I stared into Jody's eyes as she hit speed dial on her cell phone. In the dead silence, I could hear the ringing on the other end. Finally, someone picked up. "Dean?" she said, with forced cheerfulness. "Yeah, if you're not busy, you and Sam need to high tail it on over here to my place. The sooner the better."

I heard only faint mumbling and watched as Jody listened intently. "Uh, no... no, this is way more important than Mardi Gras in March." Another slight pause, with a grimaced face. "Dean, I'm serious. Now." She took the phone away from her ear, shaking her head, hit the "end" button, and looked at me. "Ok," she said, eyebrows raising a bit. "Now we wait."

----------------------------------------

We were sitting in the living room when we heard Baby growl into the driveway. Jody got up, walked to the window, and pulled the curtain back. It had been dark for a long time, but her street light shone brightly enough to reveal Dean's prized Impala. She glanced at me and nodded her head. I heard two car doors slam, so I knew that Sam had come too. Good. I needed it to be the both of them. For sure.

Jody had the door open, smiling out at Sam and Dean, and I saw Dean walk in the door first. As he leaned in with a smile and a hug for Jody, his eyes immediately found me and his smile faded away. "Who's this?" he said, one side of his mouth curled up in a mock grin. It looked remarkably childish, yet incredibly familiar all at the same time.

I stood with a timid smile on my face. How was I going to tell him? And Sam? Jody had fastened her hands on her hips with a sigh. "Well," she sighed, throwing one hand up and back down again, "it's interesting you should ask. We've just spent the last two days together, but I'm pretty sure the three of you need to sit down for this little powwow all by yourselves." Raising her eyebrows again, with a click of her tongue, she patted Dean hard on the shoulder and strolled out of the room, her boot heels announcing an even-paced departure into some inner area of the house.

"Hey," I offered timidly with my hands stuffed into the back pockets on my jeans, as Dean shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He and Sam were both standing still just inside the door, looking at me with puzzled expressions.

Sam smiled finally, with a slight nod that caused his hair to fall into his eyes, and Dean extended his finger towards me with a very discerning look. "This had better really be better than Mardi Gras in March," he said sternly, "because I left hot babes and cold drinks cause Jody said so."

I licked my lips, crossed my arms, and nervously stuffed my hands into my pockets again, with a bit of a shrug. "I... I think it is," was my honest reply, "but I'm not sure where to start."

Sam moved around in front of Dean now, with a deep breath, and extended his arm towards me a little. "Okay," he said breathily, "how about this? Um, you just start wherever you're comfortable starting?" With a short nod, he looked back at Dean, and then at me again. "Sound good?"

As if on cue, Dean and I both nodded and shrugged at the same time, and then followed suit by furrowing our brows at the same time. I quickly shook it off, knowing I had to blow the lid off my arrival, the hows, the whys, and all the other questions that were sure to come. "Ok," I said, turning to sit in the armchair again. "Please, guys, sit down. This might take a while to get out."

They both made their way to the couch beside the chair I was sitting in, and both stared at me, expectantly. I slid my hand up and down my knees and honestly tried to figure out where to start. "So... I know a lot about you guys," I started, "but you don't know anything about me. To be honest, there's absolutely no way to start this thing that isn't going to sound like total BS, but that's the hand we're dealt, right? Right. So... so I'm just gonna not try to find a legitimate place to start, and I'm just gonna come right out with it."

As I was nodding my own approval to myself with those last words, Dean nodded along with me, never taking his eyes off me. With an exasperated roll of his eyes, he said, "Well, start already!"

I took a long, slow, deep breath and sat up just a little straighter, tossing my hair back over my shoulder. "Sam. Dean. I'm Phoenix and..." I let my voice trail off, staring back and forth, from one to the other, for just a few moments. I knew Dean wouldn't be put off for much longer, so I finally just spit it out. "And I'm your sister."

Dean made a noise that sounded like he had coughed and laughed at the same time, and that faint smile made it back onto his face. He was blinking slowly, his smile ever-widening. "Look, kid, I don't know who you think you are, but we don't have a sister." He looked at me now with dead fierceness in his eyes. "We have been through - and I say this quite literally - hell and back. Not once, not one time in our lives has there ever been a sister, or even the mention of a sister. So whatever it is you're trying to pull, it ain't gonna work. Now, who are you, really?"

I tried to muster a smile, but it never fully developed. My heart was in my throat and no amount of swallowing would make it go down. Sam was sitting wide-eyed, not daring to say a word. He seemed quite intent on finding out what my next play would be after Dean's words landed flat in front of me. All I could do at the moment was purse my lips, turn my palms up, and shrug a bit. "I... I know it sounds crazy, Dean, I do. But... if you'll just let me tell you what I know... or at least what the truth is for ME. It might not mean anything to you, but you have to remember, this is new territory for me too." I kept my eyes focused on Dean, knowing he would have to be the one I convinced to listen. I knew Sam would listen, but at this moment it was important to me that Dean understood.

He narrowed his eyes. "I'll let you tell whatever you have to tell, but there's no way you're convincing me you're any sister of ours. A made-up distraction of some demon maybe, but not blood. No way."

Again, I sighed and hoped for the best. All I could do was tell them what I knew to be true. If they believed me, great. If they didn't, still great, but not as cool.

"Ok," I said finally, rubbing my left palm with my right thumb. Nervous habit. "You guys remember when... Dad wasn't with you guys? Like, you didn't know where he was?" They both nodded silently. "Well... and I know this sounds crazy but... he was with me and..."

Dean cut me off by thrusting up his hand, "Whoa," he said, "Can you prove that?"

I wrinkled up my whole face and coughed out a bit of disgust. "Dean! No! I can't prove that!" Now it was my turn to throw my hands up. "He's gone and there's absolutely no way to do that... now listen." As he raised his eyebrows and drew back from me a little, he and Sam exchanged surprised glances and I went on. "Look, Dad had just found me. I still don't know how. Old hunter friend... maybe he had eyes out there waiting, I just don't know. What I do know is that he just showed up on my front porch one day... a front porch he should never have known how to get to... and told me we had to talk.

"Here's the short version of what he told me," Sam and Dean were both on the edge of their seats and neither of them dared to interrupt me, so I went on. "Apparently, Mom got pregnant quick after Sam was born. And they even thought about aborting me. Like... they didn't want to bring any more kids into this life, this nightmare. No more hiding and protecting kids, he said. But they couldn't bring themselves to do it, so they decided early on to give me up as soon as I was born. Just so happened, that was earlier than it was supposed to be. I guess Mom and Dad left you guys with a sitter or something and 'went away' to have me. They picked some old friends of the family, I guess... I still ain't sure about that part, but I guess it doesn't matter now.

"So dad told me all this and said somehow, the word had gotten out about me and that I was in danger. He came to make sure I was safe but to also make sure I stayed that way. So he proceeded to give me a crash course in 'Hunter 101' including all of his life's work, plus your own. I learned it all pretty quick cause... well, I pick stuff up that way. He taught me to fight. He taught me lore and spells and all the stuff I'd need to keep going even if things got crazy. And boy did it! I won't go into all the details right now. I begged him to bring me to you guys and tell you all who I was and let me in on everything, but he wouldn't. He made me swear a thousand times over that I would just stay put. He thought that was what would keep me safest. So I agreed at the time.

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"Just as he was leaving, he told me that if there ever came a time that I needed to... like, really needed to contact you guys... that you probably wouldn't believe me. So, he gave me this..." And with that, I stood up to dig out an artifact from my pocket. It was old. It was worn. But you could tell exactly what it was and you could even read the writing on the back still.

I handed the picture to Dean first. He stared at it for a LOT longer than I thought he would. By the time he passed it to Sam, he had flipped it over, read the back, and covered his mouth with his hand, just staring at the floor. He stayed that way as Sam went through the same motions, but instead of covering his mouth and staring at the floor, his head snapped up to stare directly into my eyes. I hadn't expected it to be him, but he's the one that spoke first. Not directly to me, though, he looked back and forth from me to the picture, to Dean, and then he finally read the back aloud. "Our precious Phoenix, we love you. When the time is right, rise. Love Mom and Dad (John and Mary)" He nearly snorted at the end and looked at Dean, offering him the picture again.

Dean snatched it and looked at me, with more anger than I thought he should have had. "So, you had this doctored up!" he yelled. "It's possible!"

I reached over and snatched the picture back and stood straight up. "Yeah, it is!" I retorted just as loud, much to his surprise. "But I didn't! In fact, I spent a whole week of hell trying to convince myself not to make the trip up here in the first place. So I debated the whole thing for a long time!" I looked at the picture then, tears starting to stream down my face, but I faced him again anyway. He wasn't going to back me down, no sir.

I shook the picture at him. "THIS? This is ALL I have of my real mom and dad. YOU? You had 'em for the time you had 'em! And I'm glad you did! But don't you dare sit there and tell me I'm a liar, or that I went to some kind of crazy lengths to pretend to be your family! I didn't ask John Winchester to walk back into my life, but he did. And for the time he was there, he loved me! He taught me! He protected me! And I don't have to take this kind of abuse from you, Dean!" I spun and snagged my leather jacket off the back of the couch, throwing it over my arm, and took about two steps towards the door before Sam caught my elbow.

"Wait!" he said, half speaking, half breathing. His eyes were teary too as he stared right into my eyes. Dean was on his feet, but I didn't look at him. I stood, silent, waiting for Sam to say whatever parting words he had for me. "Phoenix... listen... you just have to understand, this is a LOT for us to take in." He swallowed hard, glanced at Dean, and focused on me again, with a slight nod. "If you are who you say you are, then hey, yeah... we want t..." He stopped and shook his head, "We need to know you. And know more about the time you spent with dad. Just give us some grace, yeah?" He nodded with wide eyes and waited.

I looked at Dean, who averted his eyes with a quickness, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, hands in his jacket pockets. After more than enough awkward moments of silence, I nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, okay." Then I shrugged and half laughed, a few more tears falling. "Why not?"

We all sat back down again and prepared for a little more vibrant conversation.

After we'd sat back down, no one said a word for what seemed like hours. I was in my head like I always was, and I wondered if they were too. In my head, I was going back over all the arguments I had used to try to convince myself not to come here and introduce myself to my brothers. Argument #1, #2, and all the rest... any of them could have been valid. Why should I? What would I gain? What would they gain? Would they believe me? And what in the world would happen if I finally convinced them of the truth? That I was just as much a child of John and Mary Winchester as they were! Even more than that, did I really want to live my life as a hunter? Did I want to take those kinds of chances?

I mean, it's not like I really had a choice on those last two. After Dad had left me finally, I guess the word was out. Demon radio, angel radio, hunter gossip, whatever it was, suddenly "Phoenix" was not an unknown name anymore. Well, not to anyone but Sam and Dean Winchester!

After the eternity that it seemed like, Dean finally leaned over with his left palm on his left knee. "Okay, so what now, kid?" he asked with a very snappy tone and a matching expression. "What d'you want from us now?"

Sam jabbed him with a quick, "Dean!", his eyes wide, yet lost on Dean because he never glanced his way. "Come on," Sam hissed anyway, as Dean stayed laser-focused on me.

I threw my palms up again, with the same exasperated expression I'd used before, but weaker this time, shaking my head. "So, I'm supposed to want something? What, like protection? Weapons? A place to stay, maybe?" I shook my head and sat up proud and straight. "Let me make one thing abundantly clear...brother..." (I may have stressed and extended the word "brother" more than I should have.) "I was alone when Dad showed up on the porch of my cabin. I was alone after he left. And when I leave here, I'll be more than happy to go back to being alone again. Okay? Happy now?" I looked from Dean to Sam, still seeing the same confused yet concerned expression on his face, and back to Dean again, who was still scowling. "See, you act like your life has been all diesel and skid marks, but you don't know me. I only came here because the one thing Dad instilled in me in the short time that he was with me, that no one else in my life has ever been able to do, is that family actually matters. Blood matters." I stared into Sam's eyes one more time to say, "Even if it's tainted."

I don't know what the look in his eyes meant. Maybe he thought that I meant it in a derogatory manner, or maybe he was just realizing exactly how much I really knew. From the corner of my eye, I saw the same thing settle on Dean's face too and I realized I might have slipped my foot in the door with him after all. I really hadn't expected to. But still, I couldn't not tell them. And there was still more that I couldn't not tell them. I just had to keep telling.

This time I focused my eyes and words on Sam. I knew he would listen to actually hear, and not listen to find fault. Right then, I understood that Dean had every right to be nervous and careful and untrusting. Because that's exactly what I was when John showed up out of the clear blue. So I'd talk more to him later. But Sam had been nothing but kind so far, and I wanted to let him know his tainted blood didn't make me any less interested in pursuing his brotherhood.

"Listen, Sam..." I started, "I know about what happened and I know the issue it's been over time. But that doesn't make you not you, you know?" He took a deep breath and gave a quick nod. "I'm sure I don't know everything, but Dad made it clear, that was no reason to give up on family... treat them differently. And when I said that a minute ago, that's what I was trying to say. I wasn't saying it to be mean."

He seemed to appreciate that and gave me a nod and about half a smile. "Good!" he breathed, nodding more this time. "Yeah that's... that's good." We stared at one another for a few more minutes and then I turned back to Dean.

I cleared my throat. "Remember when you found the note in John's journal about finding Missouri?" Now, his face registered a different kind of interest, but still wary of how I might have known. They'd encountered plenty of demons that knew too much. In fact, I started to think that if I really spilled the beans, they might start believing that I was possessed too. But what could I do? If I didn't let this play out at least partially like I'd expected it to, which way would I turn? I didn't know of anything else to say. Other than shutting it down and walking away, like I'd already intended to do until Sam stopped me, this was my only route. I was nodding through the thoughts in my head, and this time, Dean hadn't stopped me or rushed me along. So I went on in my own time. "Yeah, John was there," I went on as his brows furrowed again. "He and Missouri were talking about how strong Sam's powers had gotten and how they couldn't believe he hadn't felt Dad's presence there, especially after realizing that the entity was still in the house you guys lived in when Mom died. Even Missouri said she hadn't felt that. But Sam did." I stopped and paused, just to see if either would have anything to say, but I guess they were having a little more trouble processing that than I thought they would. "I was there too," I told them after a moment or so. "I had refused to let Dad leave without me that day, and he said he was just stopping by to see an old friend. Turned out, he was on the trail of the same thing you guys were."

I stopped and turned directly back to Sam again. "And for the record, I'm really super sorry about Jess," I told him, hoping it wouldn't hurt too much. I knew how he felt about the whole thing but I knew I'd spent a lot of nights losing sleep thinking about what it must have been like for him, losing his Mom and his fiancé the same way. "There's no way to twist that that don't suck." He was staring at the floor but nodded to let me know he'd heard.

Turning back to Dean, I leaned back a little more in the seat, waiting to see if he was interested in knowing anything else. And of course, he was. There was this telling expression on his face that said he was trying to figure it all out on his own, but there were holes in the story. He didn't want to ask, but he knew he had to. And I waited.

After some tortuous few moments, he took a deep breath. "So, you know all about Mom and Dad." It was a statement. He knew I did.

"Yep."

"And you know about Jess." Another statement.

"Yep."

He spat out the next statement with a slight turn of his head, rolling his eyes. "Obviously you know about Jody and the girls."

"Yep."

"Bobby?" he asked. I just nodded this time. "Does he know about you?"

I laughed out loud and I think we all knew why. "Listen, I'm not about to stroll into Bobby Singer's junkyard and announce myself like that." I was shaking my head but stopped long enough to stare directly into his eyes now. "I don't think you understand how hard it was for me to come here."

We stared at each other for a while and though I didn't see his countenance soften any, I think his spirit did. He finally glanced to the floor, over to Sam, and then back at me. "Yeah," he kind of growled. "Well, we'll see what happens. It's gonna take more than a picture and a few good stories to make me really believe all this." He was sitting up straight, demanding respect, so I gave it to him. "Cause if you know anything at all," he added, with a pointing finger, "you know we've been through all that before."

I bit my bottom lip and tried not to tear up. "Oh yeah," I said finally. My tears betrayed me and I think that's finally when he let himself believe I might be real. "I know, Dean." My voice was as ragged as my emotions by now. "I am so sorry to just spring myself on you guys this way but...well, I kinda had to." I wasn't looking at him anymore, but I knew he was paying attention. "I didn't expect you to believe me at all, even though Jody did. Well," I threw a hand up in the air and let it fall again, "at least I think she did. I get it. I'm an outcast." I met his gaze again this time and shook my head a little. "But doesn't that make me fit even more?"

His contemplation was silent. Was that good or bad? Did it make me come off as more credible or less? Only time would tell.

**This is a work of pure fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, dead or alive, is completely unintended. The cast of Supernatural, background stories, and storylines belong to the writers, producers, directors, etc., of that series. No copyright infringement is intended.