62A/N I think you guys are going to hate me after this chapter…oh well, enjoy ;)
Disclaimer: Anything Supernatural is not mine. Anything Mer, Piper or the twins is. They are my characters unless otherwise stated. Pictures are on photobucket and the link is on my profile.
P.S THANKS SO MUCH EVERYONE that favourited/alerted/read/reviewed.
Many thanks to:
Hannarrhh – you're reading now that's all that matters. Thanks :)
kissacazador – you are very opinionated. I LOVE IT! I just love hearing my reviewers opinions on things, it's all so very exciting. Meredith's reason behind leaving is one of my big cliff hangers I guess you could call it that I am going to be going on about throughout the story.
Dean technically only raised the twins because Piper was 19 and Sam was 17 at the time of Mer's departure. Sammy is just as mad about Mer leaving as the others, he doesn't exactly care, he just wants to go back to Jess. I LOVE JOHN :( I take it you don't you called him an idjit for heavens sake ;)
Carver Edlund – Thank you :) it's good to hear you're still reading DOL and yes they are long so I understand. S2 chapters are supposed to be under 10,000 words, I set this goal and have already broken it by going 2,000 words over…I just have too much to say!
Pickle Paige – YOU ARE CORRECT! It is very out of character for Mer to up and leave like that…you'll find out soon…As previously stated in the description chapter: Piper left the hunting life for love about 6 months before but has still kept in touch with the family even though John said if she walked out the door to not bother coming back.
So Piper is still in contact with the family which would be how Dean knows how to reach her. Oh and they don't know why Piper really left, she said school and this great job opportunity but it was really for Chris :) Meredith on the other hand hasn't been for five years.
Sam has been in contact by phone and email but he's not exactly on good terms with Dean who's still angry over his departure. Aiden has kept in touch with Sammy but she doesn't really know anything about his life. She doesn't even know about Jess!
A Couple Hours Later
"I can't get a hold of Piper." Dean said sounding frantic.
"I'm sure she's fine Dean." Sam insisted.
"How the hell would you know?" Dean snapped. Sam glared at him.
"Guys c'mon don't do this now." Adam sighed. "Let's just go do this hunt and call Piper after."
"No," Dean shook his head, "no way."
"Dean, Adam's right." Sam agreed. They argued over this for all of two minutes before Dean lost his cool.
"We don't have time for this." Dean insisted. "We've got to find Piper."
"You mean like how you found Meredith?" Sam snapped unexpectedly.
Dean flinched at her name. Meredith was a sore spot for both Dean and Aiden who looked like she was going to punch Sam just for uttering her name.
"Sam, stop dragging that through the dirt." Adam yelled. Sam looked at him in surprise.
"Dean looked and you know it, Mer doesn't wanna be found."
Sam looked away. He'd never quite forgiven Dean for letting Meredith leave that was one of his reasons for wanting to go to school. Dean and him haven't been on good terms ever since.
He figured some time apart and they'd be okay but it had actually worsened. Dean became bitter with anger at Sam's decision to leave. Adam and Piper had been the only ones to wish him luck. Aiden had been pissed but eventually forgave him and emailed him a lot.
Aiden forgave Sam but she would never forgive Meredith. The reason for that being Sam hadn't raised her, sure he had helped but he was always just her brother. Meredith was different; she was her mother, the one who taught her how to be a woman.
"Not hard enough." Sam complained. Dean glared at him.
The very first thing Sam had done when he got to California was look into Meredith's whereabouts.
He would never admit that he had looked and also failed at finding her. It was almost as if Meredith Winchester had vanished off the face of the earth.
"Okay, just shut up Sammy." Adam huffed in annoyance. "We don't need this shit right now; we've got enough to worry about."
"Fine." Sam said. "Let's do this hunt."
"But Piper—" Dean protested.
"Vote." Sam said. Dean glared at him once again. "Who wants to get Piper after?"
Adam slowly raised his hand avoiding Dean's warning look. The most surprising thing of all was Aiden raised hers also.
"Three against one Dean." Sam stated smugly.
"I'm the oldest." Dean insisted.
"Dean dude, we voted." Adam agreed. "It's sacred." Dean rolled his eyes.
"Aiddy?"
"Look Dean, I wanna go after Piper just as much as you do but—"
"But what?" Dean demanded. "There is no 'but' something could have happened!"
"Dean she's fine." Sam snapped.
"You don't know that!" Dean countered.
"Dean remember she went on that business trip thing?" Adam asked. "She's probably on the plane." Dean's eyes widened in fear. Now he'd be worrying about the plane crashing with his baby sister inside it.
"Adam's right." Aiden nodded. "She's gonna be gone two days? She can't even help with the hunt anyway."
"Why didn't anybody say anything before!" Dean yelled.
Adam shrugged. "We thought you knew."
"How could I possibly know?" Dean countered.
"It's called a phone Dean, ever heard of one?" Aiden asked sarcastically. Dean glared. "She talked to you for like an hour yesterday, what the hell did you talk about?"
"Nothing." Dean replied quickly.
"She probably mentioned it and you forgot." Sam said.
Dean frowned. "I didn't forget—I wouldn't—and wipe that smug look off your face!"
"Guys." Adam said stepping in between them.
"The only reason you wanna get this hunt over with is so you can get back to your perfect little college life and forget about us again." Dean roared.
"Dean stop." Adam ordered. Sam was surprisingly silent though he was giving his bitch face.
"Do you even care dad's missin'?"
"Well I'm here aren't I?" Sam countered.
"Not for long, three days max right? Gotta be back Monday morning to become some fancy pants lawyer."
"Look Dean, I'm here offering my help to you, if you don't want me here then just say so and I'm gone."
Dean and Sam stared each other off. Dean was the one that backed down first, clearing his throat uncomfortably, he picked up his duffel.
"Let's go, we got some hunting to do."
Three Days Later
"Dad's missing." Dean said. Piper almost dropped the phone.
"What do you mean dad's missing?"
"I mean he's missing as in gone Piper."
"Dean, I'm serious."
"Dad went on a hunting trip."
"Where are you?"
"Almost at your place."
"What?" Piper cried. She looked at Chris beside her, he was still sound asleep. Swinging her legs out of bed she stumbled out the door.
"Dean, no," Piper protested, "you can't come here."
"Too late." Dean hung up at the same time a knock sounded at the door.
Piper swore under her breath. She looked around for something to cover herself with. She was only in her undies. She saw Chris's shirt hanging off the chair in the dinning room and dashed for it. The knock sounded again, louder this time.
"Piper!" Dean yelled. "I know you're in there, open up." Piper flung the shirt over her head just as Chris walked out, rubbing his eyes.
"What's going on?" he asked confused. "Who's here at this hour?"
"Nothing and no one." Piper insisted. "Go back to bed sweetie." Piper walked over to the door, opening it just a crack.
"You're not supposed to be here." Piper hissed. Dean took one look at her attire and pushed the door open.
"Uh huh." he replied.
"Whose he?" Chris asked.
"I'm her big brother." Dean snarled "Who the hell are you?"
"Wait this is Dean?" Chris asked.
"Um yeah," Piper smiled, "Chris honey can you excuse us for a minute?" Chris slowly nodded.
"Yeah, okay." He walked back into the bedroom without another word.
"Is that why you left?" Dean demanded. "So you could sleep with him?"
"Dean!" Aiden snapped, appearing out of no where. Piper smiled.
"Aiddy!" Piper grabbed her in a hug, placing a kiss on her little sister's cheek.
"Hey, Pip."
"Where's Adam?"
"Sam and him are in the car." Dean interjected. "Now answer the damn question." Aiden rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Wait Sam's with you?" Piper asked surprised.
"Yeah, we got him three days ago." Aiden smiled. "He's got a girlfriend."
"Awe." Piper smiled. Aiden nodded her head in agreement while Dean groaned.
"Can you two shut up?" Dean complained.
"You talk to Mer yet?"
"We don't know where she is." Aiden mumbled. Piper cleared her throat uncomfortably.
Dean eyed her. "Do you?"
"Well..."
"Piper you better tell us right now." Dean said using his stern fatherly voice. Piper gave a sigh.
"You're not going to like it."
"This is—what? No." Dean stuttered.
"I told you, you weren't going to like it." Piper sighed.
"What's not to like?" Dean demanded. "My big sister's a stripper!"
"A pole dancer actually." Dean looked like he was having a stroke.
"Alright, chill." Aiden said. "Pip and I will go get her. You three stay here before you shoot everyone in the damn place and get us all in trouble." Everyone looked at Aiden in surprise. Piper was shocked Aiden wanted to get within ten feet of Meredith.
"I think we should go with you." Sam said.
Adam nodded. "Yeah. Something could happen."
"You just wanna see the stripers." Aiden said. Adam gave a sheepish grin.
"I think we got it covered little brothers." Piper teased making both Sam and Adam frown.
"But—" Adam started.
"No." Piper insisted. "You're gonna cause some drama that she doesn't need."
"Oh I'm gonna cause some drama alright." Dean muttered.
"Enough to get her fired." Adam added.
"Okay boys," Aiden said, "chill out; we'll be back in 5. If we don't come out—"
"—come in shot guns blazing." Piper finished with a smirk. There were grumbled replies and the two girls fled inside before any of their crazy over protective brothers decided to take a hissy fit and protest.
"I can't believe Mer works here." Aiden whispered as they walked inside. They looked around the room, trying to find their blonde, hazel eyed sister.
"You might want to bite your tongue on that one." Piper sighed.
"Why?"
"We're just in time for her show." Piper nodded in the direction of the closet pole.
Their older sister was full on swinging on it wearing what looked like the smallest underwear in the world. But the most amusing thing that caught Piper's eyes were the white wrist bands with the frills hanging down like a cowgirl. Then there was the boots and the hat. She must be a cowgirl tonight which is polar opposite of Meredith's real personality. Actually the whole job was.
Mer had always played mother as they grew up. She basically raised them...with Dean that is. They were like their mom and dad which could explain their natural closeness and Dean's crazy protectiveness over her like he thought he was the oldest or something.
"If Dean saw this he would have a heart attack." Piper observed.
"Oh god I can't watch this anymore." Aiden complained. Piper gave her a sympathetic look.
"I'll break it up." Piper assured her baby sister.
Aiden just nodded, looking uncomfortably at the floor. Piper walked over to the table pushing the guys out of her way.
"Excuse—move please—yeah you move." Piper pushed the last guy out of her way and was now standing directly in front of Mer. Too bad she was swinging in an awkward position and didn't seem to notice her baby sis.
"Mer!" Piper yelled. Either she was drowned out by the hooting and hollering of the guys some of which were shoving wads of bills in Mer's bra or Meredith was ignoring her.
"Merry!" Piper tried.
A couple of the guys looked at her in confusion before turning to the show. Piper gave an annoyed groan before getting an idea which she would regret moments later. Piper grabbed a hold of the table and climbed atop. Mer just swung off the pole and stared at Piper blankly for a minute.
"Pip what the hell?" she snapped. "I told you not to bug me at work."
"I know but it's important, we gotta go." The audience booed and Piper gave them all glares. Meredith glanced at them, sighing.
"Mer!"
"Oh alright." Mer walked off the table ignoring the booing. Piper quickly followed behind which led her to some sort of back stage slash dressing room. A bouncer tried to keep her out but Mer told him to back off.
"Mimi!" Mer yelled. "You up!"
"But I have another twenty minutes."
"I'm cutting it short, I'll explain to Franklin."
"Yeah, I'm sure you will." Mimi muttered walking out the door. Mer rolled her eyes, casually taking one of the seats.
"What was that?" Piper asked.
"Oh nothing."
"Wait Franklin's your boyfriend isn't he?" Mer nodded. "And he's your boss!"
"Seems so."
"What the—"
"Hello mister my sister works here." Aiden's voice rang through.
"You're not on the list."
"Is that Aiddy?" Mer asked jumping from her seat. Piper nodded.
"Let her in Billy!" Mer called. "That's my baby sister." Aiden appeared looking like her feathers had been ruffled.
"Aiddy!" Mer called happily. Piper didn't bother complaining about Mer's lack of enthusiasm for seeing her it would only lead to Mer reminding her that the work place was off limits for obvious reasons.
"Haven't seen you in ages baby."
"Well five years is a long time Meredith." Aiden replied coldly. Piper and Meredith exchanged an uncomfortable look.
"Look Aiddy..." Mer started.
"Never mind." Aiden said. "I'll meet you outside." She walked out without another word.
"Okay what the hell Piper?" Mer demanded angrily. "Why'd you bring her here?"
"I didn't." Piper insisted. "Dean did."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Mer said. "Dean's here?"
"Yeah, Sammy and Adam are to."
"Oh my god," Mer complained, "nice warning, you know Dean's gonna flip shit if he sees me like this!" Piper gave a sigh. Meredith grabbed a bag and headed behind the folding paper panel, throwing her clothes over the top.
"I didn't get any warning either!" Piper complained. "He called while he was at my front door."
"Did he meet Chris?"
"More like yelled at him then me." Piper sighed. "It was lovely."
Mer peaked her head around the corner. "Wait you said Sammy's with you?"
"Yeah." Piper nodded. "They must have got him from Stanford on the way. He supposedly has a girlfriend."
"Awe!" Mer replied.
"That's what I said." Meredith walked out fully clothed, bag in hand.
"So I assume something's going on?"
"It's dad."
"Isn't it always?"
"Listen smart ass." Piper hissed. "Dad's missing. They told me the down low on the way here."
"Alright, alright, alright, calm down." Meredith sighed. "Let's go." The girls walked out of the strip joint to find angry brothers.
"You're a stripper!" Dean yelled upon seeing her. Meredith rolled her eyes, that was not the warm welcome she had been hoping for.
"Hey Sammy." she said ignoring Dean completely.
"It's Sam." Sam insisted cooly.
"Right." Mer said. "Where's the twins?"
"Hiding in the car." Piper said nodding towards the Impala. Mer looked over and both Adam and Aiden ducked down in the back seat away from her wandering eyes.
"Well then." Mer said.
"What did you expect?" Dean snapped. "You've been gone five years."
"Okay just tell me what the hell's going on so I can decide whether I'm coming or not."
"Or you're coming." Dean insisted.
"Hello whose the oldest here little brother?" Meredith demanded. "I'm the one that makes the decisions, not you." Dean clenched his jaw in annoyance.
"Okay before you start throwing punches let's go back to Mer's house and talk." Piper suggested stepping in between them. Sam nodded his head and mutely walked to the Impala.
"What the hell is his problem?" Mer demanded.
"None of your damn business." Dean snapped.
"He's my little brother."
"Oh don't pretend you care Meredith, that ships already sailed." Dean walked away without another word. Piper groaned, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Mer started for her truck, Piper quickly followed behind motioning for Dean to follow them. They took off in the direction of Meredith's.
"Must I always be in the middle?"
"You were born in the middle." Mer informed. "You and Sammy oh sorry I mean Sam."
"Mer don't be like that kay?" Piper asked. "You've been gone a long time you had to expect some backlash especially from Dean."
"Yeah but Sam?" Mer protested. "I used to wipe his ass."
"Oh my god." Piper complained. "Please never mention that again."
"I wiped your ass too."
"Seriously."
"And Dean's, with mom and dads help of course."
"Okay!" Piper cried. "Please stop!"
"Well I did."
"I get it, you were our mother figure." Piper said. "But that just makes them all the angrier. That'd be like Dean leaving."
"Dean would never leave."
"That's not the point Meredith."
"Then what's the point?"
"The point is nobody thought we'd loose our mother all over again!" Piper snarled. "Nobody thought you'd leave." Meredith was surprised to hear how hurt Piper was by her leaving.
"Pip you left too," Mer pointed out, "what's the difference?"
"I left six months ago and I keep in touch."
"You didn't tell them about me."
"You swore me to secrecy."
"Right."
"Five years Mer is a long time to go without talking to your family."
"I did what I had to." Meredith insisted. "Besides Dad told me not to come back remember?" Piper did remember.
John had just got there in time for Mer's departure. There had been a big blow out in the parking lot evolving a bunch of nasty things that shouldn't have been said. One being that Meredith was no longer apart of the family and that she shouldn't bother coming back because John didn't want her there.
"Oh for—you know what?" Piper said. "Dad told Sam and me the exact same thing but he still takes my calls, in fact he freaks out when I miss a call."
"That's because you're the voice of reason Piper." Meredith sighed. "No one can ever stay mad at you, you were always dad's weakness."
"Yeah but you'll always be his first daughter, his first child. You hold a special place in his heart." Piper insisted. "He would have answered."
"We're here." Meredith said pulling the car into the driveway. They both climbed out heading towards the door.
"Mer?" Piper said noticing she'd gone all quiet. "You okay?"
"I'm fine Piper."
"You know you don't have to be our mother anymore right?" Piper said. "We're all grown up, we just need a sister."
"Not the twins." Mer countered. "And Piper, I'll always have to play mother." Piper looked down at her hands sadly.
"What are we doing?" Dean snapped startling them both. "Open the damn door, let's go."
Meredith shoved the door open, dropping her bag on the floor. She led them into the living room. Piper stood beside Mer while Sam sat in the chair and Dean sat on the couch with a twin on each side. Aiden wouldn't look at Mer while Adam just looked pissed off almost as bad as looking at two Dean's. They were pretty much the same.
"So?" Meredith started. "Piper says dad's missing."
"Yeah." Sam replied. "We worked the last hunt he had."
"Wait he didn't finish it?" Meredith asked.
"Nope." Adam said.
"That's not—"
"—normal." Aiden finished. "We know."
"So give me the low down." Meredith said.
They told her about the hunt. Adam had been the one to discover that she was a 'Woman in White' before they even made it to the motel room filled with things relating back to that legend.
Dean and Adam did all the talking. Sam and Aiden were eerily quiet. Meredith was very surprised to find out John had left the journal; he always had that thing with him. She wasn't at all surprised to find out that there were coordinates hidden inside the journal for them to find, that was a typical John move.
"MEREDITH!" A man yelled suddenly. Aiden jumped in surprise.
"Oh look." Piper said coldly. "Franklin's home."
"Be nice." Meredith ordered. A tall man walked into the room, he looked furious.
"What's going on here?" he demanded. "You're supposed to be working." Dean glared at him the moment he walked in the room.
"Frankie calm down." Meredith insisted. "We can discuss this later."
"Meredith—"
"Shut the fuck up!" Mer snapped startling everyone. "We have guests you moron." Franklin glared at her for a moment before clearing his throat.
"Who the hell are these people?"
"'These people' are my family." Mer replied coldly.
"You don't have a family." Meredith clenched her jaw. Piper jumped up.
"Okay!" she said. "Hey Franklin do you think you can help Chris?"
"What?" he asked confused. "Help Chris with what?"
"Fix things..." Piper said. "...around the house..." The whole time she said this she was pushing Franklin out the front door. He hadn't seemed to notice yet.
"Do I look like a handy man?" Franklin snapped in annoyance.
"But the dishwashers making that clunking noise again." Piper insisted. "You helped him last time."
"Yeah but—"
"Okay thanks, bye." Piper slammed the door in his face and locked it.
"Piper!" Meredith snapped. "He lives here too, you can't just—"
"I just did." Piper insisted. "He would have been in the way."
"If I would have done a thing like that to Chris you would have smacked me." Piper didn't reply knowing she was correct.
"That's your boyfriend?" Dean demanded.
"And her boss." Piper input earning herself a glare from Mer.
"Well he sounds like a peach." Aiden mumbled.
"Who I date is none of your damn business." Meredith snapped. Dean clenched his jaw looking pissed off but bit his tongue which was probably for the best. Adam continued the story because Dean was now much too angry to talk.
"So you're telling me Dad left you two with this nuckle head? He gave him custody."
"There was no one else." Aiden said casually. She glared at Meredith while she said it though. Meredith ignored her.
"And he's been gone for two weeks?"
"Yes." Adam nodded.
"Okay." Meredith said. She didn't bother explaining what she meant by that. They were all slightly confused.
"Okay?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah," Meredith nodded. "Okay." They stared blankly at Meredith until Aiden couldn't take it anymore.
"So are you coming with us or not?" Aiden snapped.
Meredith gave a sigh. "No."
Review! Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Ideas? Advice? Opinions?
A/N So are you mad at me? I hate this ending but it was all I could do for now. After all I have eleven other stories I have to write.
If you like this you might like:
My six other Supernatural stories, 'Dreaming of Life' (complete), 'Dreaming of Life S2' (crossover with Charmed), 'Way Back When' and 'Genevieve Winchester Halliwell' (pairing stories to DOL S1 & S2), 'Reality Check', 'Cata Lilly' and 'The Children of his'. My Smallville Catwoman crossover story 'Smallville's Cat', my Charmed fanfic 'The Fifth Sister' (complete) and my Mortal Instruments one 'Sister Angels'. Please don't forget to review!