The second meeting.

[toughlittlesis]

Alex was surprised when John called her after she had finished up with her last class of the day. It had been a few weeks since she had heard from him. The way he talked, John Winchester seemed like a pretty busy guy. She didn't sweat it though, a distant father was better than none at all. She was willing to take whatever contact was convenient

Comments

[winchester_sam]

It had gotten better after Dean had gone off and had his weekend away with Nicole. There was a little less tension around the two of us. Not like it was completely gone but at least we were back to me listening to less emo music and staring out the window at the rain (as Dean like to put it) and a little less the two of us either not talking or taking turns being pissed off at each other.

After a while of not saying much and not coming up with any leads of anything we could look into we decided to head down to the diner for some food. At least there weren't any leads on stuff that was in our league since there was plenty going on in LA but none of it that we could probably affect.

I think I spotted Dad first, there's just something about the way he holds his shoulders and the way he walks I can always pick him out of a crowd. I jabbed Dean in the ribs and nodded in Dad's direction when I noticed who he was walking with.

Back just before I ended up throwing up seawater on the beach of the island I had a vision in the middle of all the shit that was coming at me so hard and fast I couldn't see. It was a girl dancing to music I couldn't hear. Dad was walking with that girl.

"Holy shit."

[deanwinchester]

Wasn't sure where Nicole took off too, but she didn't show up all night. It could be slayer or family business and it wasn't like we didn't bail sometimes on each other. That was just the way things went with us. We both had complicated and busy lives and didn't give each other shit when something came up. Probably one of the big reasons I wasn't feeling the itch to bolt from the relationship. Fuck I hated the term relationship.

There was a kid we were supposed to meet, but he had emailed Sam to say he and his girlfriend got delayed on their trip to LA to work some case. That left us with some free time, and well it was about time for food anyway. I was a little sick of take out, and the diner wasn't that far of a walk so we decided to leave the impala.

I felt the jab on my ribs and was scowling just as I heard Sammy curse out. Looking over to see what had his attention I immediately spotted Dad walking with some short chick. A little young for him wasn't she? Hell she looked about Nic's age and yeah no it must be a case. Dad wouldn't be into a chick that age. Crossing the street, we approached them and I looked at the girl for a moment before turning to Dad.

"Hey Dad. What's up?" If he had a case then maybe he could use a hand. It wasn't like we'd been in touch a lot since the island and stuff. Figured he was busy with his shit the same as Sammy and I were busy with our stuff. It was just the way the three of us worked. I was starting to see some patterns developing and fuck Sam and his psychology bullshit seeping into my thoughts.

[toughlittlesis]

I felt my stomach sink when I heard the guy call John "Dad" and froze right where I was standing. These are my brothers. He's either Sam or Dean, and the other one is standing right beside him.

John didn't tell me much about them. He said that Dean was older and Sam was the college boy. I'm just the one neither of them have a clue about. That makes this entire situation a problem because the last time I checked John wasn't ready to tell them about me. Their mom has been dead for years, I guess he thinks they would see it as some kind of a betrayal to her memory.

I smiled politely at the guys, turning to John and speaking before he could. "These are your sons, right? Listen, I'm going to let you guys catch up. We can talk another time."

I couldn't tell whether that made him feel guilty or relieved, but I wanted to get his approval before I left. He wasn't in town just to see me or anything like that and it didn't seem too rude to keep him from being forced to lie to them. Like I said, we could talk later.

I was a little annoyed with myself for walking away from them so easily, but it wouldn't be fair of me to turn their lives upside down just because I want see what my brothers are like.

They seem pretty cool, I guess. The short one has a curious look on his face, but he's clearly older so I guess that's Dean. Sam looks confused and equally curious, but I probably would be the same way if I were him. This is a weird situation to be in even if you don't know what I do.

[winchester_john]

My stomach dropped out the moment I heard the voice...not out of any sort of aprehension: the boys were going to find out about Alex eventually.

But there was more to my visit with Alex than just a hello. Weeks had gone by, and my search for the boys had turned up nothing. Not a goddamn thing. I did a shitty job of showing it, but Alex was important...and as scared as I was for Sam and Dean, I needed just to see her.

Then the voice...right at my back.

Alex offered to leave, but I reached over to gently catch her arm. "No...stay." I replied flatly, glaring at the two of them. "This'll only take a sec...then we can talk."

I advanced on Dean and Sam, torn between strangling them and embracing them. I decided on a balance between the two...I could save the more extreme reactions for later, when I was in a position to be throwing stones in a pretty big glass house.

"I thought you two were dead." I informed them flatly. "For weeks, I've left you messages, dropped coordinates left and right, contacted *all* our friends still out there, and not a damn word!?! Where the *hell* have you two been?!"

[winchester_sam]

Ok, that jarred me the hell out of the confusion because here was Dad starting it up again two seconds after we saw him. Did he always have to fucking do this?

"I put a notice up as soon as we got back Dad, shits' been happening. Not like you seem to know how to use a phone yourself." It was as close as I could get to saying what I really wanted right now and it was probably still enough to piss him off and make Dean tell me to knock it the fuck off.

"You could try saying hi glad to see you're alive and tell me who this is and why I...." Shit I can't just start talking about visions on the street without knowing who she is. "Why I know her from somewhere."

[deanwinchester]

I stared at Dad for a minute when he started lecturing us about being out of touch. Um. Huh? Fucking phone companies. Because I hadn't gotten any of Dad's messages, and I had left a bunch of my own.

"Sam, knock it off. He probably hasn't check his journal. Dad, I didn't get your messages, and I've left you a few too."

Was something fucking with our communication? I supposed that wasn't out of the question. It wasn't like things hadn't happened to keep us apart before. But having the two of them go at each other's throats wasn't what I felt like watching today.

"Look, we're all here and in one piece. Who is the girl?" I finally asked because Sam looked freaked out. Wait he knew her from some place?

I looked at Sam and then back at the girl. Arching an eyebrow I frowned and looked back at Sam. "She isn't exactly your type, bro." Well. She wasn't. Wait why was Dad and the girl giving me weird looks?

[toughlittlesis]

Dean's comment about me being Sam's type made me glad that my stomach was strong enough to handle it. Throwing up in front of them would have been embarrassing, not to mention a little insulting to Sam.

"I have a boyfriend." I explained, trying to shake off the bad feeling. Dean doesn't know what he's saying, I can let it go. We should have stuck to the original plan and had a cup of coffee at the diner.

"I'm Alex, but...I don't think we've met." I could say that I would have remembered him, but that would sound more like flirting than making a statement. I'm not going to make this any worse than it already is.

"Are you sure you guys don't need to talk?" They all look a little pissed at each other now. I don't feel like I belong here with all of the shit that they're talking about.

They're one hell of a family, that's for sure.

[winchester_john]

Alex had a point...but this was something that needed to be addressed. The reason I was so angry was only because I'd been scared...I was man enough to admit that.

And relieved...I was hollow and shaky and light with relief, seeing them in front of me and bickering like they hadn't just dropped off the face of the planet without so much as a phone call or an email.

"We do need to talk...but this here can wait." I replied, ushering Alex back over to my side as I faced the boys. "Dean...Sammy...we gotta talk. Boys...this is Alexandria."

I paused, eyeing Sam curiously before I stole another look at Alex. "And don't think I didn't catch that, Sammy...do I gotta continue? Or do you two already know each other?"

[winchester_sam]

I shook my head, wow between Dean and Alexandria they'd moved Dad out of angry territory so I decided I'd better behave and not take it back there. Dean wasn't above punching me right now after the month we had just had.

Besides it would just lead to having to tell him I'd just been possessed and there was pretty much a world of not wanting to do that in my head right now.

"I swear to God I need a code word." This whole having visions thing was annoying when there were strangers around and I didn't want to just say hi saw you in a vision how you doing?

"No, Dad, we don't know each other." There was just a hint of exasperation there. "I saw her in a vision ok?" I looked over at the girl hoping she was a client or something since suddenly apparently we had to talk. And my visions a lot of times have something to do with people the demon would give a damn about so I wonder who she is.

[deanwinchester]

Vision. Oh well, say something next time dumbass. Like I'm supposed to be able to read his mind? At least Dad was alright and didn't look ready to kick our asses anymore.

"She a client?" I asked, because something wasn't right here. She was way too jumpy to just be a client. Peering at her, I didn't notice the weird yellow eyes or the pitch blackness, so at least she didn't appear to be the demon. Not that I expected Dad to be hanging out and sharing laughs with it.

Sam was getting his panties in a twist over something or another, but at least he kept his head. If he had started picking a fight with Dad I was going to punch him. The last thing I felt like doing was getting in the middle of one of their epic battles. I haven't had coffee yet to handle that.

There was something about the girl that was weird. Like she was studying us and matching us up in her head or something. It wasn't exactly creepy, but it felt like she knew more than we did. Did she have a secret?

Looking back over at Dad, I waited for him to bring us up to speed because it was clear he had something to share with us. Oh right, where's my manners. "I'm Dean and this is Sam." Like she hadn't already put that together?

[toughlittlesis]

Hearing Sam talk about having a 'vision' of me was a little weird. I didn't have the slightest clue what he meant by that, and guessing about it wouldn't have explained anything unless he was willing to talk about it. He didn't seem to be, so I just stood beside John and smiled when Dean made the introduction.

"Yeah, I know. John has mentioned you, so when you called him 'Dad', I kinda figured. Its nice to meet you guys."

I figured I would leave explaining our connection to John, since I didn't know what to tell them anyway. Its not like I'm going to come out and drop the bomb on these guys. I'm not even sure that I should be calling my father a friend yet, we're just starting to get to know each other.

There's one thing that I have to admit though, hearing Dean ask if I was a client brought up another question mark for me regarding whatever it is that John does for a living. I let that topic slide the last time we met because I didn't want to push anything right away, but its getting a little confusing now. I'm clueless as to what my father does for a living, and he and Dean don't seem to have any problems with Sam having 'visions'. Whatever that means.

There's only one way to find out.

"What's this vision thing about, anyway?" I asked, finally. "Its not bad, is it?" I kept smiling, aware that Dean seemed to be trying to read me. With my luck, its just about always bad but the way I see it, it doesn't hurt to ask.

[winchester_john]

This was getting a little out of hand, and a little too personal for a public forum...especially with all the vision talk being thrown around. Still, the mention of Sammy's visions, and Alex being in one of them...it was enough to give me serious pause.

And scare me all over again.

"I don't know." I finally admitted to Alex after a moment before turning to the boys again. "But that's something we can talk about in a few minutes...prefferably, somewhere that *ain't* in the open."

Here came the part I was dreading...the moment of truth. Taking a deep, hopefully discreet breath, I bit the bullet and got it done.

"Dean, Sammy...like I said, this is Alex. She's...your sister."

[winchester_sam]

Well that was pretty much the last sentence in the world I was expecting to hear. I mean yeah look at her and those are Dad's eyes so I can see it's true but the whole Dad and another kid just so out of left field it's not even funny.

"Oh." Way to sound welcoming Sam. We so should not be doing this on the street because now even if I don't want to tell Dad about what happened I have to soon because she could be the next target.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound weird Alex. Kind of a surprise but a nice one if you know what I mean." It was definitely time to make the atmosphere lighter here before one or more of us combusted so I leaned a little closer like I was telling her a secret.

"Just remember I'm the good brother and you'll be fine."