This is my first fanfiction. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it. If you do like it, I'm going to try to put up a new chapter once a week. I'm not sure if it will actually happen, but that's my goal. Oh, and this chapter is actually much longer than most of them will be (I think). They are definitely not all the same length (or even close to it sometimes).
The strains of Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" filled the bar as Conan sat down on one of the stools. The bartender sidled over to her with a questioning look. Conan sighed and rested her chin in her hand.
"Got any straight vodka, Jimmy?"
He grimaced in sympathy. "One of those days, Sweetie?"
"Oh yeah," she said with feeling. "Oh, and put it on Jax's tab, would you please?" He grinned and saluted her.
"Want to talk about it?" he asked as he poured her a shot. "Where to start?" Conan tipped the glass back, drank the contents, and touched it back to the counter with a cough and some squinting. Jimmy went to pour more, but she covered the glass with her hand.
"Better not. I don't have a head for alcohol. Shouldn't have even had that much. Besides, the day wasn't that bad."
"Tell me." He walked around the counter and cocked his hip against the empty seat to her right. A grumpy old man a few seats down was waving angrily to get his attention, but Jimmy ignored him completely. When she lifted her eyebrows at him, he shrugged and smiled innocently at her. She laughed, not believing the act at all. "Come on, Chickie," he wheedled. "You know you want to."
"We'll start with the harder stuff. Max is sick."
Jimmy pulled her in for a hug. "How bad?"
"Not too. Just a cold, but he's throwing everything up. He can't keep anything down, and he's lost a few pounds. I took him to the vet this afternoon, and they said they were going to try iv therapy and see if that works. I have to leave him in overnight."
He rubbed her back before letting her go. "Okay, now the rest."
"It was just Samantha being a pain in my ass. She wouldn't go away, wouldn't leave Seth alone. Trisha got a little fed up with it and, umm . . ." Conan rubbed her neck sheepishly. "She might have muttered something to me about shooting Samantha in the knees. At least Conor is dead, so he can't bother me."
Jimmy stared at her for a moment then burst into laughter.
Conan frowned at him. "I'm glad you find that so amusing. Do you know how hard it is to control those unruly kids? It's practically impossible!" When Jimmy didn't stop laughing, she glared and turned her back to him. Unfortunately, the man on her other side happened to be looking at her with a funny expression. She groaned inwardly and cleared her throat. "Umm . . ." 'Just how crazy did I sound just now?' she asked herself. Another silent groan and a prayer that next time she told anyone about her day, she would check to make sure they were semi-alone first. Because this man with the short brown hair and the hard, green eyes was probably wondering why she had been let out of the looney bin. "I'm not crazy," she said cautiously.
"Lady, I didn't say you were." His voice was kind of gravelly, like an unpaved road. It went a curious shiver down her spine.
"Your face was saying something like it." 'Way to go, Conan. Tell the man what his own thoughts are. Great first impression!'
"My face was saying you have some very . . . interesting – " he said the word carefully "– kids." He lifted both eyebrows.
'Subtle fishing, dude.' But, for some reason, she didn't care. Deciding to go along with that description for the time being, she nodded. "Interesting –" she mimicked him "– is a good way of putting it.
After a moment's thought, she thrust out her hand and relaxed her shoulders. "I'm Conan, technically childless."
The man blinked in surprise and shook her hand carefully. "Dean. What does technically childless mean?"
She laughed. "It means I have no real, human children. Just a Pit bull named Max."
"Then if you don't mind my asking, who are Samantha, Seth, Trisha, and Conor?"
Conan searched his face for any kind of hidden agenda, but when she saw none, she became suspicious. His face was too bland, too expressionless. She'd seen the look before.
'I definitely need to talk quieter next time. Especially if a hunky guy is listening.'
"Fictional characters of a book I'm reading." It was her fallback half-lie. After all, she read as she wrote.
She hear a snort to her right and turned to see Jimmy had gone back around the counter and was leaning on it, unabashedly eavesdropping on their conversation. She glared at him, and when he just smiled innocently at her, she covertly flipped him off.
When she turned back to Dean, she realized by the amused look on his face that she had not been covert enough. She opened her moth to say something – what, she didn't know – when someone called her name.
"Jax!" she called back without looking away from Dean.
"Are you drinking on my tab again?" Jax sounded put out, but Conan knew he wasn't. He was always wanting her to loosen up a little, have a few drinks, maybe even make out with a hot guy.
'I might even be tempted with Dean,' she thought before Jax nudged her hard in the stomach with his elbow.
"Conan, who is this dashing fellow sitting next to you?"
"Dibs!" Jimmy yelled. He had moved down the bar to finally help out the old man before he stormed out of the building. Jimmy had yet to meet a person he couldn't charm; young or old, male or female, if he tired, he could wrap anybody around his finger.
Jax rounded on him. "Shut your pie hole, or you won't be getting any tonight! Nor any pie!"
Jimmy looked him up and down derisively then said with a careless fling of the fingers, "Fine. Good luck finding someone willing to have you because I sure as hell won't take you back now. Not now that you've threatened to take away my pie."
Jax glared accusingly at him. "You dibbed the man I had my eye on for Conan. I had every right to take away your pie."
"Pie? What kind of pie?" Dean's voice cut through the drama.
Jax turned back to Dean with an amused smile playing around his mouth. "Do you like pie?"
"I love pie." Dean licked his lips unconsciously. "What kind of pie?" he repeated.
"I'll tell you what," Jax said as he fished a cell phone out of his tight pocket, muttering, "What time is it?"
"Five-thirty," Conan spouted, scribbling away on a napkin with a pen she had pulled out of her hair.
"Thanks," Jax said to her. He peaked over her shoulder to see what she was doing before she slapped a hand over it and glared at him. He grinned and turned back to Dean. "Have you eaten dinner yet?"
"No. Why? You're not asking me out, are you?"
"For me? No." He laughed. "I'm taken," he said, pointing a finger at Jimmy. "But for Conan? Yes." Conan sputtered behind him, but Jax ignored her. "Would you like to eat dinner at our place? I have a cherry pie sitting on the counter, waiting to be eaten."
Dean looked between Conan and Jax, the first of whom was blushing a deep, dark red.
"Umm." Dean chuckled uncomfortably. Conan sighed to her napkin and muttered something under her breath that sounded like, "Poor idiot doesn't know what to do with the stupid pimp. Might as well save the damsel in distress." She glanced at him for a moment before she focused on Jax.
"Leave the poor boy alone. He doesn't know what you're asking him to get into. I doubt you even know. I'll grab him the slice of pie I have in my car, you'll leave the dibs of Dean to Jimmy, and, if Jimmy's okay with it, you can keep flirting with his man. If not, you can go with me to the car and wait – in the passenger seat – for me to run the pie inside."
Jimmy walked back to them, whistling along with the song now playing.* "Conan, because you are so amazing," – he stared pointedly at Jax, who huffed in disgust at all the butt-kissing – "I will hand over my dibs to you if . . ." He paused dramatically. ". . . You save me a giant slice of pie before the pig standing on your other side eats it all. I'm afraid I won't be getting home until late. I have to close tonight." He batted his eyelashes pleadingly.
Jax scoffed at him. "Stop sucking up to her, you little con artist."
Jimmy smirked at him and stood up straight, coming to his full height of 6'3". "Who are you calling little, 5'6"?"
Jax steamed, and they started arguing in a heated, loving way. It was a common occurrence in their relationship, and it always brought a small smile to Conan's face when she listened to them bicker half-heartedly.
She slid off her stool and ran out to her car to grab the pie slice. While there, she saw a black, 1967 Chevy Impala park next to her Subaru. She waved to the cute guy with long brown hair driving the old car, and he waved back.
She jogged back inside and set the pie down in front of Dean with a flourish. "And there you go. One slice of cherry pie for the man with the black necklace. Very nice, by the way. It matches the whole 'bad boy' vibe you throw off."
Dean laughed. "Thanks. I think."
"No problem," she said, dusting off her shoulders as if in a job well done.
She shoved Jax out of the way and claimed her stool back. "Jimmy?"
"Yes, Sweetie?" He was momentarily distracted from his bickering with Jax.
"Did you by any chance serve anyone here other than grumpy man and me?"
Jimmy blushed slightly even though he knew she was only asking out of curiosity. "Nope. I'm sure they don't need anything. Do you, Dean?"
"Umm, well I did have a couple questions, actually. I was going to ask you before, but you were busy talking to Conan when I came in."
"Oo, you have some questions for me? Well, let me see. I'm 27, Aquarius, 6'3", originally from New York and other places, and am currently in a relationship." He pouted for a second, staring at Dean with dramatized longing before Jax snapped his fingers in front of the taller man's face. "Oh, yes. Pardon me, Dean, meet my boyfriend, Jax. Jax, meet your would-be competition if I wasn't in love with you. And Conan didn't have dibs."
"I never actually agreed with your deal," Conan muttered.
"You didn't say no." Jimmy smiled at her, batting his eyelashes for full effect.
She humphed but smile at him in agreement.
Jimmy just smirked and buffed his nails in accomplishment.
"Dean!" a voice yelled from across the room.
"Over here, Sammy." Dean turned towards the voice calling to him.
Conan turned also and was somewhat surprised to see the man from the Impala walk up. He was much taller standing than he was sitting down.
"Sammy, this is Conan, Jimmy, and Jax. Guys, this is my brother Sam." The guys nodded to each other.
Conan smiled softly at the giant. His returning smile was sweet, almost innocent looking, but his eyes were harder, like he had recently gone through horrendous amounts of pain. But he was a survivor. They shook hands, and Conan knew he was studying her, measuring her as she had just done him.
"It's nice to meet you," he said and let go of her hand. He turned to Dean and said stiffly, "Did you find anything out?"
"Not yet. I was just getting around to it."
"Are these the questions you wished to ask me?" Jimmy asked curiously.
"Uh, yes. So, umm, what do you know about Corey Johnson, the girl who died two days ago?"
The trio of friends were silent and stared at Dean with unblinking eyes.
"Why are you asking?" Conan was quiet, but there was an underlying menace in her voice.
Dean and Sam pulled out their badges, and Sam said, "We're FBI, and we'd really like to close this case."
Conan's head tilted to the side. "How long have you been working on it? You sound tired of being here."
"We got here a couple of hours ago," Dean said.
"Why does the FBI care about it?" Jax piped up from behind Conan. One of his hands was sitting on her shoulder, and the other was being tightly gripped by Jimmy's hand.
"We were in the next town over, and since we were so close and this case sounded so familiar to the one we were working on, the Bureau sent us to check it out."
Conan frowned inwardly, but shrugged off the niggling suspicion that something wasn't right. She lifted her hand and covered her friends' with it in silent support.
Jimmy cleared his throat. "Umm, well, she was kind of my ex-girlfriend."
"Oh," Dean said. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Jimmy said with a strained smile.
"Bitch deserved it," Conan muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Sam asked sharply.
"I said the bitch deserved it," she enunciated clearly.
Dean frowned at the venom in her words and expression. It wasn't aimed at them, though, and he realized that.
"Don't speak ill of the dead, Conan," Jimmy said quickly and crossed himself.
Conan snapped her mouth shut, but her eyes still held fires of anger.
"Conan," Jax whispered. He flexed his hand under hers, and she realized she was squeezing too hard. She relaxed and let out a slow breath. Unbeknownst to her, Sam heard and saw it all.
"She was an ugly girl to everyone but especially to Jimmy while they were together," she said in a quiet voice.
"Any particular reason why?" Sam asked. He had pulled out a small notebook and was scribbling something in it.
"Because she was a judgmental bitch who thought herself above everybody and she hated bisexuals and/or homosexuals."
Dean frowned. "Didn't she know before the relationship?"
"I didn't know until she introduced me to Jax. Before that incident, they were sort of friends," Jimmy said.
"If she was such a bitch then why did you get in a relationship with her?" Dean asked with a frown.
"She was very flexible if you know what I mean." Jimmy shrugged. "And I was lonely and she was nice before we got together."
"Mmm, the flexible thing." Dean looked like he was thinking back on a good memory. "Very nice."
Conan experienced a surprising pang of hurt and sadness at his expression. 'I'm flexible,' she thought. 'What the hell?! Where did that thought come from? And why?'
"Also," Jax cut into her thoughts. "Neither Jimmy nor I were in a very good place at that time."
Sam nodded before going on. "Is there anyone you know who might have wanted to kill her? Friends? Enemies? Co-workers?" he asked, glaring at Dean.
"Everyone," Jimmy stated.
"Hmm, well, do you know what she was doing before she died? We know that she was last seen in here arguing with you."
"Are you saying that Jimmy is a suspect?" Conan frowned at Sam.
"It's a possibility," he said after a moment. He shifted uncomfortably as she glared at him without blinking.
"No," she said distinctly. "It's not. She was threatening him for cheating on her with Jax – which he didn't do, and she knows this because Jax was in Chicago the whole time trying to move here with me. She threatened to sic 'the beasts of hell' on him for his betrayal. When he just shrugged, she stomped out, muttering something about calling . . . Crowley, I think it was. And that, gentlemen, is all we know."
"Okay, well, thank you for your time. Call us if you think of anything else." Sam flicked closed his notebook and looked up at them with a forced smile.
Conan turned back to the counter, pulling out a pen and a loose piece of paper from a bag sitting at the foot of her stool. She scribbled something on it and tucked the pen into her back pocket.
"Touch the pen and you die, Jax," she said without looking up. She turned her attention to Dean and handed him the paper. "Call me sometime," she said with a small smile.
He stared at her intently for a moment with a look in his green eyes that she couldn't decipher.
"I'll do that." His voice was husky.
Her smile grew larger. "Excellent," she whispered. The world fell away, and she idly wondered if this was what the books were always talking about.
Someone cleared his throat, and Conan blushed furiously. Dean shook his head as if to clear it.
"Soooo," Jax drew out. "Are you ready to go, Lovely?" His hand came down possessively on her shoulder. She frowned at him as he gave Dean a hard look.
"Umm, yeah. Good-bye, Dean. Sam." She nodded to each, grabbed her bag, and led the way out.
There's the first chapter. Reviews would be lovely, though I will warn you that I probably won't change my story. I will, however, correct any mistakes you find and will try to fix and weak points you tell me about. Otherwise (and I don't mean to be rude), I won't change the story line because you asked me.