Return of Winchester

Chapter 5 "American Pie"

Dani was sliding the last of the empty solo cups into a large black garbage bag as the first notes of Elton John and Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" started playing from the jukebox. She rolled her eyes. Jason was standing next to it with his phone plugged into the aux cable. Pointing towards her he started mouthing along with the words dramatically.

"No!" She whisper-screamed trying to avoid drawing attention to him. She couldn't help a small laugh from bubbling up. He smiled back at her making the movement bigger and adding more energy.

"Come on." He whispered. "It'll make you feel better."

Dani flicked her eyes warily in Sam's direction.

"What? Worried you'll make a fool out of yourself? He's gonna figure out you're a weirdo at some point. Let it be now." Jason said giving a fairly accurate impression of Patrick Snazzy. The move was something they had dubbed the "Swazzy Hips" After their first viewing of Dirty Dancing at thirteen. Daniella laughed. This drew the room's attention to the little display.

"And here is where the party begins," Hal announced, smiling at the two. "Come on Danella let your hair down. Jewels used to love it when you two performed. It'll make you feel better."

Daniella's eyes shifted briefly to Sam. An encouraging smile graced his face. Jason made his way over to her boogying a little as he did so. He held out his hand to her. She let out a nervous chuckle taking it. He twirled her to his chest. Dani could hear his singing getting louder along with Elton. It reached the point where he was full-on belting like he would have had they been on a stage. When it came to Kiki's part Dani hesitated. It took a little more encouragement before she joined in too. 

Sam leaned forward in the booth. He hadn't really heard Dani sing. The most he had heard of her was when they had been investigating Dani's old singing teacher Gerald before he had kidnapped her and attempted to sell her soul to a demon. The only other times had been a few short little bursts of lines when she had sung along to her music in the shower when she thought he was out when they had gone hunting together. Watching her now he could see her walls being let down. It surprised him to see. Sam had been spending months trying, and often failing to chip away at them. The fact that it had only taken a few moments to completely pull them down had him in awe.

His thoughts were whisked away when Jason pulled away from Dani moving one of the chairs into a rehearsed position like they had done this before. The two started dancing around the room using the furniture to propel themselves off for certain moves. Hal leant into Sam's ear.

"This is the routine that Jewels had them do for...an event that she was in."

"It's good." Sam beamed. He found that everyone in the room had brightened. Molly and Hal smiled wider than he had ever seen them.

"Got a hell of a voice doesn't she?" Molly asked. Almost encouraging him to admire her, not that he needed help with it.

The song ended. Dani and Jason fell into a puddle of laughter.

"God we haven't done that in years." Jason gasped trying to replace the air in his lungs.

"Yeah. You got rusty dude."

Jason laughed at the comment shoving her gently. Hal watched them. Dani looked over to her uncle as if for approval. It made Hal happy to see that she had come to trust Sam enough to want his approval. He checked his watch, caught Jason's eye and mouthed something to him. Jason nodded in reply.

"Well we should probably start wrapping this up it's getting late and you and Jason will want to have your movie night," Hal announced standing. Jason flicked through the playlist on his phone labelled "Jewels' Favourites" until he reached "American Pie - Don McLean" The first lines filled the room. "We have a tradition to uphold." Hal held out a hand to her. Dani offered a sad smile as she took his hand. Hal pulled her to him. They swayed gently as the slow introduction played.

This had been Jewels' favourite song. She played it constantly, if she was there Don McLean followed. It had been one of the first songs Jewels had played and taught Dani to play on guitar.

As the music picked up Hal started to sway Dani a little faster. He twirled her out earning himself a laugh from her. Hal had often gone swing dancing as a young man and it was still his favoured form of dance. Swinging Dani in and out weaving her through his arms and back it lifted the room's spirits. Part way through the song he reached out and grabbed Jason's hand to pull him to Dani. He took up his daughter's hand and began dancing with her. The room whirled with dancing. Occasionally they swapped partners with Jason dancing with his mother. When the song began to slow again Dani was pulled back to Hal. She buried her face in his chest as the tears started to fall freely. As the song slowed the mood dropped with it. Sobs rocked quietly through her body. 

It occurred to Sam as he watched on, his heart squeezing at the sight of his Niece's grief that the words of the song reminded him of his brother. He had heard the song many times before but he had never really listened to the words. He missed Dean more deeply than he had in a while. Sam had never really let himself greave that loss. Not long after Dean passed he poured all of his time into hunting and more recently Daniella. He had never allowed himself time to even confront the loss, not in the way he knew he needed to. Sam realised that he needed something like this, like what Dani's family had for Jewels. A time allocated to feeling the grief and morn without feeling guilty about it, a reason not to run from it. He let the tears fall, the ones that he had held onto for so long. He let himself feel the loss. He pressed his hand over his eyes. The Hunter felt a hand on his upper arm. Looking up, his eyes glistening. Dani had knelt down in front of him.

"Sorry, sorry." It came out as almost a whimper. Whipping the tears away with the back of his hand he attempted to berate himself. "I'm supposed to be here for you right now-"

"No. Sam, it's okay. I've had time to deal, really." His niece's cheeks were still wet. She leaned up to wrap her arms around his shoulders squeezing gently. "You're aloud to feel it, you have every right to." She uttered gently. His arms slowly wrapped around her waist. The two sat there, not talking just being there for one another, which is all either of them needed.

AN: Hey guys! I'm back from England so I should have more time to write now. More regular updates to come. Also, the next part will be a lot happier. There will be a return of a certain character in the parts to come so stay tuned. 

Write soon

Meg ❤️❤️❤️😊