I am sooooooo slow in getting this thing finished.

Winter just sucks out here in western New York and I am ever so ready for spring to finally get here. Anyway, I’m going to post this chapter come hell or high water... So don’t be surprised if I end up fixing it before I get Chapter 6 done. Especially after you folks get done pointing out any goofs I’ve missed.

And you're correct, Sphinxcat - I've spent a good part of this afternoon trying to teach a day old calf that drinking from a bottle instead of mom is a good thing. They get hungry enough, they start to see reason... lol.

Chapter 5

Hearing his name called out, a puzzled Dean halted in his tracks and turned to see who could possibly be calling out to him. He had never been to this area before now, yet the caller definitely sounded as if they knew him and fairly well at that.

The voice was unfamiliar, and was most definitely feminine. Could it be an old fling or some past one night stand? But he rarely, if ever, used his real name in those circumstances. At least it sounded as if the caller was happy to see him, so he peered back into the pool room to see who was calling his name.

Making her way through the groups of onlookers, a smiling young woman... “No, not old enough. Make that a girl’, Dean realized... approached him, her grin getting larger as she got closer until it seemed that she could hardly contain her joy at seeing him. Dean was completely mystified because he had no idea as to her identity. The thick layer of makeup didn't help, but Dean usually at least remembered faces, if not the names of most of the people he met over the years. This one had him stumped and he found that annoying.

"Excuse me", he started, but before he could say anything more he was cut off as the girl threw her arms around him in a giant hug.

"Oh my God! Dean Winchester! I never expected to ever see you again, Dean! Not in a million years." The girl released Dean from her bear hug and stepped back a few steps when she realized that her enthusiastic greeting was not being returned. Her smile shifted to a look of surprise. "Dean? It's me...Cindy... Cindy Cook. Remember? Rushford Central School.. My brother Todd and Sam were best friends...", her voice faltered and started to fall off as it became clear that Dean was struggling to place her.

Suddenly the pieces fell together and Dean grinned back at her. No wonder he couldn't place her, she must have been all of ten or eleven when the Winchesters had spent most that school year based out of a small rental house in rural Minnesota. Memories of the place came rushing back to him even as he grabbed her up and gave her a belated bear hug in return.

1998...

The area was centrally located to a number of jobs that John had lined up that year. Dean was actively hunting with his dad by then and, at fifteen, Sam was an awkward and gawky teen not physically co-ordinated enough to be safe on a hunt but old enough to remain behind on his own or stay with friends for a weekend. In this case, Sam had bonded with a soccer playing classmate who also loved martial arts and John had used his charm to persuade their widowed mother to "babysit" his youngest for a modest fee... mostly to cover the expense of feeding the growing kid with his bottomless pit of a stomach... while he and Dean took care of out of town "business". It had worked well in that respect and Sam was able to do research for their hunts while also attending classes just like any other school age kid. Sam had been thrilled at the prospect of living a "normal" life and Dean had hoped it would work out for him.

John continued to insist that Sam train along with Dean, and for once Sam actually was an enthusiastic participant, if only because he would immediately go over to Todd’s house and teach him the new moves he had just learned. They would practice together for hours and play video games or music. Sam had found himself a friend and he hung out with Todd as much as possible.

Observing Sam and Todd, John vainly hoped that Sam truly understood that this stay in one town, one place, was temporary and that next year they would be back on the road as before. He wanted to remind Sam of that fact, but he also harbored a massive amount of guilt over depriving the kid of so much over the years and just couldn’t bring himself to burst Sam’s bubble of happiness. Or have to deal with Sam’s reactions to the situation. Sam’s adolescence was a far more turbulent affair than Dean’s bout with puberty and John was uncertain how to cope with the mood swings and growing rebelliousness.

Unlike his older brother who had experienced the devastation of losing their mother and understood the situation, Sam had been shielded from the truth for as long as possible. While meant as a kindness, John had slowly come to realize that he had done the boy no favors in his efforts to protect him. Things had ending up backfiring in his face as Sam figured things out on his own and became more and more resentful.

While John had always managed to maintain control over Dean with a sharp word or look, the same methods just seemed to incite Sam to even further heights of rebellion. John was on uncertain ground and pretty much at a loss on how to handle the kid. Though too late to go back and correct his mistakes, John had hoped to repair some of the damage by making a peace offering to the boy. Give him some semblance of stability, at least during the school term, to offset the rigors of training and hunting during the remainder of the year.

It had seemed like a pretty good deal to Dean. Definitely better than the one he had ended up with. But no, Sam continued to fuss about the family business, and his resentment and rebellion increased steadily. Any pride in his son's achievements was overshadowed by John’s anger and frustration, so it seemed that the only way that father and son could interact was with voices raised and tempers flaring. Leaving an increasing distraught Dean to put up a stoic front as he tried to act as buffer and peacemaker.

In the midst of this seesaw of family strife was the Cook family. A nice family that the previous year had lost Mr. Cook to some freakish medical condition that had struck out of the blue, leaving behind a too young widow ill equipped to fend for herself. Dean watched in silent bemusement as Mrs. Cook tried flirting with his dad only to finally resign herself to the realization that John Winchester wore his wedding ring because he was still in love with his deceased wife and would probably never even considered remarrying. It was a welcome relief when a local businessman started asking her out. Sam was still welcome to go over, but the pressure was off on trying to deflect her questions about John and what he did for a living.

Todd and Sam were kindred spirits beyond loving soccer ... each did well in school and dreamed of entering college. Todd’s goal was to get his degree and find a good paying job that would enable him to support his family. Sam dreamed of finding a way to escape the insanity of their lives if his father and brother wouldn’t see that nothing they did would restore the past... bring back his mom, the stranger that obsessed their lives. He didn’t doubt that Mary Winchester had been a good person and worthy of their love; but this obsession with avenging her death was crazy and he had no intention of being sucked down into it.

Todd's little sister, Cindy, was barely eleven and had a major crush on nineteen year old Dean. She'd hang around Sam in hopes of seeing his brother show up. The sight of Dean driving up in the Impala was the highlight of her day and she would shyly hang on his every word and action. Dean had to admit that he did enjoy the attention, even if it did seem to be a pretty silly and harmless infatuation. Especially when Sam seemed as likely to lash out at him as he was their dad. Sometimes it seemed that Cindy's was the only smile Dean would receive in the course of a week, when tempers were frayed and Dean was on the receiving end from both sides.

Dean refused to feel sorry for himself, but he had to admit that there were plenty of times when his spirits really dragged and he had to drive over to the neighboring county to find himself some "fun" before he lost his cool and opened up a third front on the Winchester battleground. Then were would they be? ... up a creek without a paddle - if they were lucky.

As it was, both Sam and his dad expected so much from him and he didn't have any idea how to meet their expectations. He was already doing his best to become a skilled hunter and help his dad rid the world of as much evil as possible. Plus he did what he could to smooth things over for Sammy, but it never seemed that he could do enough to satisfy the brat. Somehow his little brother had turned into this self centered, demanding person that wouldn't accept his place in the family order. Someone who felt that the family business should be abandoned in favor of living some safe, normal life. That it was okay to know about the evil that was out there and stand back and do nothing. How had that happened? Where had they gone wrong in failing to instill in Sam the certainty that theirs was the good fight, the good cause that was worth the sacrifices they had made all these years. Maybe Dad’s quest had started out as seeking revenge, but Dean knew that it went far beyond that now. Had been so for a long time.

Dean also knew that his dad was an unsung hero. Knew that if he followed along, he too would save people from the same type of horror that he had endured that dreadful night when his peaceful, happy world was taken away in flames. Dean had slowly replaced his earlier childhood dreams of being a fearless fireman with the realization that he was destined to become a hunter just as his dad had done. As he had been forced to do by the nameless evil that had destroyed their old life. A hunter who lived on the outskirts of society, his vehicle the closest he would come to having a home and bearing the knowledge that normal would never again be his lot in life. It was the Winchester legacy, compliments of the evil thing that took his mom from them.

2003...

Dean released Cindy from his hug and looked her up and down. He didn’t care for what he saw, though he did his best not to let it show. Face thin and drawn, wearing way too much makeup, she looked more like some hooker than the young girl he knew her to be, with eyes that were sad and had seen too much in her short life.

“I saw your car this afternoon. Looks just like I remembered it, though I didn’t realize it was really you. Started me thinking about you... Should have known it was really you... That you were here. But I just saw it for a sec... “ Her words were out coming out fast and a little slurred. Dean wasn’t sure if she was just drunk or if she might be high on something, but whatever it was, she was vastly different from the young girl that Dean remembered.

Dean was sure that she is still way under 18... jail bait, and couldn’t fathom what could have happened to her in the five or so years since his family left Rushford, but he was going to find out. Leading her over to an empty table near the bar, Dean sat her down and went to the bar to get a beer for himself and a soft drink for her. At Stacy’s look, he shrugged and said, “Small world. Go figure. I knew her brother back in school.”, before returning to the table with the drinks.

Setting down their drinks, Dean took a seat across from the girl and started up a conversation. Keeping her talking about that year spent in Rushford, Dean gently probed for hints about what happened after he and his family pulled up stakes and left town. It seemed that her mom had eventually married Frank, the guy she started dating back in 1998. But he wasn’t really in the picture too much at that time and Dean had barely a memory of the guy. He was just some guy in a suit seen in passing and ignored by a young man who had better things on his mind... like the hot chick that worked at the video store and wore outfits that hid few of her assets. Dean did recall that Todd and Cindy hadn’t cared much for him, especially since it was so soon after losing their dad; but he behaved like a gentleman while he was dating their mom and she had been so happy to have found a suitor.

Cindy fell silent, so Dean started telling her about Sam. How he managed to get into Stanford on scholarship and how tall he had finally ended up, which lead to them sharing a funny stories as she remembered Sam’s growth spurt that had him outgrowing his clothes at a ridiculous pace and soon had him towering over his classmates and more than few teachers, earning him any number of nicknames. The most humorous tales revolved around the fact that Sam’s arms, legs and feet each grew at their own pace which made it next to impossible for the kid to move with any grace, despite his workouts and training. The more he struggled to control his unruly body, the more frustrated the kid became. For much of that year, Dean joked, it seemed that Sam couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time, which had his desired result of sending Cindy into peals of laughter at the memories. As she laughed, Dean could see the years melt away and was thankful to see that not all traces of the young girl he had known had vanished.

“So, what’s Todd up to these days?”, asked Dean. The last thing Dean expected at that point was to see the tears that welled up in Cindy’s eyes before she angrily brushed them away. “Heh, Cindy I’m sorry. What’s wrong?”

Cindy just shook her head, unable to speak. Dean took her hand gently into his and just held them until she regained some composure. Finally she started to speak and her story started rushing out in a flood of words and tears.

Against my better judgment, I'm going to end this chapter here. I just really need to move this sucker forward and the poor brain is in gridlock. I'm hoping that once I get into the next chapter, I'll have things figured out a bit better and can resolve this chapter in a more fitting way. Thank you all for your patience.