Why do they make it hard to love you?
Why can't they even start to try?
'Cause now I feel a bridge is burning
And all the smoke is in my eyes
The Wreckers; Hard To Love You

December 2, 1983

"Mommy, Mommy," Mackenzie Cole cried out as she ran down the stairs as fast as her little legs could go. She had just woken up from her nap and was ready to get her birthday started.

"I'm in the kitchen, dear," Delilah, her mother, called out to her two-year-old while she held her six-month-old daughter Quinn in her arms.

Mackenzie ran through the living room, then ran into the kitchen to see her mother sitting in a chair at the table feeding her little sister.

She ran over to the table, then stopped beside her mom. "Presents open?"

"Not yet, birthday girl." Delilah smiled. "We have to wait for Daddy, okay?"

"Otay," Mackenzie said with a sad shrug. She glanced around the kitchen for a moment, before looking back at her mother. "I feed sissy?"

"You can hold the bottle." Delilah placed Mackenzie's hand on the bottle and kept her hand nearby in case it slipped from her daughter's small hand. She couldn't keep the smile from her face when she looked down at her two beautiful daughters.

"Love you, sissy," Mackenzie quietly said, placing a small kiss on her sister's head while she drank from the bottle.

A few minutes later, Mackenzie gasped in surprise when she heard the front door open then close. She quickly dropped the bottle- luckily Delilah caught it before it could fall to the floor as Mackenzie ran into the living room at full speed.

Michael, her father, had just sat down his black leather briefcase when Mackenzie jumped into his arms. Even though he had just got home from a long day of teaching art and art history, he couldn't wait to spend time with his family. His family was everything to him.

"Daddy home, Daddy home," Mackenzie called out as she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck to hug him.

"Hey, birthday girl." Michael smiled and kissed his daughter on the side of her head as he held her close.

"Presents Daddy, open presents," Mackenzie said, not able to contain her excitement.

"Let's go see Mommy and Quinny first, okay? Where are they?" Michael asked, holding Mackenzie on his hip.

"Kitchen." Mackenzie pointed toward the room she had just left.

Michael walked into the kitchen, still holding Mackenzie, and smiled at his wife of five years before giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Hey, beautiful," Michael said.

"Hey, handsome," Delilah replied back with a loving smile on her face.

Michael gave Quinn on kiss on her soft head, the scent of baby shampoo filled his nose. "How are all my girls doing today?"

"We are doing great." Delilah removed the bottle and began to burp Quinn over her shoulder.

"I hear that someone's ready to open presents." Michael tickled Mackenzie on her stomach, causing the little girl to giggle.

"You heard right, she's been asking all day," Delilah said.

"Presents," Mackenzie called out, causing her parents to laugh out loud.

"You want presents, huh? Did we buy any presents, Mama?" Michael asked his wife.

"Hm, I don't think we did," Delilah said as she pretend to be deep in thought.

"No presents?" Mackenzie asked, her face falling.

"No presents." Michael sighed before a smile appeared on his face. "Unless there are presents for a certain little girl in the car."

"Yay, presents," Mackenzie cheered, the huge grin back on her face.

Delilah laughed and stood up from the chair. "Let me go lay Quinn down, then we can open presents."

Michael smiled and watched his wife walk out of the kitchen, then looked back at Mackenzie before tickling her stomach again. He couldn't believe how perfect his life was. He married his dream girl, had two beautiful daughters and the career he always wanted. Nothing could make his life better, he thought to himself.

After going up the stairs, Delilah walked into the baby's nursery and made her way toward the crib. She gently laid Quinn down, then looked down at her baby girl. She ran a hand over her soft brown curls, then leaned down and pressed a kiss on top of her head.

"Night, baby girl. Mommy loves you to the moon and back," she whispered.

She looked at her daughter one more time, then forced herself to turn around to leave the room, coming face to face with an unfamiliar man with bright yellow eyes.

"Michael!" she screamed out loud.

Downstairs, Michael tensed up when he heard his wife's terrifying scream from upstairs. He quickly sat Mackenzie down on the floor, then ran toward the stairs and felt his heart racing in his chest.

Confused about what was going on, Mackenzie asked, "What's wrong, Daddy?"

"Stay down here, baby girl. Daddy will be right back," Michael said, hoping to put her mind at ease before he racing up the stairs, taking two at a time.

Mackenzie stood still for a moment, clasping her hands together as she glanced around nervously, then slowly made her way toward the staircase. She knew her father told her to stay put, but she was worried about her family and unsure if she should follow him upstairs or not.

While she wondered what to do, Michael ran to the nursery and skid to a stop at the doorway. Peering inside, he gasped in shock at seeing his wife flat on her back on the ceiling.

Sensing someone else in the room, he looked down and locked eyes with the yellow-eyed man standing in his daughter's nursery. He was taken aback when the man gave him an evil smile before raising a hand.

"No!" Michael yelled out when the ceiling burst into flames.

Michael ran into the room toward the crib, he had only taken a few steps when the yellow-eyed man flicked his wrist, causing Michael to fly out of the room and slam into the wall in the hall.

Michael painfully stood up and looked into the room with tears in his eyes as the wooden crib caught on fire. He ran his hands through his hair and yelled out in frustration as he watched the crib continue to burn. He wanted nothing more than to rush inside and save his daughter, but he could see he was too late.

"Daddy?" Mackenzie called out from downstairs, pulling him out of a daze.

He knew he was too late to save his wife and youngest daughter, and as much as it pained him to leave them behind, he knew he had to save himself and Mackenzie. He knew it was what Delilah would want him to do.

He looked into the burning room one last time, then wiping away his tears and quickly ran down the stairs.

Before Mackenzie could say a word, Michael scooped her up and ran out the house into the cool night just as the sun was beginning to set. Mackenzie wrapped her arms and legs around her father as he ran across the yard and further away from the house.

"Mommy, Sissy," Mackenzie cried out, pointing to the house.

She glanced at the nursery and become confused when she saw a man standing in the middle of an orange glow in the room. Michael turned around to look at the house, then dropped to his knees and began to cry when the nursery window burst and the flames engulfed the outside of the house.

"Mommy? Sissy?" Mackenzie questioned with tears running down her face, confused about where they were. Why were they not running out of the house too?

"I'm sorry, baby girl, I'm sorry," Michael sobbed as he held his daughter close to him. He thought back to what he just witnessed in the nursery, then as his voice cracked with emotion, he added, "They're gone. Mommy and Quinny are gone."

•••

Ten Years Later

"Mommy," Mackenzie cried out as she quickly sat up in bed.

She looked around the empty motel room she and her dad had been staying in for a few weeks as she tried to catch her breath. Every night for ten years, she had been having the same nightmare, she had relived that fateful night she lost her mother and little sister.

Sitting up in bed, she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her knees as tears fell from her eyes. She reached out with her hand and grabbed the small brown plush teddy bear laying beside her- it was the last birthday present she ever got from her parents.

Once the nightmare began to fade from her mind, she took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face before standing up from the bed. She placed the teddy bear in the bottom of the duffel bag, then grabbed a pair of clean clothes.

She figured it was time to get the day started; the first step was to wash away the bad memories and sweat the dream had caused. Then maybe she could grab some breakfast at the small diner attached to the motel, maybe grabbing something special since it was a special day after all.

While she was lost in thought planning how she was going to spend her day, she heard the door open, causing her to turn toward it and see her father walk inside, quietly cursing to himself.

"Hey, Dad," she greeted.

"Good, you're up. We got to go." He threw his clothes into a duffel bag, not even looking at his daughter.

"What? Why?" she asked confused.

"The demon's not here anymore. I missed my chance with him." He swore again and angrily zipped the bag. He had been so close, but unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough this time. "He moved on and so should we."

"I was about to take a shower." She pointed toward the bathroom.

"We don't have time, Mac."

"It won't take long," she tried to argue. "Then, maybe while we're on the way out of town we can stop somewhere for breakfast? I was thinking we could celebrate-"

"Celebrate what?" He scoffed. "There's nothing worth celebrating around here, not as long as that monster is still out there breathing."

"Yeah, but I just thought...I mean, since today is-"

Michael groaned in frustration before looking at his daughter for the first time. The annoyance he felt was evident on his face.

"Do you know how long it took me to track this bastard?" he questioned.

"I know, Dad." She quietly sighed. She had heard this conversation more times than she wanted to.

"It took me years...years," he angrily said. "I'm always so close to finding him...just missing him by seconds, but I'll be damned if I let him get away again."

"Okay, I'll just change my clothes and meet you in the car," she softly said, giving in as she looked into her father's pain-filled eyes.

Taking a deep breath to control his many emotions, he gave her a nod and mumbled, "See you outside."

Alone in the room, she slowly made her way into the bathroom. She changed from her pajama bottoms and tank top into a pair of blue jeans and a black long sleeve shirt, then brushed her teeth and face before pulling her long brown hair into a ponytail.

After her hair was secured high on top of her head, she placed her hands on the counter and looked at herself in the mirror. She turned her head to the side for a moment, trying to find any noticeable changes, but in her opinion, she still looked the same.

Turning back to face the mirror, she took in her lightly tanned skin, dimpled smile and dark brown eyes. Her smile faded as she realized she was definitely the same plain girl she had always been.

Blowing out a slow breath, she bit her bottom lip before whispering out in the quiet room, "Happy birthday to me."

•••

A/N; This will be the type of story that has a few parts to it. Part one will be when she is twelve, then the next part she will be older. From what I have planned there will be at least three parts, but there could end up being more as the story goes on. Don't worry, the Winchesters will be in this story too. This story also starts out AU and as it goes on, I will be using episodes from the show but doing my own spin. So it will still be AU-ish.

You can follow me on tumblr (missecharlotte) for edits, videos and anything else made to go along with this story and other stories. I also have a side blog just for this story/series if you would rather check that out for edits and so on. You can check it out at the-cole-chronicles.tumblr.com

Happy reading!

xx