LOST IN TRANSLATION

Dean x OC fanfic

'for the family we couldn't leave behind'

Song Choice: The House That Built Me - Miranda Lambert

Chapter 3: Brave New World

There's nothing stranger than seeing the place you think you should know look absolutely nothing like you pictured.

Bobby Singer's junk yard was piled high with car parts to the point that one might even call them cliff sides if they felt generous. The rough look dog hanging outside on a thick looking chain added charm to the bleak place, the wood was pealing on the porch and the rest of the mismatched house.

In short, this place looked nothing like the home I sort of thought it would be. When Dean pulled the car up to the house I half expected him to be joking. He wasn't, and Sam just gave me sympathetic looks the entire time.

I got out of the car and looked around slowly. Nothing rang a bell, no lightbulbs went off. Nothing. I tried not to show my disappointment, but clearly it showed when I looked at the boys.

Dean was watching me with that skeptical glint. It was like he expected me to rip a mask off and reveal I was a monster all along. Maybe that was why he would check his gun and load it in my view before pulling it under his pillow. He didn't trust me, I wasn't dumb enough to expect him to either considering what these boys did for work.

Sam looked like he wanted to help me, but wasn't sure where to start. I think he half expected me to find something I remembered, but nothing jumped out immediately or otherwise. I didn't even feel like I had a vague idea of what this place was or who lived here.

Speak of the Devil…..

The porch door swung open suddenly, and the three of us collectively turned our gazes to who I presumed to be Bobby Singer. Described as a surly old man that was a redneck genius when it came to hunting. He was also someone the boys considered family, or at least the way they talked about him hinted towards that.

"Well? Ya idjits gunna stand out here all day or did you need an invitation?" The old man asked before turning himself back into the house without waiting for us. I couldn't help a short grin popping onto my face.

I think I like this fellow…..

Sam gestured for me to go in, Dean leading the way without looking back. The house looked very much the same inside and out. Unkept, dirty, with stacks of objects- mostly books- tossed this way and that. Dean lead us into a parlour of sorts and right up to Bobby.

"So this is the girl that dropped from the sky." Bobby said as he glanced at me. I pursed my lips to hide a smile that I got the feeling he wouldn't enjoy.

"That's one way of putting it." I conceded. Bobby narrowed his eyes at me. I had a sharp feeling Dean was the easier of the two to convince.

"Oh really? And you just happened to have my address and number?" Bobby snarked back. I shrugged.

"All the numbers in my phone are yours. Every single one is the exact same." I explained.

"And you just so happened to get picked up by these two boys." Bobby continued. To my surprise Dean stepped in.

"Hey we picked her up of our own free will." Dean said. Sam butted in while Bobby continued to size me up.

"Taylor, uh, why don't you grab your duffel bag out of the car? You'll be staying here for a few days until we can figure something out, right Bobby?" Sam said in his usual puppy dog face. I nodded shortly before heading outside. The moment the door shut I knew there would be talk about me.

I figured they would want to chat, so when I went out to the car I grabbed my bag and instead sat on the hood. It was early evening, the sun was just beginning to dip. It was cool, being late March, the snow was gone already, but it was still wet and muddy. Bobby's yard wasn't too messy, though tire tracks were evident anywhere something had been moved.

Dean stepped out of the house a few minutes later. At first glance he looked suspicious, but once he saw me sitting on the car he seemed to back track a few thoughts.

"You were taking a while," he made a gesture towards me. "Sam was getting all antsy, thought you ran off."

I shrugged, pursing my lips.

"Thought you guys would want to talk it all over," I tapped my fingers on the grill briefly before looking down. "Look, I get that I'm an outsider in all of this, and I get it if you guys are nervous about me. I get it, really, but don't treat me like I'm an idiot. It's tough enough trying to accept my memory loss."

Dean had the smarts to look a bit ashamed.

"Right, my bad."

It was quiet for a moment, my fingers continued to tap on the silver grill.

"For what it's worth, your ghost seeing ability is kinda freaky, but you seem like a normal chick." Dean commented. I snorted, obviously he wasn't that great at giving compliments, but he looked proud of himself, so I said nothing. Instead I glanced down at the vehicle beneath me.

"It's a nice car," I began, seeing him break into a grin. "I don't know much about them, what kind of car is it?"

"'67 Impala. My baby and I have been all across America." Dean said, admiring his machinery. I grinned, such a motor head.

"I love the sound of her engine, and she's weirdly quite flashy for a black car." I said, patting the hood. Dean chuckled, stepping off Bobby's porch and walking up beside me. He was still staring at his car, but I couldn't help but give a small grin.

"She's got a lot of power under the hood." He said, gently touching said hood beside me. Finally looking up at me, I could see he didn't get to talk about his car that much, and he looked to be gushing about saying more.

So I listened, and he spoke. He told me the specs, then would back track and explain what each one meant. It was cute how he gushed about 'her' like she was the love of his life. Briefly in the back my head I wondered if I had something I gushed about like that.

I woke the next morning in an unfamiliar bed. For a brief second I thought it was a motel room, but I was wrong. The room smelled like a lived in space, and after a short while I remembered we were at Bobby's house.

The sun was just peaking up when I finally started to stretch, 5am. I didn't really sleep last night then. Strangely I still felt well rested.

With nothing better to do, cleaned myself up, dressed, and prepared for the day. My mouth was craving something, but I couldn't put my finger on it. So I wandered down into the kitchen as quietly as I could. Nobody else was up yet, I figured Bobby and the others wouldn't mind if I fussed a little bit. Considering last night was Chinese takeout and there was a huge pile of dishes on the counters. I curled my lip at the pile, dishes were so nasty, but I hated the look of a dirty kitchen more. So I ran some hot water, dumped in some soap, a cap-full of bleach, and let the buggers soak before the cravings set in again.

I rummaged the fridge, finding nothing of interest immediately. I scoured the cabinets, finding nothing interesting there either. A tiny voice at the back of my head said I would need to make something.

So I took out flour, eggs, milk, baking powder, vanilla, sugar, salt…. pancakes! I wanted pancakes. For the next twenty minutes I was frying up eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Coffee was the next step. God that was a glorious taste mixed with a splash of milk. The more bitter the better, and the instant coffee Bobby had was very bitter. All that was missing was some toast, so I popped a few slices of bread in the toaster and searched for some butter.

While I was reaching into the fridge a distinct sound of a gun cocking could be heard from behind me. I froze and slowly straightened up. Turning around, I looked to see Bobby Singer standing in the doorway with a gun in his hand. It wasn't pointed at me, but from the sounds I could tell it was definitely loaded. He looked rather displeased, but I couldn't remember a different look on his face last night.

"I um, I made pancakes?" I offered, lamely holding the margarine container out as a peace offer. He stared me down, and just as I was about to dumbly open my mouth again the toast popped.

I jumped, not expecting the sudden noise. A loud beep sounded with it, and after righting myself I glanced over to Bobby and saw that he had observed the entire thing without even flinching. It took a while ten seconds before he sighed, put down the gun, and made his way over to the kitchen to poor himself some coffee.

"Did you make 'em with bacon grease?" He asked, and for a moment I forgot what he was asking. Then it dawned on me and I scrambled to answer.

"The…. Oh! Yes, I did." I said while turning to butter the toast. He mumbled under his breath before grabbing himself a plate. I watched, curious, as he sat down at the small table and helped himself to some margarine, syrup, and pancakes. He took a bite, chewed for a long minute, then took another. And another…. I smiled, he seemed to like them.

"Would you like some toast or eggs? Bacon?" I asked, he nodded. So I brought everything else to the table before making my own plate and sitting down across from him. We both ate in silence, but I was significantly happier to see he liked my cooking.

Not long after Dean arrived, looking over everything with a curious gaze. Bobby glanced over at Dean while he poured himself some coffee.

"She keeps cooking like this and we'll get along just fine." The old man said. I tried to hide my smile by stuffing my mouth with more pancakes.

Some time later, while the three of us were huddled into Bobby's small kitchen table, Sam arrived. He looked less than well rested, his eyes glancing around swiftly quite a bit.

"Good morning." I greeted, the two men grunting a greeting as well from behind their mugs. Sam nodded briefly before shuffling a bit where he stood.

"Hey uh, Taylor, would you mind coming with Dean and I on our next hunt?" Sam asked quickly. I was surprised, but so were Dean and Bobby from the looks of it. Both men stopped what they were doing to look over to Sam. Dean looking suspicious while Bobby looked outright confused.

"Uhhhhh what started this?" I asked, not understanding the change of heart. Weren't they trying to ditch me not ten hours ago? Sam shook his head.

"Nothing, just-uh, y'know, you have that weird gift and I thought maybe it would help you to use it more, y'know?" Sam looked like he was trying to keep calm, but even if I bought it his brother certainly wasn't.

"What's blowing up your skirt pal? Besides, who said our next hunt was going to be a ghost?" Dean asked. It was a good point, we had no idea what would be the next hunt, and considering Dean had taken a good chunk of the ride here trying to scare me out of hunting I definitely hadn't expected to be hauled back in so quickly.

There as quiet for a little while. Sam looked away, but Dean wasn't about to toss him a lifeline from the looks of it. Finally Bobby spoke up.

"There something you need to tell us Sam?" He asked, but to my surprise it wasn't in the surly way he had spoken that entire time. It was like a father talking to his son who was nervous. In front of me the dynamic shifted, and I didn't see Bobby as just an old friend. Sam turned to us and took a deep breath.

"I have these….. dreams. Okay? And sometimes they come true." He explained. Dean froze up at this, his shoulders tensing.

"Okay….. do you….. you seen any lottery numbers….?" That earned him a slap upside the head from Bobby.

"What kind of dreams, Sam?" Bobby asked, looking equally confused but curious. Sam went on.

"Look I know it sounds crazy, but I dreamt that were would meet Taylor weeks before it happened. Down to the stretch of road. And- and Jessica-" he took a breath, "I dreamt of that night for weeks. And I ignored them both, but both came true."

"So you knew you would meet me?" I asked, surprised. Sam looked to me with guilty eyes.

"I'm sorry, but yes." He confessed. I frowned, getting up to step closer to him.

"Don't be sorry Sam, you saved me. Why would I be angry at that?" I asked, craning my neck to look up at him. I barely came up to his chest, and even standing three feet back. Had to really look up at him. He gave a barely there smile, so I clapped my hands together.

"So what dream did you have and why did you want me to come along?" I asked, but then Dean intervened.

"Whoa whoa whoa! I'm not playing baby sitter just because you want the easy way out of a hunt." Dean quipped. I turned to him, frowning, but Sam spoke before I could.

"Dean…. We have to go back to Kansas." Sam said, and Dean instantly shut his mouth.

It was quiet in the kitchen.

If I thought the house was quiet then I had no idea what was coming for me later on in the car. Sam and Dean both looked super tense and refused to explain the me the importance of where we were going. Every now and again they would mutter something to each other, but never actually include me in the conversation. I almost wished I had stayed behind with the surly old man and cooked for him rather than sit in the back of the car and eat burgers.

A few hours after leaving Bobby's we came to Lawrence, Kansas. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't for us to pull up to a rather normal looking house. It was large, two stories, with blue painting on the outside. Dean cut the engine, both staring at the house.

"Is anyone going to tell me what this place is?" I asked them both. Sam hesitated before answering.

"This was our home." He said as both he and Dean climbed out of the car. My eyes widened, but I regrouped and scrambled out behind them. Both boys crossed the street and walked up to the front door.

'Was' stuck out briefly in my mind. This 'was' their home, but not anymore. I had noticed they didn't really seem to go home very often, was it because this was their last home? What happened that they didn't come back? My thoughts were interrupted as someone answered the front door. A pretty woman who looked just a bit older than me. Dean started to say something, but Sam cut him off.

"I'm Sam Winchester, this is my brother Dean and our friend Taylor. We used to live in the house and were just driving by. Would it be alright if we see the old place?" He asked, and I noticed he was using the puppy dog eyes again. The woman was disarmed almost immediately, and I couldn't blame her.

"Winchester….. you know I think I have some of your old photos in the basement….. come on in." She said, opening the door wider. We made our way inside, but I noticed Sam and Dean both didn't look very comfortable being inside the house. I watched them briefly while also trying to look around.

"My name's Jenny by the way, and this is Sari and Ritchie. He's kind of a juice junkie." The woman introduced as she showed us her two children. Cute.

"So what do you think of the new home?" Sam asked when the conversation stalled. Jenny smiled, but pursed her lips.

"With all due respect to your childhood home, I mean I'm sure you have some happy memories here," I couldn't help but sneak a peak at Dean, who looked absolutely rigid when he stood there with a fake smile plastered on, "but the place has some…. issues."

"What kind of issues?" I asked innocently. Jenny sighed.

"Well, there's rats, and the sink backs up, flickering lights…" Jenny rattled on.

"Have you seen the rats? Or is it just scratching?" Dean asked tersely. Jenny paused.

"Just the scratching, I guess," Jenny watched the boys before smiling sadly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be saying these things about your old home."

It was quiet for a moment, and I had the sneaking suspicion the boys were thinking about something else, so I answered for them.

"No worries, these boys are tough." I said, placing a hand on Dean's shoulder. His muscle tight underneath my grip. Sari, Jenny's daughter, looked up to her mom then.

"Mom, can you ask if that thing was here before with them?" She whispered to her mom. Jenny looked mildly embarrassed, smiling at them and shushing Sari a bit. This seemed to refocus the boys as Sam spoke.

"Was what here Sari?" He asked. Jenny shook her head.

"She thinks something is in her closet." Jenny said, sounding almost condescending to her daughter. Sari frowned, turning to the three of us.

"There is something! It came out of my closet, and it was on fire!"

The boys were still freaking out even an hour later. Dean was twitchy and Sam was muttering about them needing to get Jenny and her kids out. All I had gotten from them was that there was a malevolent spirit, but considering something had been on fire in the house I had a pretty good guess at that already.

"Guys, can you tell me what's going on?" I interjected into one of their arguments. Big mistake, as Dean spun around to glare at me.

"Why don't you mind your own damn business." He snapped. I took a step back and raised my hands in submission. Dean watched me for a moment before taking a breath and sighing. He didn't apologize, but he did settle down.

"I'm gunna take a piss," he muttered before walking around the corner of the gas station. I turned to Sam, who was anxiously tapping the side of the car. He looked to me, before finally los taking a deep breath and speaking to me.

"That was our childhood home. It was…. It was where our mother died." Sam explained. My heart clenched at the notion, automatically I took a step towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

"I'm sorry." I said softly. Sam looked down at me before looking away. He didn't move away from my touch though, but I eventually put my hand down. "So you wanted me to see if I felt your mom?"

"Not exactly, I was hoping you could sense a spirit in the house." Sam admitted. I shook my head sadly.

"Sorry Sam, but I can't tell the difference between a ghost and a normal person. They look the same to me to be honest. If I got back in the house maybe I could check around again?" I offered, but Sam shook his head.

"No, it's alright, we should probably gather some more information about that night honestly." Sam said in a far away tone. I didn't want to pry, but it would help to know what he knew.

"Can you tell me about it? About what happened?" I asked gently. Sam looked down at me.

"I was still a baby, but Dad said he found mom pinned to the ceiling of my nursery. Not long afterwards the entire place was set on fire. And he was forced to leave. He took me and Dean out, and that's about all I know."

Maybe Dean remembered something though. We both looked at each other before Sam glanced at the direction Dean had gone.

"Maybe you should go talk to him?" I asked, glancing down at the passenger seat of the car. Sam leaned against the side next to me.

"Let him have a moment. He'll be a joy to work with as it is." Sam leaned back a bit more and tilted his head to the sky. I smiled, copying his position while looking up at him.

"The yelling match sort of gave it away." I was teasing, but Sam grimaced.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He sat up and looked down at me properly. Good God he was tall.

"So was that why you wanted me to come along? Because… Because you wanted to see if…. If she was still there?" I looked up at him, catching the faintest sign of hurt behind his eyes before he looked away.

"Yeah, I just….. I wanted to make sure, y'know? But I mean it's pretty obvious that the thing that killed her is still there." Sam said before pinching the bridge of his nose. I hesitated, not wanting to encroach on such a sensitive topic, but also wanting to know more. Sam paused what he was doing and glanced at me. He gave a small laugh.

"Sorry, y'know, I forgot this is all new to you. You're taking it quite well." He confessed before walking around to the driver's side. He reached in to grab a book I'd seen them both glance at before sliding it across the roof to me. I caught it in time and turned it over in my hands a few times.

"That's our Dad's journal. It has just about everything we know about hunting in it. Read it over when you have a chance." He then turned to walk off in the same direction Dean had gone off in. I watched him go briefly before looking at the book in my hands. Carefully, I opened the first page, and I read the first lines.

I went to Missouri, and I learned the truth.

Hey thanks for the two reviews SilvershadowWolf46! Very kind of you.

Well, COVID-19 is running amok and I'm stuck at home for a few weeks. Hope y'all are doing well. Hopefully will be more updates soon. Please review, it means a lot. I wrote out the story plan already and love it, so I just need some readers to make it happen.

So Taylor is settling in, and she's probably a wee bit overwhelmed still. Hoping she comes off believable, because I really like her and her story. she's gunna be a lot of fun to write too.

So yeah, do take care, and try not to go stir crazy indoors!

K thanks for reading! BuBye!

Cheers!

Iland Girl