involves a nasty spirit. The case proves to be hard enough as it is, but the mutual relations between the brothers and Catherine make it just that little bit harder.

Author’s Note: Well here you go, my first Supernatural fanfic. Hope it’s a bit realistic and ‘in character’, and that i’ve managed to reproduce the magic of the supernatural mysteries in each episode. Let me know what you think about it, hm? With, let’s say... a review? - puppy eyes - I LOVE reviews!

Alright, that aside... You’ve read what this story is about in the summary above. As you can see, I introduced a new character: Catharine. Cat, for short. She’s like an old friend of the Winchester family – well, I’m not gonna say too much, you’ll find out all about it in the story. Just really felt like adding a female touch to the story (besides the standard one-episode-love-interest for either Sam or most of the time Dean lol). In order to properly introduce her and the characters’ history, the first chapter will mainly be focusing on Catherine and the relations between the characters. You’ll just have to get through it. A little more plot and action will follow in the chapters after this one ;)

Give it a shot... and let me know what you think. Enjoy:)

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“Dean...”

Sam couldn’t even be bothered to open his eyes. Speaking his brother’s name out loud seemed to be hard enough as it was. The youngest Winchester had slept about three hours total during the past two nights, and really wanted nothing more than sleep at least ten hours straight this third night.

Unfortunately, the ringing of his brother’s cell phone seemed to make that impossible.

“Dean...” Sam said again, this time a little louder and clearer. It never ceased to amaze Sam that once the four-year-older Winchester was asleep, nothing seemed to wake him up. Various pranks in the past had proved Sam that theory right – to the annoyance of Dean. Waking up with magic marker scribbled all over his face was only the least bad of the pranks. Unfortunately for Sam, Dean always knew how to get his revenge... for example, writing on his baby brother’s face with magic marker which proved to be impossible to remove with water, soap, or anything else for at least three days.

“Dean.” Sam looked at the bed at his side, and spotted his older brother was still in a deep sleep. With a groan of annoyance, the brunette swept away the covers, crawled out of bed and grabbed his brother’s phone. The moment he held it in his hand, the thing stopped ringing.

“Oh, that’s just brilliant.” Sam looked at the display and found himself staring at a message informing him it was an unknown caller. Silently cursing under his breath, he threw the phone back on the table in annoyance, disabled the sound off his own cell just in case, and crawled back under the warm covers of his bed. He fell asleep again the moment his head hit the pillows.

&&&

Sam woke up staring directly at the alarm clock on the bedside table. The yellow digits informed him it was little past eight in the morning – and when he looked past the clock, an empty bed informed him that his brother was already wake.

Sam sat upright in his bed, pulled up his legs, and rested his elbows on his knees after rubbing his temples.

“Morning, sunshine. If you were expecting coffee, I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

Dean had barely even glanced up from the screen of the laptop he was working on at the table. Sam scratched behind his head and furrowed his brow. “What’s wrong with this picture?” he referred to the fact Sam was always up and awake before Dean was.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Dean responded, still not taking his eyes off of the screen. “When I first woke up, I wondered for a minute as well where the two hot blondes had gone. Then I remembered I left them at the bar with only my phone number, because my brother, the eternal study-geek, had a hunch and dragged me off to some place in Nebraska to go hunting. May I remind you it is okay to have a little fun once in a while?”

Sam got out of bed and put on his jeans. “Then may I remind you that my hunch turned out to be right and we saved at least two lives the other night? Strangely enough, one of us finds that more important than trying to get laid each time we walk into a bar.”

Dean grabbed a handful of crisps from the bag on the table, and Sam pulled a face of disgust. He was definitely one for mornings, but he could get nothing but coffee down his throat before at nine ‘o clock. Let alone crisps. Dean however always seemed to be hungry.

“Oh come on, don’t do that,” Dean mumbled with his mouth full.

“Do what?”

“Make me look like I care more about getting laid than saving lives.”

“It’s what you implied.”

“I just said, I’m all in for having a little fun every now and then – and that you should think the same way, instead of always looking for new supernatural cases..”

“That’s what we do, Dean,” Sam informed him wearily, grabbing his cell phone. He remembered the unknown call Dean got the past night, and frowned a little when spotting his own phone showed he had a voice mail message.

“What are you doing behind that laptop anyway?” Sam sat down on the edge of his bed and dialed a number to listen to the voice mail message.

Dean seemed a little hesitant. “I uh... I got a text message. I think it was from Dad.”

Sam’s eyes spread and he looked at his brother incredulously. He practically dropped the cell phone in his hand.

“What? And you wait to tell me this now?”

“Yeah. Sorry,” Dean admitted with a one-shouldered shrug and looked at his younger brother sheepishly.

“What did it say?” The thought of Dean’s ringing cell phone from the past night was running through Sam’s mind, wondering if it had been their father calling. Part of him even wondered if he would hear the voice of John when he was going to listen to his voice mail message.

“Coordinates,” Dean replied shortly. “He gave us new coordinates. I’m checking it out now.”

Sam swallowed and re-dialed the number to listen to the message, after practically dropping his phone before. He felt a little on edge, nervous, wondering if he really was about to listen to the voice of his father. He couldn’t believe he might’ve missed a phone call with no-one less than the man they’d been looking for non-stop for the past while.

“Got it,” Dean announced, grabbing a notebook and a pen and writing some stuff down. “Coordinates point to some town in...” he paused for a moment, then recovered, cleared his throat and continued on writing. “Jackson County. Kansas.” The blond glanced up at his younger brother, who was staring at him with his mouth half-open, slightly stunned.

“Yeah, I know,” said Dean. “Not too far from Douglas County. Lawrence. Our good ol’ hometown...” He paused again, staring at the notepad below his nose. It seemed as if he was considering something. He wondered if Sam would want to stop by their hometown and old house. Personally Dean really didn’t feel like it. He focused on the coordinates instead, and again cleared his throat. “I uh, I’m not sure what could be wrong in that place. It doesn’t ring any bells, and I don’t think I read about it in Dad’s journal... I’ll google it, see what comes up.”

Finally, Dean looked up at his brother, who was still staring at him like he had been before. At that point, Dean thought Sam’s expression had been a reaction to hearing the coordinates pointed to a location not far from their old home; but he didn’t suspect that bit of information was so shocking it totally swept Sam off his feet.

“Sammy?” he asked unsure, watching how his baby brother slowly lowered the phone in his hand and cleared his throat, seemingly pulling himself together. “What’s up? Does Jackson County ring any bells to you?” he added hesitantly.

“Uh, no,” Sam spoke a little bewildered, running a hand through his hair. “No, it doesn’t.” He paused for a moment, before looking up at his older brother. “I just got a voice mail message from... someone who needs our help.”

Dean immediately sat a little more upright, a glance appearing in his eyes that didn’t appear all that often. He swallowed. “Was it – I mean, was it...?”

He didn’t finish his sentence; Sam knew he meant John. “No,” Sam contradicted, too off of it to notice Dean’s shoulders dropped and his expression seemed a little disappointed. “No, it wasn’t Dad.”

“Well...?” Dean demanded, after seconds of silence.

Sam looked him straight in the eyes and hesitated for a moment. “It was Cat.”

&&&

23rd August, 1999

“Oh, come on!” Catherine Townsend cried out in annoyance, straight to her father’s face. In exasperation, she turned to John Winchester, who was standing at the kitchen table, packing supplies in a large bag. Supplies meaning guns, salt, matches... the usual for when he and Daniel Townsend, Catherine’s father, went on another hunting trip.

“John – give me some support here.”

The expression on John’s face made it all too clear he really didn’t want to be in this position. “Sorry, honey, but if your dad says you can’t come along, you’re not coming. I have nothing to say about that.”

Catherine sighed in desperation and turned back to her father, dropping her shoulders, addressing him with a whining voice. “Dad...”

“I said no, Catherine,” Daniel Townsend interrupted his daughter with a firm voice. “You’re not coming along, period. It’s far too dangerous.”

“Give her a break, guys,” a voice from the other side of the room sounded. Everyone turned to the doorway, where Dean Winchester entered and went straight for the kitchen table, to pack some stuff in his own bag. “She’s sixteen, and she’s tagged along on hunting trips before. She’s gotta learn it sooner or later.”

Everybody ignored the snort coming from the corner of the room, where Sam laid back with a book in his hands, hiding his face. “Yup, ‘cos life is all about learning how to hunt...” he mumbled sarcastically. “You wanna become a doctor and save lives? Nah, don’t put yourself through med school. Throw away your ambitions. Just go hunting.”

“Hunting saves lives, young man!” John Winchester barked at his youngest son. “It’s about time you start realizing how many lives we save with the job we do! Take an example by looking at your brother, for a change.”

Sam closed the book in his hands with a dull thump and opened his mouth to fire back a reply, but Catherine interrupted the bickering father and son.

“Yeah – hey – we all know Sam has no interest in coming along on a hunting trip, alright? We discussed that part. I do wanna come along. So remind me: why does sixteen year old Sam get to come along, but is free to stay home alone when he doesn’t feel like it; while sixteen year old me wants to come along but is forced to stay home alone when I really don’t feel like it?”
”Yeah, just give her a shot, people,” Dean shrugged, zipping up his backpack. “In the state she’s in now, I think she’ll do more damage cooped up at home than when you drag her along. Who knows, she might even kill something this time.”

The blond immediately stopped talking upon receiving one of Catherine’s death glares. “Watch that pretty head of yours, boy. I would’ve killed that Werewolve if you hadn’t beaten me to it. Be grateful I didn’t shoot you in the ass for getting in my way.”

“Oh honey, you think my butt far too pretty to do that,” Dean responded with a grin on his face. The grin only widened when Catherine produced a growl that sounded like one an angry cat would make.

Deciding there were more important matters at hand – and that she’d let her frustration out on Dean later – she turned back to her father. “Dad, you heard Dean. He’s right. I’m right. I’m old enough to come along, I’ve been along before! You can’t keep me away from this stuff forever.”

Townsend slammed his fist on the table so loud everyone fell silent. “I’ve been clear enough with you, Catherine Townsend. You. Are. Not. Coming. Along. Period.”

He turned to walk out, but was called after by his daughter. “Fine! If you keep me at home, I’ll go out hunting on my own anyway!”

“Oh, no you won’t,” Townsend contradicted, the linings on his face marked with annoyance. “Not if you ever want to leave the house again before you’re twenty.” He left, followed by John.

Cat growled in frustration again, and threw her hands in the air. She caught Sam’s look, and for a moment really couldn’t understand how he could be so cold about this; how he didn’t even want to come along to do what their families did and maybe even loved. The hunt. “What the hell are you looking at?” she spat out. Sam rolled his eyes and headed upstairs, leaving Catherine and Dean alone in the kitchen.

“I tried,” Dean said, just for the record, after a short silence.

Cat inhaled deeply. “Yeah... I know. Thanks.”

“Anytime.” He hesitated. “You know, when we get back... I promise I’ll take you out on a good hunting trip, behind your Dad’s back. Let all your frustration out, kick some supernatural ass.”

Cat poked a tongue in her cheek and raised her eyebrows, smiling amused. “My my, Dean Winchester, did you just ask me out on a date?”

“Sorry love, there won’t be any chocolates.”

“Hm. Will there be killing of nasty and evil supernatural forces?”

“Most definitely.”

“Then it’s a deal.”

Dean clapped his hands together. “Great! And if we happen to end up in the bushes afterwards, you won’t regret it?”

For a moment it looked like Catherine was gonna slap him; eventually she just shook her head and dropped her shoulders, not knowing what to say.

“That’s a no-go then.”

After a short, somewhat awkward silence, Dean turned to head out the room. He stopped and turned back when hearing his name.

“Dean?”

Cat tucked a stand of her wavy, long dark hair behind her ear and bit her lip. “I don’t think ending up in the bushes is such a good idea, really. But, for what it’s worth...” she hesitated for a moment. “I didn’t regret it last time.”

Dean’s green eyes flickered and he grinned when she turned around and headed out of the kitchen, her long and wavy dark brown hair bouncing around her shoulders.

&&&

2nd September, 2003

Catherine placed a glass of water on the kitchen table and sat down next to Dean. The blond’s eyes alone showed that tiny bit of sadness he was hiding so brilliantly; the rest of his physical form and voice just showed his anger.

“How is your dad?”

Dean snorted. “You’d think he’d be happy Sam finally left. Lately it’s been nothing but arguments, one worse than the other.”

“Hey, I live here, remember? You don’t need to tell me that. Sammy and your dad might not have always argued in the open, but believe me... their voices definitely ring through all the way up to the attic.”

“Plus, Dad sorta saw him as a disgrace you know,” Dean continued, as if he hadn’t even heard Catherine. “For never wanting to come along on hunting trips. Like the rest of us.”

“I know,” Cat said with a small voice. She had definitely heard the tone in Dean’s voice; a tone that showed part of him was standing up for his baby brother, standing up against their dad for seeing Sammy as a disgrace. For not following in John’s footsteps, but going off to college and following his own dreams instead. She wondered if Dean realized what the tone he’d used had actually meant. Probably not. She knew all too well deep inside Dean admired his brother for standing up to their dad, and doing what he wanted instead of always following John’s orders. She’d never confront him with that, though. Dean never admitted it to himself, and she knew he wouldn’t appreciate being confronted with it at all.

“So what, you’re saying he actually should be happy to be rid of his youngest son?” Catherine asked a little incredulously.

“Nah, not happy. ‘Course not. But I guess I just didn’t expect this reaction. I expected him to be angry as hell at Sam. God knows I am. Leaving overnight, without saying a word...”

“Wouldn’t have been any better or easier for any of you if he’d announced his departure,” said Cat quietly. Dean ignored her. “But he isn’t just angry. He’s angry alright – but not like I thought he’d be. He’s... just off it.”

“Ever come to think he might be sad?” said Cat carefully. “I know they didn’t have the perfect father/son relationship, far from it, but it can’t possibly be easy for a father when his youngest boy takes off without saying a word, after nothing but big fights.”

Dean ignored her again. He just emptied the glass of water in front of him with only a few gulps, and placed the glass back on the wooden surface with a dull thump.

“He’s a mess,” Dean admitted bitterly after a short silence, referring to his father. Cat was tracing circles with her index finger near his arm on the wooden table surface. She sideways glanced up at him. “He won’t show it, though. He probably doesn’t wanna admit it to himself in the first place. But he’s a mess.”

Cat bit her lip. “And you...?”

Another silence. Dean stared at the empty glass in front of him. It was one of the very few occasions Catherine had ever seen him so open, weak. Lost in thought. He was never like this. Always had that shield around him.

Dean turned his head and looked her straight in the eyes for only two seconds before he broke eye-contact. “I’ll miss him. Sammy...” Words got stuck in his throat. He recovered. “I’ll miss him. But I hate him for leaving. Especially the way he did it. After that huge argument, with this situation at home... And the worst part? That he didn’t let anyone know. That he just took off,” he emphasized his words by waving his hand through the air, as if brushing something invisible away. “Without a word, without giving any hint or sign. Without even leaving a note or something.”

Cat felt her lip started to hurt at the place she had it clenched between her upper and lower jaw. Under the table her other hand was nervously fiddling with a tore edge of her top. She was never really good at keeping secrets – and some things she just couldn’t hide. Especially not for Dean.

“I knew,” she blurted out. The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted saying them. She knew it was a mistake. Dean slowly looked up.

“You what...?”

She tried to look sheepish, maybe even smile, but she expression Dean’s face wore made that absolutely impossible. “Sammy told me. I knew he was gonna take off - I’m so sorry, Dean, really, but I couldn’t tell anyone because I knew it would only make things worse, and adding to that Sammy really made it clear no one could know, he practically begged me to keep it to myself and I really didn’t wanna let him down or betray him like that and...” Catherine stopped ranting, realizing she really didn’t know what else to say. Part of her wished tears would appear behind her eyes, because it would’ve given her speech just a little more effect. Might’ve been more convincing to Dean, so he would forgive her. But she never ever cried, and so she wouldn’t now. Dean just had to trust her words for what they were.

But would he, really? The blond just stared at her. Didn’t say a thing, didn’t even stretch a muscle, those big green eyes just... empty. Catherine tried to speak various times, but it seemed she had pretty much lost her voice. And he just kept on staring. For almost an entire minute. And then he spoke.

“You knew he was gonna take off like thatAnd you knew about the situation here at home... and you didn’t bother to tell me...?”

She whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“Get out.”

Catherine let out a small whimpering breath and tilted her head sideways. “Dean, c’mon-”

“Get out, Catherine. Just get out.”

“Dean, this is stupid, can’t we just-”

“Get out.”

The girl swallowed, rose up from her seat, and tried once more to say something. Anything. Eventually, she walked out of the front door of the Winchester house, and didn’t return.

&&&

18th September, 2003

“It’s for the best, son.” John Winchester patted his oldest son on the back. “It’s for the best.”

For some reason Dean doubted that.

“We don’t need them right now, let them cool down. C’mon, go pack your stuff for that hunt. We’re leaving in an hour.”

John left the room, leaving Dean standing alone with that note in his hands. The note from Catherine, in which she explained why she’d left. Overnight, without saying a word, Dean thought angrily. She took after his brother.

In the note she explained why she had left. She wanted time off. To think. Just travel a bit, without a plan. Not being tied to anything. She’d wanted to do that ever since her father passed away, two years before. But never got around to doing it.

It’s for the best, John said. John was right. He didn’t need them right now. Not Sam, not Cat. He just needed his Dad, and the hunting. That was all he needed. At least he knew where his priorities lay.

Dean threw the note in the garbage can and headed upstairs to pack for the hunting trip.

&&&

Present day

“So that’s how she left, huh?” Sam asked half-hearted, looking out of the window of the Impala, scratching his chin. A frown marked his forehead.

“Yeah,” Dean responded his low voice. “At least she left a note.”

Sam glared at him, but didn’t respond. He knew Dean was still mad at him for taking off two years ago without saying anything, and never letting him or their Dad know how he was doing or where he was. He and Dean had never talked about any of it since Dean showed up after a long while at Stanford a little while ago, and Sam really didn’t intend to bring the subject up either.

“Right. And she left, just like that?”

“Sounds familiar?”

Sam ignored his brother again. “I just mean – I knew things were bad, but what you just told me... It’s ridiculous to think that was the only reason she left.”

Dean didn’t reply for a moment. Then just shrugged half-hearted. “There was probably more to it.”

The tone in his voice made it obvious that the discussion was closed.

Or so Sam thought. After a minute or two of silence, Dean started talking again.

“Of course you would’ve known about everything if you hadn’t broken contact like that.”

Sam threw his hands in the air in exasperation. “Will you quit doing that?”

“Quit doing what?” Dean asked hypocritically, spotting a sign at the side of the road that informed him they were only a couple of miles removed from their destination in Kansas.

“Reminding me of what happened two years ago. I know you hate me for handling it the way I did, but guess what? That’s how it went, period. Stop bringing it up.”

“Whatever.”

Sam shook his head and turned back to looking out of the window. He frowned again.

“You never had any contact with her anymore?”

It was silent at Sam’s side for a second. “Nope. Nothing. She took off about two weeks after you left, and never contacted us again. So you didn’t miss a lot.”

“Yeah...”

Dean was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice the odd tone in his younger brother’s voice.

Sam glanced at the blond, studying his expressions. After a while, he couldn’t stay silent any longer.

“What?” he demanded, receiving a puzzled expression from Dean.

“What what?”

“What’s up? You’re bothered by something, I can tell. You’re doing that thing with your forehead.”

Dean opened his mouth to reply, then stopped and shot Sam an even more puzzled look. “What thing with my forehead?”

“Never mind. What’s bothering you?”

“Nothing! Lay off.”

“Oh c’mon Dean, is this how it’s gonna be the coming few days?”

“Whatever.”

“Knock it off, dude!”

“Look – I just...” Dean seemed to put all his effort in trying to speak his thoughts out loud. Eventually he spoke, and did so really fast. “I just don’t get why after all this time she’d contact you and not me.”

Sam raised his eyebrows, and stared at his brother. “You’re kidding me.”

“What!”

“That’s just pathetic. You’re bothered Cat called me instead of you? I didn’t realize this was a frickin’ popularity contest.”

“Well you were the one who walked out on her without saying a word! She had a reason to be mad at you, not me,” Dean defended himself.

Sam shook his head again. “I can’t believe this. How old are you, five? For your information – Cat had all the reason to be mad at you and not me. At least we split up on good terms. I even told her I was leaving, remember? That was the reason you got mad as hell at her... That nice argument you had, where you blamed her for not telling you I was gonna leave you and Dad to go to Stanford? Resulting in the stone-cold ‘Get out’ you threw at her? Followed by days where you kept on reminding her she was on bad terms with the Winchester family? With all due respect, Dean, I think she had all the reason to contact me instead of you.”

When Sam finally finished, he waited for the angry reply from his brother to come. The heated argument that was about to take place. Sam knew Dean had a crush on Cat in the past, and now a part of him actually suspected he still felt something, now he was so annoyed after all that time Catherine had contacted Sam instead of him.

Then he realized Dean still hadn’t replied, and so he shot his brother a questioning look. The blond slowly looked to his side, his brow furrowed.

“Sam?”

“Yeah?” replied Sam.

“I don’t think I told you about the part where we fought and I told her to ‘get out’...”

Sam swallowed.

Busted.

&&&

“She what!”

Sam immediately went into defense mode. “Calm down, it’s not that big a deal...”

“Yeah it is!”
”No, it’s not.”

“We spend the entire fucking morning talking about that woman, and you ‘forgot’ to mention that you two lived together for a while after you two left?!”

Sam rolled his eyes. “We didn’t ‘live together’. My god, you’re such a drama-queen! I told you, a short while after she left you and Dad she suddenly showed up at my doorstep at Stanford. Explained the whole situation, she needed a place to crash. Of course I o-”

“-Offered her your bed because of all of the USA she had nowhere else to go than your dorm?”

“Will you pull yourself together! You’re being pathetic! She needed a place to stay, so I offered her a place in my dorm!”

Dean wildly shook his head. He didn’t seem aware that his hands were enclosed around the steering wheel of the Impala so tightly the knuckles had turned pale white.

“Was this pre-Jessica?” the oldest Winchester demanded suddenly.

Sam frowned. “Uh – yeah, I guess...” He intended to ask ‘why’, but suddenly realized he didn’t need to, because he already knew the answer.

“Wait, Dean – just because she crashed at my dorm for a while, before I hooked up with Jessica, you automatically imply we-?”

“Right,” Dean shook his head, not convinced at all. “How weird of me to assume that.”