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[Devlin]

Title: Illusion & Dream (Chapter 2)
Author: Devlin
Rating: PG (so far … does the “F” word constitute an M rating?)
Status: WIP (work in process)
Fiction Type: Supernatural / Dark Hunter mash-up
Pairing: TBA
Warnings: none required as yet
Disclaimers: They belong to themselves and those whose creative mind birthed them except those that I've made up..... yadda,yadda, yadda...
Summary: When I know, you’ll know …

Chapter 2

Sam glanced over at his brother who was staring blankly at the text message that had just arrived simultaneously on both their phones, “What is it?” he asked returning his attention to the road ahead.

“A forwarded message from Bobby,”

“What’s it say?”

“Hey there Papa Smurf, would you please ask B1 and B2 to swing by and get me on their way through to your place – thanks,” Dean read aloud, “and there’s coordinates which,” he paused to consult a map, “are for an airport we passed fifteen minutes ago.”

Sam checked the road ahead and behind them was clear before swinging the Impala in a screeching 180 degree turn, “Did she say anything to you about visiting?”

“She who, who’s this from?  Who are Papa Smurf, B1 and B2?”  

Sam then remembered that Dean almost never logged onto his Facebook page and therefore wouldn’t know who the text message was referring to.  “Papa Smurf is Bobby and B1 and B2 are us – you know Brother 1 and Brother 2.”  Dean’s face remained blank.

“It’s from our sister,” Sam explained, “those nicknames are how she refers to us on Facebook.”

“Wow, talk about a blast from the past.”  

“I wonder why she’s here – she didn’t mention being in the country in her last email.”

Dean shrugged and replied tetchily, “I don’t know, you talk to her more than I do,”

Sam rolled his eyes, “She sends you the same emails as me.”  He then realised why Dean was behaving so odd, “You’re still rattled about that incident in New Orleans.  Man that was years ago – everyone’s forgotten by now.”

“You haven’t!”

“Have you not seen her since?”

“No why, when did you last see her?”

“Just after the last time you died – she flew over from, Melbourne I think it was, and we caught up for a couple of days.”

“How was she?”

“Pregnant – four or five months,”

“So she’s got a kid now – well there you go at least one of us got to have a normal life.”

“Well according to her normality is overrated but she’d rather her upbringing to ours any day,” Sam turned into the parking area of the airport, “As for the kid, there’s been no mention of it in any of her emails – her latest one said she was starting a new job.”

***********************************

The seatbelt light finally went off and Daenerys joined the queue of passengers collecting their cabin bags and making their way off the plane and into the main terminal building.

************************************

Being a small rural airport there was only one arrivals area located adjacent to the baggage carousel.  Sam and Dean joined the dozen or so others awaiting the incoming passengers.

“Do you even know what she looks like these days?”  Dean enquired watching the slow trickle of arrivals.

“No idea, she changes her hair colour frequently – the last pic I saw it was pink,” Sam replied scanning the room, “the only consistency is that she’s short and has an obsession with high heels.”

A soft husky voice then spoke up from behind them, “well Gigantor if you hadn’t taken up all the room in Mum’s belly…”

They turned to find their younger and only sister, Sam’s fraternal twin, looking up at them.  Daenerys stood at a petite five foot one without the six inch platform wedges she was currently sporting.  Her long flame-red hair was swept over her right shoulder in a thick braid and she was dressed casually in jeans, t-shirt and jacket that skimmed the curves of her burlesque hourglass figure.  Sam swept her off her feet and into a rib-cracking bear-hug, “Good to see you too midget.”  

“It’s been too long,” Daenerys replied adding as he put her down, “Are you ever going to stop growing?”  
She then turned to Dean, “You are one damn good looking corpse big brother.”  

“Well Princess we all know I got the looks in the family,” he gloated as she wrapped her arms around his neck and they shared a prolonged hug.  “You look more and more like Mom every day.  Accept for the hair,” he released her long enough to picked up the braid, “what’s with the red?  Do you even know what your natural colour is anymore?”

“Not really,” she conceded surprised at hearing his nickname for her after all these years, “I haven’t been my natural colour since I was about seventeen and variety is the spice of life.  But in this case red was the fastest way to cover the pink I was previously without going brown or black.”

By this time Sam had retrieved her luggage from the baggage carousel and returned to where she and Dean waited, “Nice to see you’ve finally grasped the concept of travelling light – last time you turned up with three suitcases.”

“That one,” she indicated to the suitcase in his hand, “is just for the next week or so – the rest of my luggage has been sent on to Fort Lauderdale.”

“Which bring us to the next question,” Dean swung an arm over her shoulder as they made their way to the car, “What brings you to Bobby’s little backwater?”

“Well I have to be in Fort Lauderdale in nine days for work and I had a stack of overtime to use up so I figured I’d come over early, hire a car and do a bit of a road trip.  And as soon as the plane touched down here I could sense how strung out you two were so it would appear my visit is very much overdue and you’re both in need of a bit of TLC and cleansing.”

Sam unlocked the Impala’s trunk and placed the suitcase alongside his and Dean’s worn and battered duffle bags and backpacks.  “I’m down with the TLC but I suspect you don’t mean a trip to a day spa when you say cleansing.”

“We’re not strung out – we’re fine,” Dean assured her.

Daenerys laughed softly and cradled his face in her hands, “Sweetie, you’ve been living, existing, with such a high level of stress and tension in your life for so long; especially since Dad died, dealing with demons, temperamental angels with their own twisted agendas and all the rest of the crap that you think this is normal.  Life’s really not meant to suck this much.  It’s not meant to be this damn hard.”

“This is normal for us.”  Sam had now joined them standing by the passenger side of the car – his tone was both despondent and accepting.

“Well Memphis and I think otherwise.”

“Memphis?”  Dean shared a look with Sam, “Do you mean Memphis from Lawrence, Kansas?”  Daenerys nodded.

“How do you know Memphis?”  Sam asked sceptically.

“She’s the one who taught me how to use my abilities effectively and how to shield against the barrage of garbage most people’s brains broadcast.”

“So you got the Shining too like Sam’s prophetic visions and dreams?” Dean asked.

“Not exactly, I’ve been able to do what I do since I fell of a horse when I was seven and cracked my head on a rock,” she laughed, “Telepathy, telekinesis, tarot cards, palmistry, iridology, scrying, channelling and the rest.  Memphis calls me an Oracle – I don’t care what the world wants to called it as long as the days of drowning the voices and visions in tequila are behind me.”  She addressed Sam directly, “Your freaky-arsed visions and nightmares when we were in our early twenties put me in the nut house – great drugs but the food was shite.  After that little vacation Bobby put me in touch with Memphis who taught me how to cope, how to block and shield against it all.”

“Speaking of Bobby we’d best get over there before he comes looking for us,” Sam opened the car door to the back seat for Daenerys to climb in while Dean went around to the driver’s side.

“You can really hear our thoughts?”  He asked pulling out of the parking area and onto the road.

“Yep and you need to stop beating yourself up over what happened in New Orleans – more specifically what almost happen, and Sam,” he turned to her from the front passengers seat, “you can stop worrying about a repeat of New Orleans – it’s not going to happen again – I haven’t touched tequila or attended one of those parties since.  I might have a tendency to learn things the hard way but eventually it does sink in.”

********************************************

They turned into the long driveway through the scrap metal yard that eventually delivered them to Bobby’s home where a middle-aged African-American woman was standing on the porch.  
“Oh crap,” Daenerys moaned.

“Is that Memphis?”  Sam peered through the windshield as Dean slowed the car to a stop.

“Yep,” his sister replied glumly, “and I’m about to be handed my ass on a platter.”

“Why?  What have you done?”  

“That is a very long story.”  

Daenerys opened the door and walked over to Memphis who regarded her with a raised eyebrow and both hands on her ample hips, “Little girl you and I need to talk.”

Stepping down from the porch Memphis turned her attentions to the brothers who were out of the car and waiting with baited breath to see if they’d be required to step in.  “Evening boys, Bobby is around back at the grill.  Be good and go join him while your sister and I catch up.”

“Yes ma’am,” they muttered and with a sympathetic glance at Daenerys they entered the house closing the door behind them.

“I don’t know about this,” Dean peaked through the curtains at the heated conversation taking place outside, “Memphis is not real happy with our girl.”

“Erys can take care of herself,” Sam assured him, “come on, let’s go see Bobby.”

*****************************************

“Child, what are you doing here?” Memphis demanded, “Your daddy moved heaven and earth to get you as far away from this life as he possibly could and here you are smack damn in the middle of it.”

“The middle of what Memphis, huh, what am I suddenly in the middle of?  I was passing through and thought it would be nice to spend some time, a few hours, with my brothers who I’ve been kept away from my entire life.”

“And for a very good reason,”

“What reason?  What?”  Tears welled in Daenerys’ eyes, “for once in my God forsaken life will someone tell me the truth!  Why can I see everyone else’s path but not my own or theirs.  Sam and I can share dreams but not coffee, not our lives.  Why do I cause Dean so much pain and guilt?  And don’t tell me it’s because of New Orleans – New Orleans has nothing to do with this, this is so much bigger than New Orleans …”  Her outburst was silenced by Memphis grasping her arm and Daenerys sank to her knees in the dust and gravel as the psychic filled her mind with images.

*********************************************

Almost an hour later …

“Sam, will you go find your sister,” Bobby requested loading the last of the hamburger patties onto their rolls, “Memphis left fifteen minutes ago and Smurfette still hasn’t surfaced.”

“Sure,” Sam placed his beer bottle on the battered laminate table.

“How on earth do you even know where she is?”  Dean waved a hand indicating the scrap metal yard that covered the better part of four acres, “you two got ESP GPS or something?”

Sam paused listening, “She’s with the litter of kittens in the workshop,”  

“And how do you know that?”  

Sam shrugged and answered, “Just do.” as he strode off towards the darkened auto workshop with the sound of Dean muttering in his wake.  
“Great, more freaky twin shit.”

***********************************

The only light in the workshop was from the bug zapper that crackled regularly as insects committed suicide in its blue light.  Sam found his twin sitting inside the stripped out shell of a Camaro with three four-week old kittens clambering over and around her while their mother, Bobby’s grey tabby, supervised from the dashboard, “Penny for your thoughts,” he asked.

“I shouldn’t have come back,” she replied softly as more tears followed their predecessors down her cheeks.  Sam sat on the car floor beside her.

“Why?  What did Memphis say to you?”  Daenerys wiped a shaking hand across both eyes further smearing her mascara.

“He blames himself for not being able to keep us together and my being here does nothing but open that wound again.”

“What, who, do you mean Dean?”  She nodded.

“He believes it’s his fault that Dad sent me away after Mum died, that if he’d been more,” she paused struggling to find the right words, “more something, anything, I don’t know, then we could’ve stayed together somehow.  My coming back is like sticking the knife in again and again – reminding him of how he failed in keeping his family together, failed to keep us safe.”

Sam had never given much thought about how their Dad’s decision to allow Daenerys be fostered at seven months old and then adopted a few years later by another family would have affected the then four year old Dean.  He, Sam, could remember finding out he had a sister when he was about that same age.  It wasn’t until he persistently started asking questions at age six that anyone gave him any details about her and what had happened to her.  He now understood why both his Dad and brother had been so reluctant to answer his questions.
He wrapped his arms around her tiny frame and pulled her close, “Dean loves you – probably more than a brother should, but never for one second would he want you to think you weren’t wanted.”

“I just don’t want my being here to cause either of you trouble.”  Sam laughed and kissed the top of her head.

“Erys, our family attracts trouble like metal filings to magnets – a bit more isn’t going to make any difference.”  He leaned back and she looked up at him with puffy bloodshot eyes the same colour as Dean’s, “Now I don’t want to freak you out but there are a few people back there at the house who would really like to meet John Winchester’s long lost daughter.”

Daenerys nodded and wiped her eyes dry with the sleeve of her shirt, “I know I know but Dean…” Sam cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

“Dean doesn’t need to relive it - I understand,” He climbed out of the Camaro’s shell and extended a hand to help her out, “I’ll get him to come with me to buy beer or something since we’re drinking all of Bobby’s.”


TBC …