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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺

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The Winchesters had experienced many curveballs in their life, especially in the past few years with Delaney joining the boys on the road and Dean going to Hell then coming back. Then Delaney learning she had demon blood inside of her because of Azazel. Now Lilith wanted her head on a stick and Delaney's demon boyfriend was playing her like a fiddle. At this point, the three siblings just expected the curveballs that seemed to come at them from every direction.

However, the one curveball they never expected was someone calling up John's old phone and saying they were his son.

This lead to the three Winchesters showing up in Minnesota to meet with the boy named Adam Milligan. Delaney had sat in the back the whole ride as she dug up information on Adam and Dean sped through the highways so they could make it to the diner in time. Dean definitely did not believe a single word that had come from Adam's mouth, not understanding how John could have had another kid after Delaney.

"Dean, look, best I can tell, Adam Milligan is real," Delaney said, stepping out of the Impala once Dean parked it in the parking lot of the diner. She rounded the car to meet her brothers at the trunk that Dean had propped open to search through it. "He was born September 29th, 1990 to Kate Milligan. No father listed on the birth certificate. He's an eagle scout, graduated from high school with honors, and currently goes to the University of Wisconsin ━ biology major, pre-med."

"This is a trap, Della," Dean replied, shutting the trunk once he had his shot gun, Randy's knife, something wrapped in cloth and holy water placed securely in his inner jacket pocket. He didn't even give either Delaney or Sam a chance to respond and made his way into the diner with Delaney and Sam following behind him silently. 

The small diner was full on the left side with its three booths filled with families and there were three other patrons sat at the counter with coffees placed before them. Dean made a beeline for the table in the back on the right side, making Delaney and Sam take to the two seats closer to the window while he sat in the chair on the end, leaving the other side empty for when Adam showed up. 

Delaney sat squished between her brothers and puffed out her cheeks as she tried to make herself more comfortable between them. She placed John's journal and the paper of notes she'd written up in the car onto the table and eyed Dean as the eldest Winchester scanned the diner to make sure no one was looking in their direction. "Dean, seriously. This Adam guy checks out."

"Great, so he's an actual person the planet Earth," Dean quipped, earning himself a small glare from Delaney. "Sucks he's got a demon in him."

"Hi. Welcome to Cousin Oliver's," the waitress walked over to the Winchesters' table with a kind smile, leaning over to place a menu in front of the siblings. "Can I ━ "

"We're actually waiting on somebody," Dean cut the woman off abruptly and rudely.

Sam shot Dean a chastising look as the waitress scoffed and threw down Dean's menu before she stormed away from their table. He was a little skeptical about the whole Adam thing as well, but he wasn't shooing away waitresses either. Dean was taking this whole thing a little too far, especially since Adam hadn't even showed up yet. There was no way of telling what was really going on until the boy showed up.

Dean grabbed the glass of water that was placed on Adam's side of the table and dumped it out into the potted plant behind Delaney. He balanced the glass between his thighs as he whipped out the holy water and poured it into the glass underneath the table so the waitresses and other patrons wouldn't notice him pouring it. "One sip of Jesus juice, this evil bitch is gonna be in a world of hurt."

"You're gonna be in a world of hurt in a minute if you don't relax, Dean," Delaney grit out through her teeth at Dean like he was a small child, eyeing the new water glass that Dean placed back on Adam's side. "What if he's not possessed?"

Dean flashed Delaney a cheeky grin and placed the tied cloth onto the table and untied it to reveal a dozen silver utensils. He swapped out the diner utensils on Adam's side with the silver ones that were wrapped in the cloth. "Then he's a shapeshifter. Look, either way, this thing is gonna bleed. I mean, using Dad as bait? That's the last mistake of its short,, pitiful life."

Delaney exhaled heavily and decided to ignore Dean's comment, opening up John's journal to the page she'd bookmarked in the car on the way here. She had scoured through pages of the journal before she had finally stumbled upon something that could be somewhat related to Adam. "Listen ━ there's an entry in Dad's journal from January of 1990 saying he's headed to Minnesota to check out a case. That's roughly nine months before Adam was born."

"Coincidence," Dean countered.

"Coincidence?" Delaney repeated incredulously and held up the journal to show the next pages that were ripped out of the journal, only leaving a little bit of the page left that only held half letters. "Next two pages of the journal ━ ripped out."

"Sammy, you're not actually buying this crap Delaney is saying, are you?"

Sam tilted his head side to side as he weighed his options in his head. He didn't want to believe it, but he also didn't have much information on the situation either. Much like Delaney, Sam wanted to keep an open mind to the whole thing until they got some information out of Adam himself. "Look, man, I don't want to believe it, either. Delaney's right, though, and it could be possible. I mean, Dad would be gone for weeks at a time while we stayed back with Delaney, and he wasn't exactly a monk. Hunter rolls into town, uh, kills a monster, saves the girl . . . the girl is grateful."

Delaney shuddered in between her brothers and shook her head frantically to rid herself of the mental image Sam had just created for her. "Listen, it's bad enough I'm still traumatized from those Supernatural fan sites I had to go through and the slash fans. I do not need to be thinking about Dad in bed. Thank you for backing me up, Sammy, but please stop talking."

"Maybe he slipped one passed the goalie," Sam mused on, earning himself an elbow to the ribs from Delaney. He coughed out a laugh and rubbed his sore side while Delaney merely shot him an innocent smile in response.

Thankfully, the conversation was ended when the bell above the diner door rang, signaling the new patron in the diner. He had a dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and looked to be a bit younger than Delaney. He was dressed in a corduroy jacket, black hoodie and jeans with a black backpack slung over his shoulder. His eyes scanned the room as if he were in search for someone . . . someone like the Winchesters.

"Adam?" Delaney called, voice sounding a bit small since she was unsure if that was even Adam Milligan.

Adam turned at the sound of his name and timidly approached the Winchesters, his shoulders hunching slightly from nerves. "You Delaney?"

"Uh, yeah and this is Dean and Sam," Delaney answered, pointing between her brothers as she said their names.

"Hi . . ." Adam greeted, sitting in the middle seat across from the three siblings, placing his bag down on the ground next to his chair. "So, um . . . how did you know my dad?"

"We worked together," Sam swiftly lied.

"Oh . . ." Adam whispered and Delaney's heart tugged slightly when she saw the sad expression on Adam's face. Dean had broken it to Adam over the phone that John had died two years ago and it made sense for Adam to feel the heavy weight of the loss of a parent. Delaney, Sam and Dean were able to make their peace with it already, but it was still very new and fresh for Adam. "How did he die?"

"On the job."

Adam's eyebrows furrowed slightly at the answer, his hands digging deep into his pockets to have something to do with them. "He was a mechanic, right?"

"A car fell on him," Dean answered shortly.

Before Delaney could open her mouth to chastise Dean for being so insensitive, the waitress walked back over with a warm smile on her face at the sight of Adam. She placed the extra glass of water down on the table and wiped her hands down the sides of her apron. "Hey, Adam. How you doing?"

Dean quickly picked up the water glass that had been placed down and took a sip from it, smiling innocently around the rim. "Sorry. I'm just really thirsty."

The waitress gave Dean an incredulous look before she decided to brush it off and turned back to Adam again with the same smile from before. "Would you like the usual, Adam?"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks, Denise," Adam responded, reaching forward for the water glass as Denise walked away to get whatever it was that Adam usually ordered. He brought the glass up to his lips and the three siblings watched in anticipation as he took a long sip from it. 

Nothing happened. So demon could be crossed off Dean's imaginary list.

Delaney relaxed back in her chair and tried to hide the smug smirk on her face when she saw the surprised look on Dean's face. She couldn't wait to prove to Dean that she was right. "So, Adam, when was the last time you saw John?"

"I don't even know. It's . . . a couple of years now."

"Why did you decide to call him now?" Sam asked, leaning his arms on the table while Delaney felt Dean move his arm next to her. One glance down under the table showed Dean had snuck out of his hand gun and Delaney mentally face palmed at the sight. 

"I didn't know who else to call. He's the only family I got right now," Adam explained, shifting uncomfortably in his chair and exhaled a sad sigh. "My mom's missing."

"It's tragic, but if you're John's kid, how come we've never heard of you?" Dean piped in next, cutting off whatever questions Sam and Delaney would have had for Adam about the disappearance of his mother.

"'Cause John and me didn't really know each other. Not until a few years ago, anyway. My mom never talked about him. I knew some stuff. Like how they met when Dad came into the hospital she worked at and he was pretty torn up ━ hunting accident or something. Then I knew his name ━ John Winchester. That's really about it. We're not exactly a nuclear family."

Delaney snorted quietly and crossed her arms across her chest, knowing fully well how Adam felt. The Winchesters weren't exactly your family next door either. "Yeah, well, who is these days?"

Dean sat forward in his chair and he still appeared like he didn't believe any word of this. If anything, Dean looked annoyed and pissed this Adam guy was dropping in on them out of nowhere. "So, when did you, uh, when did you finally meet him?"

"When I was twelve. My mom had one of his old numbers, and . . . and after I begged her ━ God, twenty-four seven ━ she finally called him," Adam sheepishly informed, laughing a little awkwardly at the retelling. "God, when John heard he had a son, he raced to town. I mean, he dropped everything. He drove all night."

There was a tense silence after that as the three siblings stared at Adam for a long moment. His response seemed genuine, but Delaney remembered John being gone a lot of her childhood to begin with. There was no way she could pin point a certain point in time when he had suddenly just packed up and left her alone with Dean and Sam or Bobby. Dean and Sam both wore calculating gazes as they tried to plot out when exactly John would have left them quicker than he normally would.

Adam quietly thanked Denise when she placed his lunch in front of him and motioned to the food. "You guys mind?"

"No, dig in," Dean replied, offering the boy a fake smile.

Adam nodded appreciatively and pulled out his napkin, placing it over his lap so he wouldn't dirty his pants if any of his food fell. He picked up the fork and knife next effortlessly, not even so much as flinching as if the silver burned him or caused him pain. Only proving Delaney right the whole time and she mentally cheered as Dean grumpily put his handgun away. "He would swing by once a year or so, you know, called when he could, but still . . . he taught me poker and pool and even bought me my first beer when I was fifteen. And, uh . . . he showed me how to drive. Dad ━ he had this beautiful '67 Impala."

Dean's jaw ticked and Delaney felt him tense next to her, barely even having the time to stop Dena before he opened his mouth. "Oh, this is crap. You know what ━ you're lying."

Adam narrowed his eyes at Dean and lowered his utensils back down to his plate, not stepping down from the eldest Winchester's intense gaze. "I'm sorry, but who the hell are you to call me a liar?"

"We're John Winchester's sons and daughter, that's who. We are his kids," Dean snapped, gesturing between himself, Delaney and Sam.

Adam's eyes widened as they bounced between each of the Winchesters across from him. He looked like he was torn between wanting to be happy and wanting to be shocked. "I've got two brothers and a sister?"

"No, you don't have siblings. Look, man, I don't know if you're a hunter or what kind of game you're playing here ━ "

"I have never been hunting in my life," Adam cut across Dean, physically growing annoyed with Dean's attitude. Much like Sam and Delaney were at this point.

"Whatever. I'm out of here. Come on, guys," Dean huffed, pushing himself away from the table and storming towards the entrance of the diner.

Adam exhaled heavily and glanced over his shoulder at Dean who had stopped near the entrance when he noticed neither Delaney or Sam had moved to follow after him. "I can prove it."

"He took you to a baseball game?" Dean rasped, staring down at the photo of a younger looking Adam and John in front of a baseball stadium.

Adam had taken the three Winchesters back to his mom's house so they could talk more about John and he could prove to the Winchesters he was who he said he was. Not that he had to convince much more of Sam or Delaney since they had gotten what they needed from the diner alone. However, Dean seemed to be the only one having a hard time believing that he had another younger sibling.

Delaney was just happy to no longer be the baby sibling when it was now Adam.

"Yeah, when I turned fourteen. Dad was around for a few of my birthdays," Adam responded, smiling fondly at the memory he had of John. At least one of them had good memories with him.

Delaney glanced down to John's open journal in her hand flipped to the page that had September 29th, 2004 scrawled across the stop in John's handwriting. She showed it to her brothers where only one word was written: Minnesota.

Dean's jaw ticked as he stared down at the photo still with a flash of jealousy in his eyes. He had never given Dean, Sam and Delaney the normal childhood of taking them to places. Delaney only ever went to fun events like concerts or birthday parties because Bobby took her on the random occasions she was with him. John never did things with Dean, Sam or Delaney because he was always too focused on finding Azazel instead of focusing on his own children.

Father of the year.

"He took you to a freakin' baseball game?" Dean repeated, surprised John had actually done something a father would normally do with his son.

"Yeah," Adam said, taking the photo back from Dean when he passed it over to him. "Why? What did Dad do with you on your birthday?"

Sam flinched slightly since John had never really done anything with the trio on their birthdays. Dean and Sam would try to do something special for Delaney since she was so young and was oblivious to what really went on outside the motel room or Bobby's doors. They always made her cake ━ even though most of the time it came out lopsided and weird ━ and got her whatever toy they could from the gas station. However, they never got to do anything like baseball games or birthday parties or going away on vacation for their birthdays. 

"Adam, you said you called Dad because your mom is missing. How long has she been gone?" Delaney inquired, deciding to move on past the topic of John for now so they can figure out where Adam's mom was. They couldn't help the fact that John wasn't around, but they could at least try to help Adam find his mom. 

"Three days."

"Who was the last person to see her?" Dean asked next and Adam couldn't tell, but Delaney and Sam could both tell Dean was still a bit jealous and upset over the whole baseball game thing.

"Mr. Abbinati, our neighbor. He saw her come home Tuesday night, but she never showed up to work on Wednesday."

"Did you call the police?" Delaney asked.

Adam shook his head and crossed his arms, seeming to close in on himself as the worry for his mother showed evidently in the deep lines on his face. "Mom's supervisor at the hospital did. Then I drove down here as fast as I could. I should have been here."

Dean cleared his throat awkwardly when Adam's eyes welled with unshed tears for a moment. "What'd the, uh, what'd the cops say?"

"They, uh, they searched the house. They didn't find anything," Adam answered, bouncing on his feet as he exhaled shakily as he shook his head. "She wouldn't leave without telling anybody. It's like she just dropped off the face of the Earth, you know?"

While Sam ran off to talk to the cops about anything he could about Adam's missing mom, Delaney and Dean stayed back to inspect the house for any sulfur and signs of something supernatural having been in the house. The two siblings moved aside furniture and checked around the windowsills, but nothing came up as out of place besides the dresser being pushed over to the side a bit so it was only half against the wall. 

Dean had gone to move the dresser back with Delaney's help when he noticed the two picture frames that rested on the dresser. One was a photo of John and Kate huddled close together with bright smiles as the sunset was behind their heads, splashing the sky in pinks, purples and oranges. The other photo was of Kate, Jake and John in a line a few feet from each other as they hiked, all with tired smiles and sweat dripping down their faces as they went.

"Hey, guys," Adam spoke up, reminding that Delaney and Dean were in the room and they both whipped around to face him again as he stood idly by in the room near the door. "What can you tell me about Dad?"

"You knew him . . . " Dean grumbled, brushing past Delaney to make his over to the closet in Kate's bedroom to inspect the door for any markings or scratches.

"Not as well as you three."

"Trust me, Adam, you don't wanna know," Delaney told him gently, offering him a sad smile. Honestly, even Dean, Delaney and Sam barely knew much about John anymore. New curveballs came out about him constantly and Delaney was starting to realize she didn't know much about her own father. Mostly that he was an ex-marine and he got into the hunting business because of what happened to Mary. She didn't know what his favorite color was or what his favorite song was or what his favorite food was.

John was a stranger to not only everyone else in the world but his own kids. Delaney didn't know if she wanted to cry over that fact or scream.

Thankfully, Sam showed up in the doorway of Kate's room with a piece of paper in his hand to show he had information. Dean quietly excused himself and Delaney to Adam, pulling Delaney out of the room with him so they could talk to Sam out in the hallway. "Okay, so . . . I talked to the cops. Like Adam said, no leads on his mom. I did find this . . . um . . . here." He handed Delaney the folded up paper in his hand to show a printed out article. The title was MISSING BODIES FOUND with a black and white photo of police securing a crime scene. "In 1990, there were seventeen grave robberies in Windom. I think that's why Dad came through here. Check it out."

Delaney furrowed her eyebrows when Sam pointed to the top left corner of the black and white photo. She brought the article closer to her face so she could see while Dean loomed over her shoulder and her eyes widened when she noticed John stood behind a tree, inspecting the crime scene area. 

"Alright, so he was hinting something, what?" Dean questioned, tearing his eyes away from the article to look back at Sam.

"No idea ━ I think those were the pages he tore out of the journal. Last month, the corpse-snatching started up again ━ uh, three bodies from the local cemetery."

"So whatever he was after, he didn't kill it," Delaney noted, suddenly confused since John never left a job unfinished. At least, that's what Dean and Sam had told her. "It's back."

Sam chuckled softly and raised his eyebrows in amusement. "And . . . what, Delly? It's stepped up its game to fresh meat? I mean, Kate's missing and, uh . . . " He trailed off, swapping the article in Delaney's hand with a black and white printed out photo of a bald bar tender with glasses. "So is a local bartender ━ a guy named Joe Barton."

Dean took the photo from Delaney's hands suddenly and walked over to Kate's room again where Adam now sat on the bed. He held up the photo for Adam when he looked from where he had originally been staring at his clasped hands in his lap. "Hey, does your mom know Joe Barton?"

"Uh, I don't think so. Why?"

The three Winchesters sighed heavily, hitting a fork in the road since Kate didn't know Joe. They didn't even know where to begin looking at this point. There was very little information still about Kate and since there were no leads, it was hard to know where to start looking next.

Dean's head tilted when his eyes fell on something under the bed and pressed the photo into Delaney's chest before he made his way over to the bed. He motioned for Adam to stand up and dropped to his knees, checking underneath the bed for whatever it was that he thought he saw. He pushed himself back up to his feet and pushed the pillows on the bed forward so they were in the middle of the bed. "Adam, help me move the mattress."

Delaney and Sam slowly approached Dean and Adam as they moved the mattress out of the way to reveal a iron grate in the floor underneath the bed. The three Winchesters knew one of them would have inspect what was in the grate and did their usual tactic to decide who would go anywhere: rock, paper scissors.

As usual, Dean lost.

Dean had found a bunch of splattered blood and hair chunks in the vent, meaning something had definitely come for Kate and didn't care if she lived or died either. He had made Adam call the cops, but the three Winchesters were out of the house before he could even finish dialing the three numbers for 9 - 1 - 1. No way they could be around when the police showed up or it could end badly for the three of them.

The Winchesters had only been at their motel room for an hour cleaning the weapons and trying to research what they could before the door knocked and Adam had barged in demanding answers. He had found it strange that they made him call the cops before they rushed out like the house was on fire and that Dean had known where to look while the cops didn't. He knew full well that his siblings weren't mechanics and he wanted to know what was going on. 

Delaney sympathized with Adam because they were alike in the sense they were both shielded from the supernatural side to life. They didn't know that things were actually under their beds and in their closets and that the horror movies were real. They didn't know that any person the street could be a supernatural creature in hiding and was just waiting for their time to strike next. Adam deserved to know and it would keep him safer at night if he knew what to watch out for.

So, much to Dean's arguments, Delaney had dived into everything the Winchesters did for Adam. No matter how crazy she sounded, Delaney continued on with all the creatures and jobs the three had been on since Delaney joined the two boys on the road. She even made sure to add in the fact that even she had only just found out about this life three years ago and mentioned Will and Mary. She knew it was a lot for Adam to take in because she'd been there before and, once she was finished, she sat patiently until Adam was ready to give him opinions.

Adam's face was ghostly pale and his eyes were wide with shock and fear as they stayed trained on a stain in the motel room carpet. He was lost in thought for a long few minutes as he tried to work out everything that Delaney had just explained to him over the past hour. "So . . . you're saying that every movie monster, every nightmare that I've ever had ━ that's all real?"

"Godzilla's just a movie," Dean corrected from where he had taken a seat at the table by the window of the motel room while Delaney and Sam sat on the bed across from Adam.

"We hunt them. So did Dad," Sam said, ignoring Dean's comment.

"Okay."

Dean scoffed softly and sat forward in the chair that he sat sideways in and narrowed his eyes at Adam in confusion. "Okay? That's it? That's all you have to say?"

"What am I supposed to say?" Adam questioned, his face softening when he realized that all three siblings had tensed up as they waited for Adam's answer. He didn't understand why they were so scared of his response.

"That we're liars. That we're crazy. Nobody ever just says okay," Dean argued.

The sides of Adam's lips twitched up into a small smile and he shrugged, not really seeing the problem. "I mean . . . you're my brothers and my sister. You're telling me the truth so I believe you. Now, what took my mom?"

Delaney relaxed visibly now that Adam was okay with everything he'd just heard from Delaney and tucked her legs underneath her on the bed, forcing Sam to lay his arm over it since her knee hovered over his leg. "We don't know yet. Something in town is stealing bodies ━ living and dead ━ but we don't know what. There's a long list of creatures that could fit the bill."

"You think maybe she might be alive still?" Adam asked, hope filling his tone as his eyes lit up at the thought of Kate surviving all of this. However, his face fell when he noticed the hesitant expressions on his older siblings' faces. They really didn't know if she'd survive this and they didn't want to give Adam any false hope. "Oh . . . how can I help?"

"You can't," Dean answered shortly.

"This thing killed my mom. If you're hunting it, I want in."

"Dean, look, maybe ━ "

"Maybe what, Delaney?"

Delaney poked her tongue into her cheek and glared at her eldest brother over her shoulder. "Adam lost his mother. Maybe we can understand what that feels like."

Dean's face hardened and he pushed himself up from his seat to walk over to his younger siblings, John's journal suddenly in his hand now instead of on the table where it had been resting. "Why do you think Dad never told us we had a younger brother, Della? Huh? Why do you think he ripped out the pages? Because he was protecting him! He couldn't protect you from this life, but he sure as hell could protect Adam from it."

"Dad's dead, Dean!"

"It doesn't matter! He didn't want Adam in our lives, okay? We're gonna respect his wishes, you hear me?"

Sam offered Adam an apologetic look when his eyes bounced between the bickering duo. "You'll get used to it. Trust me."

Adam rose an eyebrow and waved his hands to stop Dean and Delaney from arguing further, gaining their attention. "Does Adam get a say in any of this?"

"NO!" Dean snapped, snatching up his jacket and storming towards the door. "Babysit the kid."

Adam flinched slightly when the door slammed closed behind Dean on his way out. "Is he always like this?"

Delaney giggled and leant back on her hands as she flashed her younger brother a bright smile. "Welcome to being the baby of the family, Adam. You'll hate it."

It had been a few hours since Dean stormed out and it had grown dark outside, causing for Delaney and Sam to switch on all the lamps. They had flowed into easy conversation with Adam as they just tried to get to know each other since they'd missed so much of each other's lives. Delaney and Sam would answer any random questions about the supernatural Adam had and they even had him help clean up the weapons because he'd wanted to learn. 

Delaney enjoyed sitting with Adam and showing him how to clean the weapons properly and how to hold them right. She had always been the baby of the family and now she got to be a big sister to somebody. Somebody who now knows about the dangers of the supernatural and she could help him learn things that she'd been taught. She had always dreamed about what it would be like to be a big sister to someone and she loved that she had the chance to do that now with Adam. 

"Guys . . . how did Dad really die?" Adam queried after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

"Demons," Sam replied, cleaning the barrel of one of the shotguns. "Dean killed it."

"So it's over for you? You got your revenge?"

Delaney chewed on the inside of her lip and focused her attention on the silver gun in her hand, wiping a rag along it to make it shine and reflect her face back to her in the reflection. Sure, Azazel was dead but that only brought on even more problems for Delaney, Dean and Sam after that. Between Delaney's demon blood and Lilith and Randy, it seemed the Winchesters' problems and revenge would never come. "Adam, I hate to say it, but it's never over."

The room filled with a heavy silence before the electricity in the room flickered and went out entirely. Delaney and Sam were instantly sent into hunter mode and their eyes scanned the dark room while a clanking sound was heard from above them. They were thankfully holding the proper guns in their hands and Sam told Delaney to stay with Adam as he went to check out the bathroom to make sure nothing hid in there.

Delaney raised her gun higher as the sound continued and her eyes flickered around the room until they landed on the vent that rested near the ceiling above the dresser. She tightened her grip on the gun, beginning to push Adam back towards the motel room door and yelling for Sam to come out. "It's in the vents!"

After shooting off a round at vent, Delaney ran out of the motel room with her brothers. The three siblings ran their way down the steps and towards Adam's car in the parking lot. Sam asked Adam for his keys as they ran and he caught it mid-air, fumbling for the right key as Delaney stopped near the back passenger door, allowing Adam to run around the other side and take the front passenger seat.

While Sam was distracted with getting the key, Delaney let out a scream as her legs were tugged out from beneath her. She was able to stop herself from going under the car by pressing her hands flat against the side of the car and pushing herself. She could hear Adam scream her name and two sets of hands hook underneath her armpits just as the Impala pulled up behind them. Sam and Adam pulled at Delaney's small body while Dean rushed over, grabbing the dropped shot gun and shooting wildly under the car once Delaney was safely pulled out from underneath the car. 

Delaney collapsed back against Sam's chest as she breathed heavily, shooing Sam's hands away when he tried to check on her leg. She just needed a minute to breathe and then she'd be okay because whatever had tried to grab her, didn't hurt her. Just gripped her tight enough to knock her off her feet. The pain in her back would be a fun experience in the morning. 

Dean grabbed the car keys from Sam and hopped into Adam's truck, moving the car far enough back so the siblings could see the sewer grate beneath the car that had been moved over when the creature crawled out to get Delaney. He dropped down from the truck and inspected around the sewer grate for anything that stood out to him while Adam and Sam helped Delaney back to her two feet. 

"I winged it. Did you see anything, baby girl?" Dean asked, dressed fully in his FBI outfit now that Delaney noticed, passing her and the boys by to get to the Impala.

"I didn't get a good look," Delaney mumbled, leaning against Sam's side when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Her heart still hammering in her chest since she had a slight memory of being snatched from under a car when she first joined the boys. The redneck hunters that hunted actual people caused a shudder to go through Delaney. 

"What the hell is this thing, Dean?" Sam questioned, his eyes following Dean who tossed the shot gun back into the trunk and joined his three younger siblings back at the side of the Impala.

"Why ━ who ━ should we go after it?" Adam stammered, his mind working a mile a minute as he tried to make sense of what happened before his own eyes.

"No, no. In that maze? That thing is gonna be long gone by now."

Delaney puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms, slowly pulling away from Sam who dropped his arm limply back to his side. "Okay, we don't know what it is, but we do know who it's going after ━ Joe Barton, Adam's mom ━ "

"And Adam," Dean cut off Delaney, motioning to Adam's truck where Delaney had just nearly been attacked. "It was under his truck, just waiting for him."

"It set a trap and we walked right into it," Sam noted, sighing in defeat as he collapsed back against the side of the Impala. 

"Doesn't matter. You were right, Sammy, there is a pattern. Joe Barton was a cop. I'm pretty sure he helped out Dad. So we've got him, Dad's girl . . . and his son."

"All the people Dad knew in town," Delaney concluded with a small nod. "At least know why it's back."

"It wants revenge."

Not wanting to take any chances, the three Winchesters checked out of their motel room and they sped back to Kate's house so Adam can take whatever stuff he had at the house before they hit the road. Much to Adam's dismay, they left the truck behind since that would be the thing that would make Adam stand out. The backdoor to Kate's house been closed off with police tape that Adam ducked under while Dean merely broke down the yellow caution tape with a smirk.

"Go get your stuff and then we'll hit the road," Dean instructed Adam who wordlessly nodded and rushed back up to the second floor to get his stuff.

Delaney dropped down into the chair at the kitchen table, grunting slightly when the small tingling of pain began to bloom around Delaney's ankle and lower back. The adrenaline must have finally begun to wear off because Delaney felt like she had gotten into a fight with an iron fist. "Dean, I don't think we should leave."

"Yeah, let's stay here, where the kid's mom got ganked. Good one, Della."

"I'm serious, Dean."

"No, Delaney, we're gonna take Adam, we're gonna drop him off at Bobby's, and then you, Sam and me are gonna come back here and finish what Dad started," Dean argued, walking over to the fridge to inspect the photos that had been pinned to it with mini magnets. One was of Adam and Kate sat in a backyard while another was of John and Kate on a beach.

Delaney scoffed softly and massaged her aching ankle, twisting it this way and that to stretch it out. "How, Dean? We got no leads, no witnesses. We do have what this thing wants."

Sam balked at Delaney's response, not expecting Delaney to want to singlehandedly throw Adam to the wolves like this. "You want to use your little brother as bait? That's why you want to stay?"

"You guys use me as bait all the time!" Delaney argued, shooting her brothers a pointed look. "And no, I'd really rather not use my brother as bait, but this thing will come back if Adam stays in town. We can train Adam like you guys trained me and get him ready."

"He could die, Della."

"We could all die, Dean. Even if we do kill this thing, there are tons of other freaks that want revenge ━ on Dad, on us. What if they find Adam instead and he's not ready?"

"I'll do it."

The three Winchesters jumped slightly and snapped their attention over to the archway for the kitchen that lead towards the foyer and stairs. He stood with his duffle bag slung across his shoulder and gripped onto the strap with determination. 

"Whatever it takes. I'll do it. I want to do it."

The next morning, Delaney had all but hopped on the opportunity to show Adam how to shoot a gun while Sam and Dean sat on the hood of the Impala and watched. They had found an abandoned building in the woods and Delaney was able to spray paint a red bullseye onto a stray white metal sign that she leant up against a small rock a distance away from Adam so he could practice and learn. She had moved his legs and arms so he could get the stance properly and warned him of getting used to the loudness of the gun and how to prepare to shoot. 

It was no secret that Delaney was loving the fact that she had a younger brother. Dean and Sam could see it in the smiles she and Adam exchanged as they laughed and she exchanged random stories with him as the day went on and they moved from gun shooting to Kate's house where Delaney taught him more about creatures. It was almost like watching how they were with Delaney when she was growing up. Growing up, Delaney had always been the baby and had to follow around and listen to two older, nagging brothers. Now, she was able to be that older, nagging sibling who taught her younger sibling how to do things.

Only this wasn't a normal sibling bonding time as Delaney was teaching Adam how to hunt the things that most people thought only existed in movies and books. Not in their backyards.

"And then we lit it on fire," Delaney concluded, leaning her arms on the table in the dining room that she sat at with Sam and Adam while Dean sat at the kitchen table a few feet away in the kitchen connected to the dining room.

"Yeah, they're easy to build," Sam said, smiling softly at the memory of watching Dean try to build a flamethrower and getting frustrated. "We can show you."

"This is some job you got, guys," Adam shook his head in awe, staring down at all the lore books that Delaney and Sam had opened up to show Adam pictures.

Delaney grimaced at the mention of hunting being a job. Sadly, hunting was nothing even close to a job since you didn't get paid and you didn't get to have a life outside of it once you were in it. "Being a hunter isn't a job, Adam. It's life. You're pre-med. You got a girlfriend and friends, right?" She frowned when Adam nodded, not correcting Delaney that he didn't have a girlfriend. "Well . . . not anymore. If you're really gonna do this, you can't have those kinds of connections ━ ever. They're weaknesses. You'll just put those people in danger ━ get them killed. Sadly, that's the price we pay. You cut 'em out and you don't look back. There's only one thing you can count on ━ family."

"Della, can I talk to you?" Dean asked, but judging by his tone, he wasn't actually asking. He was telling her.

Delaney pushed herself up from the table while Sam stayed back with Adam so he wouldn't be alone and followed Dean out into the hallway away from Sam and Adam. Their quiet could be heard incoherently from where Dean and Delaney stood. "What?"

"What was that? Hunting is life. You can't have connections."

"Dean, you said the exact same thing to me when I wanted to go back and save my college friend from being framed for murder. Pretty sure Dad gave you and Sam the same speech yourselves," Delaney countered, crossing her arms. "Guess Dad was right."

"Since when?"

"Since always, Dean! When I look at Adam, you wanna know what I see? Meat because to the demons and monsters out there, that's all our brother is to them. I hated Dad for so long Dean because I thought he didn't care about me the way he had with you and Sam. Even before he died at the hospital, I got into a freaking fight with him because he's so freaking closed minded and only cared about what he wanted to do. Now . . . I think I understand. So we didn't get to have a dog and a white picket fence like other kids had. So what? Dad did right by you and Sam because he taught you how to protect yourselves. He did right by me by keeping me out of this life for as long as he could so I could try to get the normal things I wanted like cheerleading or going on that ski trip my senior year. Adam deserves the same."

Dean stared at Delaney incredulously and slapped his hands to his sides, shaking his head. "Delaney, you hear yourself? I'm not saying you're wrong, okay? It's just . . . I think it's too late for us. This is our life. This is who we are, okay, and it's fine and I accept that. With Adam, he's still got a chance, Della. He can go to school. He could be a doctor."

"What makes Adam so special he doesn't get thrusted into this like we all did?"

"Oh my God. Are you jealous of the kid?"

"Are you?" Delaney shot back, ticking an eyebrow up when she saw Dean freeze for a moment. She didn't need to be a genius to know that Dean was jealous of the relationship that John had with Adam. He gave Adam the normal childhood while Dean, Delaney and Sam got the short end of that stick. "Dean, all of this . . . it's not real. The dad Adam knew ━ he wasn't real. The things out there in the shadows ━ they are real and could hurt him. The world's coming to an end. That's real. Everything else is just part of the crap people tell themselves to get through the day."

"Dad didn't have a choice with us, okay? Especially not with you with your whole psychic wonder thing. With Adam, he did. Adam doesn't have to be cursed."

Delaney barked out a laugh and gestured vaguely in the direction of the dining room where Adam still sat with Sam. "Unless you forgot, he's a Winchester. He's already cursed."

Dean pursed his lips and shook his head defiantly, standing his ground with his baby sister. When did she suddenly turn into a bigger brat than usual? "No, whatever's hunting Adam, we're gonna find it."

"You already looked everywhere, Dean."

"Well, then I'll look again."

Delaney sighed when Dean brushed past her to go grab Sam so he could go back out again and do another sweep of wherever he'd already looked. Two pairs of eyes were better than one and that left Delaney alone with her younger brother to keep him company until the boys returned. Whenever that was.

What could go wrong?

Delaney and Adam had sat together for a bit longer at the table as Delaney went over a few more things with him from the lore books as Adam listened intently, following everything that Delaney said to him. He'd throw out questions here and there and Delaney would answer to the best of her ability since even she was still learning a few things here and there about things. 

Once Adam had been through enough learning for one night, Delaney had Adam help her block out every single way into the house except for the vent grate in Kate's room. They boarded up the doors with wood and Delaney sprinkled salt in front of every single door and window that was in the house so this way the only way the creature could enter was the vent.

"We blocked every other entrance to the house. If this thing's coming, it's coming through here," Delaney explained to Adam who stood with her before the grate, a shotgun already ready in her hand in case anything popped up. However, Delaney was quickly proven wrong when a door creaked open from somewhere in the house.

"You were saying?" Adam remarked, his eyes going to the opened door of his mother's bedroom.

"Adam! Adam!" a woman's voice cried out from downstairs, her voice sounding distant and low.

"Mom!" Adam cried, rushing past Delaney who tried to stop him but he was too fast for her and was already out of the bedroom.

Delaney cursed under her breath and her brother's stupidity, cocking her gun and rushing after him to head back downstairs. Kate stood in the kitchen with a hand pressed to her side while Adam approached her with relief flooding his body as he embraced Kate in a tight hug. No way would Delaney trust that Kate suddenly coming back was anything good. "No, Adam, step away from her!"

Adam glanced over at Delaney with wide eyes when he saw the shotgun pointed directly at his mother. He tightened his arms around his mother and shot Delaney a look. "Delaney, what the hell?!"

"She's not your mother!"

"Adam, who ━ what is going on?" Kate asked, her blue eyes wide while her blonde hair sat a mess on her head.

"Get away from him," Delaney growled at the woman, sending the frightened woman behind Adam who stood protectively in front of her. "Adam, listen to me!"

Adam shot Delaney a pleading look and gripped his hand into his mother's robe as she clutched onto the back of his zip up hoodie. "It's really her, okay?"

"Adam, there was too much blood. Your mother is dead. There was too much blood in the vents!"

Adam rushed forward when Delaney stepped up to shoot Kate and he effortlessly snatched the gun from Delaney's hands. He stared at the shotgun in his hand with wide eyes, not expecting to be able to do that since he'd only had one day of training and that was it. 

"What are you doing?! Shoot it!" Delaney yelled at Adam.

"She's crazy! It's me!"

"Adam," Delaney squeaked and held up her hands in defense when Adam swung the gun from his mother and over to Delaney, causing the girl to stumble back a step. "Listen to me, okay? That's not your mother. You have to shoot it! It's not human."

Adam was quiet for a moment as he stared at the woman who continued to hide her face in her hands, crying into them. However, his face suddenly morphed into a sinister smirk and Kate's cries suddenly ceased. "Oh, I know."

Then Delaney's world went dark.

Delaney blinked her eyes open and groaned at the pain that radiated through her skull. She had to give her eyes a minute to adjust to the darkness in the room and noticed that her wrists and ankles had been tied tightly with thick ropes. No matter how many times she tugged and pulled at the restraints, they wouldn't budge and only left her with rope burns that would come back to bite her in the ass later.

Hums were heard next to Delaney and she lifted her head up to see that Kate had been perched on the side of the dining room table that Delaney had been tied to with no Adam in sight for the time being. She filed her fingernails happily with a silver knife, a successful smirk on her face. "Hah. Silver. No wonder none of the tests worked. You're not shapeshifters. You're ghouls."

Kate tutted and turned her head to glance at Delaney with a pout. "You know, I find that term racist." She hopped off the side of the table and circled it so she was near Delaney's head, bringing her own down near it so she can sniff at Delaney's skin. She'd even gone so far as to bite Delaney's ear, earning a yelp from the Winchester female. "Fresh meat. So much better than what we're used to."

"Ha. I should have listened to Dean when he said something was a-miss here. You know, the fresh kills threw my brothers and I. I've been told that ghouls that don't go after the living. See, you're just filthy scavengers. Feeding off the dead ━ taking the form of the last corpse you choke down."

"And their thoughts. And their moments," Adam added in, walking back into the dining room. "Like Adam, for instance."

"Well, we are what we are," Kate quipped in annoyance, slicing at Delaney's forearm causing another yelp of pain to come from Delaney's lips. 

Adam faked a frown at Delaney and walked over to her head where Kate had originally been while Kate walked over to Delaney's arm to lick at the blood that trickled out of the wound she'd created. "You know, you use that word a lot, Delaney." He gripped onto the knife in his hands and jammed it into the table right next to Delaney's head. "But I don't think you know what it means."

Kate smacked her lips as she drew her head back from Delaney's forearm and looked up at Adam, her lips stained crimson from Delaney's blood. "Her blood tastes different."

Adam furrowed his eyebrows and placed his hands on either side of Delaney's head, leaning down closer to her. "Our father was a monster? Why? Because of what he ate? He never hurt anyone, Delaney. Living, anyway."

"No. He was no monster, but the thing that killed him was. A monster named John Winchester," Kate chimed in, distracting Delaney from the stab wound that Adam had just made in her side. She smiled in pride when Adam dug his pointer finger into Delaney's wound, sending a hot wave of pain up Delaney's side as she cried out in pain. "My brother and I grew up on our own. At least we had each other."

Adam hummed and drew his finger back out of Delaney's side and sucked the dark blood off his finger. "Like you and your brothers ━ inseparable."

Kate tilted her head and leant her hands on the side of the dining table, scrunching up her nose. "Actually, it was very hard to get you on your own."

"Like you said, Delaney, the only thing you can count on is family."

Kate hummed in agreement, bending down to lap up more blood from Delaney's forearm. She stood back up after a few seconds and licked the excess blood off her own fingers. "And for twenty years, we lived like rats."

"Graveyard after graveyard, all that stinking flesh."

"Then we thought, hey, why not move up to fresher game?"

"And we knew just where to start," Adam taunted, using the blade that Kate originally had to dig a little bit into the wound on Delaney's forearm. He twisted the blade this way and that all while Delaney grit her teeth together so they wouldn't have the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. "Revenge ━ it's never over, is it?"

"First, it was John's cop friend, and then his slut, and then his son."

"Then I called John, but . . . the son of a bitch was already dead."

"So I guess you, Sam and Dean will have to do instead," Kate shrugged noncommittally, clearly not caring who they had to get to for their own revenge. If they had to go through John's kids, then so be it.

Adam finally pulled back the blade from Delaney's wound and she relaxed slightly against the table, a sheet of sweat beading at her forehead from straining not to scream and cry anymore in pain. "Don't worry, though. Dean and Sam won't be interrupting us this time. We're gonna feed on you nice and slow ━ like we did with Adam."

Kate smirked down at Delaney and twirled around the knife in her hand. "Oh, by the way, Adam really was your little brother. You should know that."

Delaney growled darkly at the two ghouls leant over her and she strained against the restraints once again, wanting nothing more than to strangle the two. They killed her little brother, who she actually never even got to know since it was a ghoul the whole time, and now they probably did something to Dean and Sam. The ghouls really messed with the wrong family and they wouldn't get away with it.

"He was still alive when we took our first bites," Adam taunted, a malicious smile forming on his face as he watched Delaney squirm.

"And he was a screamer," Kate whispered into Delaney's ear.

Delaney wasn't given much time to breathe as both Adam and Kate slashed at Delaney's arms once again and let her blood trickle down into two ceramic bowls placed underneath the table on the rug. The sound of Delaney's blood splashing into the bowl could be heard in the room and she tried to fight against her restraints more.

Adam pressed a hand to Delaney's chest to stop her from squirming and shook his head at her. "Aw, Delaney, if you keep struggling you'll only bleed out faster. So you might as well lie back and relax."

"Hey!" Dean shouted, skidding into the archway of the dining room and shot at Adam. It sent him flying back into the wall behind Delaney and he slid to the ground.

"Boys, they're ghouls!"

Dean shrugged and shot Kate in the head next, blowing it clean off and splattering the wall with blood as her body dropped to the ground with a thump. He went to help Delaney out of her binds with Sam when Adam suddenly sprung back up and tackled the boys into the living room. Delaney couldn't see what was happening in the next room over but she could hear the breaking of furniture and hitting of random objects. The more her blood pooled out of her arms, the weaker and dizzier she started to feel. Her fight against the ropes had given out since she didn't have much of energy to fight against them and dropped her head back to the table when she heard the smashing of a head in the next room.

Sam and Dean rushed back over to their baby sister once they were sure Adam was down and Sam got to work cutting off Delaney's wrist ropes while Dean grabbed rags. He helped Delaney sit up, making sure she kept her arms held out before her so Dean could wrap her arms in the rags to try and stop the bleeding. Delaney limply leant against Dean as he pressed the rags down on her arms and he kissed the side of her head.

"Your big brothers got you, baby girl."

"Thank you," Delaney weakly whispered, closing her eyes while Sam cut off the binds tying her ankles to the table legs. She felt him squeeze her calf when he was done and she fluttered her eyes open to see Sam offering her a small smile.

"You can always count on family, right, little one?"

Once Delaney was patched back up thanks to Dean and she was strong enough to stand on her own two feet, Dean drove them off to where Delaney had taught "Adam" to shoot earlier that morning. He had taken Adam's from where Sam and him had been trapped while Delaney was getting up like a cake and he wanted to give Adam's a hunter funeral. He had been wrapped up and tied already and was now doused in gasoline so Dean could set him alight.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Delaney asked Dean, her hands stuffed into her jacket pockets. She leant against Sam's side as she still felt a little down from nearly being bled out just two hours ago. Sam had made her eat a bagel and drink some orange juice to try and help her feel better and she could feel it starting to work. However, Delaney still felt a little dizzy, but not enough to where she couldn't be there with her brothers.

"They didn't fake the photos, Della, and they didn't fake the journal entries. Adam was our little brother. He died like a hunter and he deserves to go out like one," Dean responded gruffly. 

"Maybe we can bring him back, Dean. You or Sam can call Castiel and call in a favor," Delaney suggested, her heart tearing in two that her younger brother was dead. She didn't even get to meet him. At least, not really. It was a ghoul the whole time and, regardless of the ghoul having Adam's thoughts and memories, it still wasn't the same. 

"No, Adam's in a better place, Delly," Sam assured Delaney, rubbing his baby sister's arm comfortingly while Dean tossed the lit match onto Adam's body.

Delaney sighed sadly as the fire roared, the flames reflecting in the tears in her eyes. She leant more into Sam's side and pressed her cheek to his chest as he continued to comfort her. It was weird to feel so sad over a boy that she never truly met, but Delaney still felt her heart strings tug dangerously as she watched Adam's body continue to burn.

"You know, I finally get why you and Dad butted heads so much, Della. You two were practically the same person. I mean, I worshipped the guy, you know? I - I dressed like him, I acted like him, I listen to the same music he did. But you were more like him than I will ever be. You're practically the girl version of Dad. I see that now."

"Um . . . I'll take that as a compliment. I think?" Delaney replied, not knowing how to actually take what Dean had said to her. She didn't even really know how she felt being like John when she barely even knew the man the way she would have wanted in the first place. 

The three remaining siblings stood in silence as they watched Adam's body slowly begin to disappear from sight.

Just like their hope.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

Whew, another 10k word chapter, ya'll. These chapters are getting HEAVY because there is so much going on now with Delaney and the boys. Especially now that there's only THREE chapters left for this book. We are so close to Season 5 and, ugh, I just wanna get to it already!! Our girl Delaney is about to be a badass bitch and I'm thriving for it.

Also, did anyone else just really love big sister Delaney? :( 

Adam Milligan deserved better. Thank you.