Legalities, as always Sam and Dean and all things Supernatural do not belong to me. They are the property of the CW and Kripke Enterprises. I wish they would share, but I don't think that is going to happen so I guess I will simply play in their sandbox for a bit.

Rating T: For language and injured Dean and possibly Sam throughout the story.

This story does not contain slash just good old brotherly love. If you like the story please review it, I have not had this Beta'd and am new to this experience, please keep this in mind when reviewing. At this point the story should mostly follow cannon, but as always I reserve the right for that to change if the story goes there.

The Past Can Set You Free

Chapter One

WTF

The first time that Dean Winchester had met Catherine Jean Wilkins a.k.a. CJ, had been when his dad had been hunting a particularly vengeful spirit in Malad, Idaho.

It had taken more than six weeks for his father to track the bastard down and then find the bones in an old unmarked cemetery.

Dean and Sam had been enrolled in school for those six weeks, Dean, being 16 at the time, in the local Highschool and Sam, at 12, in Jr. High. Neither of them had liked the amount of snow that was still everywhere in the small town, too cold they both decided once morning when the wind chill had been close to -22 degrees.

Malad was located on the border of Idaho and Utah, and was a small town comprised of mostly farmers and some miners. It had two diners, one stop light, and one large grocery store…and of course a local gun and pawn shop.

Dean had walked into the history class in the middle of a presentation by one miss CJ Wilkins, she had glared at him as he interrupted her report on the Civil War.

Dean had simply sent her his most, at least in his opinion, devastating smile as he slid into an empty seat at the rear of the room. Her blue eyes narrowed and she raised a dark eyebrow at the obvious flirtation, shifting her notes and returning to her report.

Dean had taken a moment to really look at the girl standing in front of the classroom reading occasionally from her stack of note cards.

She had long mahogany hair, that shined when the sun hit it as she flipped it out of her face, her eyes were a deep almost unnatural shade of azure blue…huh…where the hell did I learn what color 'azure' is? She was sorta tall, for a girl, and was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a nike sweatshirt. Dean immediately decided that maybe Malad, wouldn't be such a bad place to hang out while dad finished this particular hunt.

Things had rolled along as they always did, except that none of Dean's usual techniques were working with CJ, oh sure she would talk to him but generally it was to tell him what an idiot he was. She was the first girl that Dean had come across that he couldn't find a way around her defenses. He had even gone so far as to ask Sam to find out what he could about the girl.

Sam being a typical pre-teen had teased Dean mercilessly about the fact that he couldn't get all the girls all the time. Dean had cuffed him behind the head for the comment, but Sam had thought that it was worth it as he watched his brothers determination and subsequent frustration build over the next couple of weeks.

What he had found out made Dean a little more careful around the girl, she was the only daughter of the local sheriff, his wife had died several years earlier, and she was a spitfire.

CJ had been in trouble with the local law officials, her father had smoothed that over, and she also seemed to be into some sort of martial arts. Dean didn't really know for sure, just that she and her father travelled over to Ogden, Utah twice a week for some sort of training. Sam hadn't been able to find out what it was either, which was a little odd because Sam always figured out everything.

It was in the third week of being in the small town that Dean had finally learned something that might help him make a connection with CJ…she like to shoot.

Their dad had taken them out to some random field for some target practice when they had been surprised to hear the report of a 45 caliber handgun bounce around the canyon.

"Dean, stay with Sam." His dad had stated as he moved quietly toward the noise, leaving the boys by the Impala.

"Dad…" Dean had whispered loudly, only to be shushed by his father as he disappeared around a bend in the road.

"Shit." Dean said. Sam looked over at him with a disapproving scowl on his face, "Dean, dad said you're not supposed to swear."

"Shut up Sam." He said as he scrubbed his hand across his face and listened for his father's return.

"It's true." Sam stated petulantly as he kicked a rock into the road.

"Sam. Stop." Dean said as he heard something moving in the distance.

He pulled Sam into a crouch near the rear of the car and pulled his own Taurus from the back of his jeans, quietly pulling the slide to rear and seating a bullet in the chamber. Sam's eyes widened at Dean's actions, but he remained thankfully quiet as Dean's eyes scanned the horizon.

Suddenly they saw their fathers head appear as he walked back toward the car, but he was not alone, John Winchester was walking next to the sheriff and CJ. Dean's eyebrows pulled together in surprise as he noticed that CJ was carrying her own M9 45 caliber pistol and smiling at something that his father had just said.

Something had changed in that instant, the one where she saw him standing protectively next to his brother, his handgun temporarily forgotten as he watched them walk down the dusty road. CJ had not been numb to Dean Winchester's charms, she just knew the type of guy he was and frankly she had had enough of those types to last a life time.

But seeing him standing just in front of his little brother, in full on 'protect' mode had caused her to rethink he initial impression of him.

That was the exact moment when things had changed; Dean had started hanging out with CJ more and more often. She would even invite Sammy when they went to movies or the arcade…Dean had tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't hear of it and had insisted that Sam get to come too.

Eventually Dean had just accepted that he was going to go do something fun with CJ, then Sam was going to be coming as well. While that hadn't factored into his initial plans with the girl, it had turned out to be pretty cool.

CJ was funny and sarcastic; and she genuinely liked both the Winchester's. To Dean's ever increasing surprise, his dad had even taken here shooting with them a couple of times, while she wasn't quite as skilled as Dean, she was damn close.

John had never told him what he had discussed with the Wilkin's as they had been walking back to the car that day, but it seemed that his dad trusted the man and his daughter…and that was enough for Dean.

The first time that Dean got take CJ out without Sam tagging along was about a week before their father finished the hunt and they left the area in search of the next 'big bad'.

He had taken her to the local movie theater and been delighted when she picked an action flick instead of the usual chick flick garbage that he used to. He had bought them a large popcorn and a soda to share, again please when she didn't ask for diet…he always had to drink diet with Sam. By the end of the movie he had managed to twine his fingers with hers and she leaned over and placed her head on his shoulder. He smiled to himself at the obvious charms he was oozing on this particular night.

His dad had let him take the Impala and as he drove her home he wondered if he should find a place to park somewhere so they could 'talk'. But as he glanced in her direction and noticed the half smile that she threw his way, he thought better of it. There was something about her that he didn't want to taint with that type of memory. Oh it wasn't that he didn't want rip her clothes off after all he was a red blooded American teenage boy, but he found that he actually liked her…respected her even. So his usual antics were put on hold as he pulled up in front of her father's two story home.

"Ya know…I thought that you might try to haul me out to some back road and get in my pants tonight?" she said simply as she turned her blue eyes in his direction.

Dean felt his own face go hot as she saw right through his façade, and he quickly coughed and turned his face away for a moment to cover his surprise.

"Yeah…well…I guess you don't know me as well as you think do you?"

She chuckled at that, "No…I guess I don't."

She reached out and placed his hand gently on his arm, pulling his gaze back around to her smiling face. Dean tried to smile in return but it came out as more of a grimace as he felt a distinct tightening in his jeans, God she is beautiful. He thought as she leaned toward him and gently placed her lips against his. Dean sunk into the kiss unlike any other he had ever had, and he had had a lot at this point, but this was different somehow…more pure and genuine that anything he had ever felt before.

And his red blooded American teenage self-did what any teenage boy would do, he promptly panicked.

Dean pulled away from CJ suddenly and slid back to his side of the car, "Hey your dad is blinking the lights, you better head in."

She looked more closely at him and smiled as she recognized his reaction for what it actually was. "Dean…take me to that dark dirt road?"

He swallowed hard as her meaning sunk into his lust crazed brain. "You sure?" He couldn't believe that he was asking, but he needed to know…was this what she really wanted?

She slid across the seat and placed her hand gently on his knee, "Yes."

That was all the convincing his teenage libido needed and put the car in drive and headed off to the canyon road.

They had left one week later, and Dean had never heard from CJ again, although to be fair, it's not like he could leave a forwarding address. She had never faded from his mind though, not like the others had…there had been something there with CJ. His father had later told him that he had told them what their job was, and that her father had helped find and destroy the spirit that was killing people.

Dean had thought about her on and off over the years, he had wondered what could have happened if he hadn't been forced to move on. Lisa was as close to that feeling as he had ever come again after Malad, but she hadn't been his first love, and that was something that couldn't be replaced.

Sam had only asked about CJ once, in all the years since and Dean had promptly cuffed him behind the ears and told him to 'leave it alone'. Sam had had actually listened to Dean on that occasion, and had decided not push when he saw the pain simmering just beneath the surface of Dean's green eyes.

But now, 12 years later they were returning to that sleepy town in Idaho for another hunt, and Dean was scared shitless. He didn't know if she was still alive, or if she would even remember him the way he remembered her. Sam was currently staring out the window at the passing country side, admiring the beauty of the mountains in the spring.

So much had happened over the last decade, he had been to hell, been to purgatory, and he had saved the world from an apocalypse that it didn't even know it was suffering from.

"So tell me about this hunt?" he asked to distract himself from this line of thinking.

Sam pulled his gaze from the window and pulled out the folder with the newspaper clippings and other pertinent information stuffed inside.

"Well…It kinda reminds me of that first hunt we went on in California after I left Stanford…" Sam pulled in a deep breath as he continued. "People disappearing, no sign of the bodies."

"Okay. Anything else poindexter?" Sam's furrowed at the jibe, but he chose to let it go, he knew that Dean was struggling a bit being back in this area. Sam knew about CJ, he also knew the depth of the connection that had been between the sheriff's daughter and his brother. That type of connection was not one that was easily forgotten, Sam knew from personal experience.

"So…the police station?" Dean asked, he was kinda hoping that Sam had a different plan, but he knew that was the best place to start the search.

"Yup." Sam answered simply.

"Okay…police station it is." Dean said as turned left at the light and headed in the direction of the sheriff's station at the end of the block.

When they pulled into a parking spot, Dean was surprised to see that not much had changed in this sleepy little town in the middle of no-where USA. The building was the same off color grey that it had been a decade ago, the paint maybe a little more peeled, but generally the same.

Dean schooled his features as they walked into the station and over to the desk officer. "Agent's Sambora and Toll." They each pulled their FBI credentials from their pockets and showed them to the man behind the desk.

"FBI huh?" He snorted. "What's the FBI doing in Malad?"

Sam spoke up first, "Checking out the disappearances that have been happening the last few weeks."

The cop sighed and put his paperwork on the desk, "You're gonna wanna talk to the chief. She's in the office at the end of that hall." Both men glanced in the direction that he was pointing.

"Thanks." Sam managed as Dean moved off toward the hallway.

He caught up with Dean just as he started to knock on the closed door, "Come in." a distinctly feminine voice called from inside.

Dean twisted the knob and motioned for Sam to step inside first, and then followed. He turned to close the door missing the way Sam suddenly shuddered to a stop, staring slack jawed at the woman behind the desk. When Dean turned he saw the reason for his brothers abrupt halt.

There behind the desk sat one CJ Wilkins. She stood slowly as recognition flooded her face and suddenly a mask slammed into place as she schooled her own features into a blank look of interest and nothing more.

"Dean…Winchester?" She moved around the desk and sat on just the edge as she regarded the two men in front of her. "Which makes you little Sammy?" She smiled slightly, "Not so little anymore are you Sam?" She asked as she held her hand out to shake his.

Sam managed to find his voice first as Dean looked like he had been hit in the head with a rock, "Uh…no…not so little anymore. How are you CJ?"

She nodded and her gaze drifted to Dean's still stunned expression, "Good…I'm good." She raised an eyebrow as Dean finally found his voice, "CJ, what are you doing here?"

"I should think that's pretty obvious as this is my office." Her voice was even and had matured into a warm velvety version of what it been when she was 16. Her eyes however, were still guarded as she regarded this man from her past.

"Investigating the disappearances." He managed around the emotion that he was fighting to control. This was no better than when he had run into Lisa all those years ago…

"Right…I knew that was probably going to get the attention of a hunter, just never thought it would be you two." She drew in a deep breath and turned from them to pull a file from her desk and hand it to Sam. "This everything I have on the case at this point, looks to be a spirit, but honestly…I'm not sure what the hell it is."

Sam opened the file and started reading as CJ moved back to sit behind her desk and sip at the cup of coffee she had abandoned.

Dean took the moment of silence to look around her office in interest, he immediately saw a picture of CJ with two little boys, they looked like twins.

"Kids?" he asked, trying to sound only moderately interested in her answer.

A flash of pain ghosted across her blue eyes before she again schooled her expression into one of quiet calm, "Yeah…two boys. Twins actually."

Dean inhaled sharply, "How old?"

She met his eyes with a steely determination, "12…they're 12 this year."

Dean's face took on a haunted expression as he mentally did the math and then came an unlikely conclusion. He brought his eyes back to meet hers as he silently asked a question that he couldn't vocalize with Sam in the room. All the air suddenly rushed from his lungs as she gave an almost imperceptible nod. Confirming one of his greatest fears, that he had in his stupid youth knocked up some girl and then disappeared into the sunset, like some shit kicking cowboy.

"Sam, I need to step out for a minute." He barely managed, as his stomach rolled with nausea, to grasp the door and shove it open as he looked for the men's room with panic building in waves in his chest.

No…no…no I didn't do that…not to her.

CJ watched as understanding flared through Dean's confused green eyes and he made a grab for the door as his face drained of all its color.

She sighed internally, she had come to grips with his absence from her son's lives a decade ago, to be fair, she had tried to find him when she knew she was pregnant, but the Winchester's had just disappeared. Her father had never known the identity of the boy's father, she had never told anyone. The only thing that her son's knew was that their father was a good man and that he couldn't be a part of their lives because his job was so dangerous.

Sam was staring at her in confusion, knowing that he had missed something, something important, but unsure of that could have been. His blue-green eyes bored into her own looking for an answer as his eyes fell to the picture of CJ and two young boys, one of which had longer brown hair and the other with a darker blonde shorter cut.

He gasped audibly as he came to the same conclusion that Dean had reached only moments before. His mouth worked, but no words would come out.

CJ smiled at him and again nodded her answer to the unspoken question in his eyes. "Yes Sam, they're his."

Sam felt like he had been punched in the solar plexus, the air wouldn't move like it was supposed through his body, and he leaned against the door jamb for support.

Finally he found his voice, "They're Dean's?" he asked quietly as he managed to step forward and pick up the picture of the two pre-teen boys smiling at something that camera man had said.

CJ nodded, and waited for Sam to say more. "He thought that he hadn't left anything good anywhere in this world…" he muttered.

"Well…he did," She answered simply, taking the picture and placing it back on the desk.

Sam met her eyes again, "He never knew…did he?"

CJ shook her head 'no', "You left remember. I'm not looking to get anything from your brother; I just thought that he would want to know his sons." She said quietly.

Sam nodded and turned to the door, "Yeah…I'm sure he does…I'm gonna go check on him." She waved at the door in the universal gesture of 'go ahead'.

TBC...