Hiya, guys!
This is a one-shot I've wanted to do for a while, and it's taken me forever to finish it and actually be happy with the end result. If you're smart, you'll have figured out who it's about just by the title. If not, you'll soon know.
It doesn't really have a specific time frame connected to any of my stories, for, like most of my one-shots, it's made up of flashbacks, but the beginning takes place sorta at the beginning of Chapter 27: Mama, We're All Gonna Die of I'm Nothing Without You. It's right as Gari and the boys are about to leave Ella's, and Gari and Sam had their big fight (you know the one) the night before, and Ella and Dean had their sorta big fight (then made up very well).
I'm just gonna leave it at that, and I'll be all annoying at the end, okay?
I don't own Supernatural or any references to anything else you may recognize. Especially not Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That perfect show belongs to the genius mind of Joss Whedon.
ENJOY.
"See ya, Elle," Gari said, wrapping the younger woman in a tight hug.
Ella returned the hug fiercely, saying, "Be careful out there, 'kay?"
Gari pulled away and smirked. "And where's the fun in that?" Ella gave her a pointed look, and Gari waved a hand dismissively as she headed for the black Impala. "Don't have too much fun while we're gone!" she teased, and she got in the car and shut the door before Ella could reply.
Sam walked past Ella and gave her a small smile as he headed down the steps toward the car. She hated that she wasn't very close to the younger Winchester, but he and Gari always spent the majority of their time together. It was almost impossible to separate them.
Well, until the detox.
But, now, Ella just wasn't comfortable being around Sam. Sure, she knew that her sister had totally messed up, and she couldn't blame Sam for feeling angry and betrayed—she'd felt a little betrayed at first, too—but he was just being mean now. It was obvious how full of guilt and self-loathing Gari was, and she didn't need Sam bitching at her to make it worse. Maybe Ella was a little biased, but she knew that Gari would've forgiven Sam way before now. And wasn't he the one famous for being Mr. Forgiveness? Gari had suffered long enough.
Not that she'd ever confront Sam about it, of course. Confrontation wasn't really her thing. And, besides, Gari would get pissed if she found out that Ella had meddled in her and Sam's issues. Honestly, Ella would be mad if Gari meddled in any of her and Dean's issues, too—not that they had any (well, not after last night).
She supposed it was just best to let the two of them work things out on their own, no matter how much it hurt her to see her sister so upset.
"Elle?" a deep, worried voice said from behind her, and she turned to see Dean. Judging by the look on his face, she figured he'd been trying to get her attention for a while. "You okay?" he asked once he realized she heard him.
A wide smile crossed Ella's face, and the concern in Dean's eyes evaporated instantly to be replaced by that loving expression he saved for her that made her go all warm and fuzzy. God, she loved that man.
Before she met him—and a little while after—she'd resigned herself to a life of one-night-stands in crappy hotel rooms with guys whose names she'd forget the next day. But, slowly but surely, the one-night-stand with Dean had become a regular thing, and that regular thing had become a full-fledged relationship. Now they had a house and two kids and a semi-normal life. It wasn't perfect, but what did she expect? They started their relationship in the middle of the frigging Apocalypse—they were bound to have some problems.
But she wouldn't give up what they had for anything, and she told him that every time they were together. People didn't give her much credit for being observant, but she knew how much it bothered Dean that he was never around. And, while it bothered her, too, she would never tell him. She knew that he wouldn't just give up hunting, and she was okay with that. She just wished that he'd come around more often, and not just for her—for the kids. She wanted Sami and Johnny to grow up knowing they had the best dad in the whole wide world.
And she didn't want them to grow up knowing about the supernatural. But she didn't need to worry about that anymore. She and Dean had cleared it up: work stays in the workplace. There'd be no talk of monsters and demons in her perfect little house, and her babies would grow up thinking that the boogeyman was just a story.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped slightly. "Did I zone out again?" she asked Dean, and he nodded, his brow furrowed worriedly. "Sorry," she said. "Just thinkin' about last night."
Dean's full lips stretched into a suggestive grin, and he murmured, "Which part?"
Ella rolled her eyes and tried to keep a stern expression, but, when he wiggled his eyebrows at her, she cracked up. "Oh, shush," she reprimanded, slapping him lightly on the chest. "The talkin' part, you perv!"
His grin faded slowly. "But I thought—"
"No, no, it's okay!" she interrupted hurriedly. "Everything's okay. We got it cleared up. I was just thinkin' about it. I'm fine."
"You sure?"
Just then, the car horn blared, and the couple turned to see Gari stretched over in the front seat with her hand on the horn. Ella's eyes flicked to Sam, and she noticed that he was trying his hardest to not look amused. Damn, that boy frustrated her to no end.
Dean flipped Gari off, and she responded with another blare of the horn. He turned back to Ella, his expression growing serious once more.
"I'm fine, Dean," Ella said before he could get a word in. "Really. Now get goin'. You got people to save."
He grinned at her and pulled her in for a kiss that left her feeling weak in the knees. "Love ya," he said; then, after briefly pressing his lips to her forehead, he slung his bag over his shoulder and jogged to the Impala.
Ella waved halfheartedly as they drove away, and then she heaved a sigh and went back inside her perfect little house.
~Supernatural~Supernatural~Supernatural~
"Anywhere But Here, Elle," Gari said as she stared up at the ceiling of the old motel room. Greg had left them there last night, and he still wasn't back yet. The older girl kept saying there was nothing to worry about, and she was probably right, but Ella was worried nonetheless. So Gari had taken it upon herself to try to distract the small girl.
"What's that?" Ella asked curiously.
Gari sat up and looked at her. "You're kidding, right?" Ella shook her head. "You've never played Anywhere But Here?" Ella shook her head again. Gari was incredulous. "You mean I—me, the weirdo power girl whose childhood ended at four-years-old—know a game that you don't?"
"Would ya just tell me what it is?" Ella snapped halfheartedly.
Gari grinned. It seemed that she loved to get a rise out of the younger girl. In all honesty, Ella wasn't normally quick to anger, so Gari had apparently decided to take that as a challenge. Ella didn't mind, though. Half the time, she'd pretend to bust a gasket just to make Gari laugh. She didn't laugh enough for someone only seventeen years old.
"It's exactly what it sounds like, you loser," Gari teased. "You choose somewhere you'd rather be—literally 'anywhere but here.'"
Ella frowned. "That doesn't sound real fun."
"That's because I haven't told you the best part!" Gari's multicolored eyes twinkled happily. "You choose a guy, any guy you want, to be there with you, and you make up your own dream scenario!"
"So it's a game of make-believe?" Ella asked skeptically. "Just without actually playin' pretend?"
Gari rolled her eyes. "For someone with such a stunning imagination, you really are selling this game short. C'mon, it's fun! I used to play it all the time!"
"With who?" Ella questioned, hoping to catch Gari off-guard.
The blonde seemed not to hear her, which was often the reaction whenever Ella tried to delve even deeper into her past. They'd discovered her powers when they first found her, but she kept everything else under wraps. It had taken until after their first Christmas together for Gari to tell the Harkens that she'd accidentally killed her father, and any other information was a no-go.
"Okay, I'll start!" Gari scrunched up her face, thinking hard. "Oh! Okay, got it!" She grinned and said, "David Boreanaz…" Ella laughed. Of course that's who Gari had chosen. "If I get to have him as just David Boreanaz, then we'd be laying out on a beach in Italy, the sun shining bright overhead and the waves crashing against the shore and him in a swimsuit with that beautiful body glistening with ocean water." Gari closed her eyes. "Mmm, that sounds nice."
Ella shook her head in exasperation. "Ya said if ya get to have him as 'just David Boreanaz.' What d'ya mean?"
"Well, if I had him as Angel, that would change everything," Gari said, an unspoken duh! at the end of the sentence. "We'd have to go somewhere without much sun for us to be able to do daytime activities. I mean, I wouldn't mind lying around all day and living at night, but still. Maybe somewhere cold and dark, like Alaska! But what is there to do in Alaska…?" The older girl frowned as she thought, but she seemed to be drawing a blank. She finally shrugged. "Either way, I'd sacrifice everything to be with Angel."
Ella raised an eyebrow. "Isn't he cursed?" she asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"So ya could never sleep with him!"
"Our love would be enough!" Gari exclaimed. "And, who knows? Maybe my magical powers could break the curse!"
"You're crazy," Ella laughed. "Y'know Dad would be scandalized if he found out ya were in love with a vampire!"
"He's a good vampire!" Gari defended loyally. "He has a soul, and he does good deeds, and he loves with every single fiber of his being! How many guys do you know like that?" Gari looked at Ella expectantly, and she grinned when Ella just rolled her eyes.
"Okay, my turn," Ella said. She still didn't see the point of the game, but it had been kind of funny watching how into it Gari had gotten. Ella rested her chin on her hand as she thought of something to say. "Hmmm… how about… Fabio?"
Gari snorted with laughter. "Fabio?" she echoed incredulously. "You mean the guy on the cover of all those romance novels? Really, Elle?"
Ella frowned and blushed. "Shut up!" she snapped defensively. "He's pretty! Have ya seen his hair? And his muscles are flawless!"
"That's because they touch him up when they put him on book covers!"
"He's still sexy!"
"Sure, sure, whatever you say," Gari teased, waving her hand dismissively. "Okay, yeah, his hair is pretty awesome. Long hair really does it for me."
"Don't I know it."
And it was true—in almost every town they visited, Gari found some guy with wide, emotional eyes and hair ranging from shaggy to shoulder-length, and he followed her around like the lost puppy he was, only for her to tell him she was leaving days later. She was tall and slim and beautiful, and she carried herself with a sort of grace Ella could only dream of having. It was in that way that she reminded Ella of Milla. Though Milla had brown hair, chocolate eyes, and tan skin as opposed to Gari's platinum blonde locks, hazel eyes, and pale skin, all of their actions were so similar that sometimes Ella was convinced she was staring at Milla instead of Gari.
Ella was the complete opposite. She was short and freckled and, though Gari told her it would go away, she still had some of her baby fat. Her strawberry blonde curls were uncontrollable, and the one time she had tried to straighten them, she'd given up after taking nearly an hour and not even getting halfway finished. And her confidence was sorely lacking, made worse by the way her feet seemed to betray her every five steps. Maybe that was why Greg had taken so long to let her go on a hunt—he was probably scared she would fall and land on her own knife.
She always dreamed of growing up and being even taller and even more beautiful and even more confident and even more elegant than Gari, but she knew that wasn't likely. All she really wanted was for them to go to a town and for her to have some cute guy fall head-over-heels for her and completely ignore Gari. It would make it even better if it was someone Gari's type.
Ella frowned, shocked out of her daydreaming by the cruelty of her own mind. She didn't mean that. At least… not the last part.
"Elle? Earth to Miss Scarlett?" Gari prompted, and Ella knew that she'd probably been calling her name for a while.
The Miss Scarlett had been what really snapped her out of it. Gari hadn't called her that since the day they first met. The first thing Gari had said to her was, "Wow, Miss Scarlett, how's life on Tara?" Greg had to explain that it was a Gone with the Wind reference, and Gari warmed up to him considerably after that. And it also didn't hurt that he bought her enough food to feed an army. She ate every bit of it, too.
Ella's eyes came back into focus, and the blonde smiled at her. "There you are. You never said where you wanna go with the dashing Fabio." There was still a slightly mocking tone to Gari's voice, but Ella could tell that she was just teasing. She'd seen Gari flipping through her romance novels when the younger girl was supposedly asleep. Gari probably had just as big of a thing for Fabio as Ella did.
"Can we be sailin' the Spanish Main?"
Gari furrowed her brow in confusion. "What?"
"Y'know, like pirates! In those cool costumes with all the swords and guns and gold, and Fabio's hair would be blowin' in the wind, and the sea spray would be clingin' to his flawless muscles," Ella said wistfully, not noticing the way Gari grinned as the younger girl got carried away. "And he would sweep me up in his arms and dip me halfway to the ground like ya always see people do in movies and he'd lay a gentle kiss on my lips that'd get more and more passionate the longer it went on and the waves would crash against the ship and create a dramatically shimmerin' wall of water behind us and the entire world would go quiet and then the crew would start cheerin' and he'd finally stop kissin' me and throw a charmin', cocky grin to his crew and then he'd soften his grin into a smile when he looked back down at me and—"
"Whoa, whoa, Elle!" Gari interrupted, barely getting the words out through her laughter. "Way to be a dreamer, babe!"
Ella blushed again and covered her face with her hands. "Oh, my God! So that's what it feels like to ramble!"
"Still think it's a stupid game?" Gari asked, and Ella didn't have to be looking at her to know that she was raising her eyebrows with a skeptical look on her face.
"Fine, ya win this one," Ella relented, dropping her hands to her lap. "I didn't know I was gonna get carried away like that!"
"I did," Gari said proudly.
"Sure ya did."
"I did! I know you better than you know yourself!"
Ella sighed. "Yeah, ya do. And it's not fair."
"What d'you mean?" Gari asked confusedly.
"I mean ya know me better than I know myself, and ya think of Greg as a dad, but we don't know anything about ya," Ella explained.
"You know about my powers," the older girl said, and Ella could tell she was going to avoid talking about herself again. "And you know about my dad. You and Greg are the only people who know the truth, and you're the only people who will ever know the truth."
"But that's not it," Ella argued. "That's not all. We dunno what ya did until we found ya. Ya killed your dad when you were nine, Gari, and we didn't find ya till last year. That's seven years missin'. How'd ya make it that long?"
"It's no big deal, Elle."
"But I wanna know!"
"I said no!"
A small burst of power emanated from Gari, just strong enough to blow Ella's hair back. Gari pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, refusing to look at Ella. The younger girl was staring at her adopted sister with a heartbroken expression, and she was trying her hardest not to cry. She knew she shouldn't have pried, and she knew that Gari had trouble controlling her powers when she was upset, but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt to be treated like that.
"I'm sorry, Elle," Gari mumbled finally. "I didn't mean to blow up on you."
"It's okay," Ella sniffled.
"I'll tell you someday, okay? Just… not yet."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
~Supernatural~Supernatural~Supernatural~
Ella ran.
She ran away from that perfect house. She ran away from that big bed with its Egyptian cotton sheets. She ran away from the smell of cologne and flowers.
She ran away from the loss of her virginity to a lying, cheating douche of a boy.
A boy who, as fate would have it, she'd actually been able to date, seeing as Greg had a long job in that stupid rich town of stupid rich people and their stupid rich kids.
They spent a month in that town—a fucking month, longer than they'd ever spent anywhere, and any other time, Ella would've loved that. But not this time.
Ella was ready to leave right then. She didn't care that the job wasn't done. She didn't care that his family might be targeted next—in fact, she hoped the monster changed its M.O. from adults to kids and went after that stupid boy.
Jimmy fucking Johnson.
"Ella, dear, what's wrong?" a kind old lady named Mrs. Fleming asked worriedly, but Ella flew past her without a second glance.
She pumped her arms and pushed her legs to go faster, knowing that, if she could just get back to the hotel room, if she could just get back to Gari, she'd be okay. Gari would hug her and threaten to maim Jimmy and ask her if she wanted to play Anywhere But Here and make fun of her for choosing Fabio on a pirate ship every single time.
No. Not every time. Last time, Ella had answered, "With Jimmy, havin' a picnic under the Eiffel Tower, and he's down on one knee to propose." More tears left her eyes at the thought, only to be ripped away by the wind.
So maybe Anywhere But Here wasn't a good idea yet.
Finally, finally, she reached the door to their hotel room. Her shaky hands fumbled with the keys, and she almost dropped them in her haste. She hurriedly shut the door behind her and leaned back against it, her shoulders quaking with sobs once more.
"Elle, is that you?" Gari asked. Her voice came from the bathroom.
"Y—yeah," Ella replied, trying to stop her voice from quavering.
"Good! So, I was thinking, y'know that guy I met the other day—um, shit, what's his name…" Gari came around the corner, rubbing at her soaking wet hair with a ratty towel. "Anyway, so how about me and you and what's-his-name and Jimmy—"
Ella let out a strangled noise at the mention of him, and Gari stopped talking abruptly. She finally looked at Ella, and her face went from puzzled to concerned to downright furious in less than two seconds.
"What the fuck did he do?!" she snarled, clenching the towel in her right fist. After a minute, it started smoking. "I swear to God, I'll kill him!"
"G—Gari, the towel," Ella said pitifully.
It didn't seem to register at first; then the older girl finally looked down at the towel and released it, thankfully before it caught on fire.
"Tell me what he did, Ella," Gari demanded.
"He—he—oh, Gari!" Ella flung herself at her older sister, and Gari instinctively returned the hug, murmuring soft reassurances as Ella continued to cry.
"Just let it out," Gari said gently, directing Ella over to one of the beds and pulling her down onto the scratchy comforter. "Let it out. It's perfectly okay to cry. Nothing to be ashamed of."
After about ten minutes of Ella crying and Gari comforting her, the younger girl extracted herself from her sister's embrace and wiped her eyes. "I—I'm sorry," she said hoarsely.
"Tell me what he did, Ella," Gari repeated, but she spoke much gentler this time, as if afraid that the smallest thing would set Ella back on a sob fest.
Ella sniffled, closing her eyes in the hopes that no more tears would fall. "He—he—"
"Heh. Wow. So that's sex," Ella said breathlessly. "I didn't know what I was missin'."
"Yep, it's fun," Jimmy said casually, his blue eyes raking over Ella's body hungrily before he turned to look at the clock by his bed.
"What's wrong?" Ella asked worriedly.
His eyes shifted away from her. "Uh, my parents are gonna be home in like ten minutes."
"D'ya need me to leave?"
He shrugged apologetically and gave her a small grin. "Sorry."
"No, it's okay," she said hurriedly, nodding her head. "I get it. My dad would flip out if he ever caught me with a guy."
"Yeah, cool," he said distractedly. "So you gonna get your stuff or what?"
Ella frowned, feeling a little insulted, but she dismissed it as him just being anxious. She got out of bed and moved languidly, hoping he would watch her like he watched her earlier, but he just kept his eyes fixed on that dumb clock. With a sigh, she started pulling on all of her clothes. She ran her fingers through her hair to no avail—it was going to stay messy regardless of what she did to it. At least that was no different from how it usually looked.
"So?" she said, putting her hands on her hips and doing a model pose. "Do I look acceptable enough for my dad?"
He glanced over at her as he pulled on his jeans. "Yeah, you look great. You ready?"
She nodded slowly, her mood deflating. "Yeah, I guess so…" She followed him downstairs, letting her hand run along the elaborate handrail and smiling at the absolute cheesiness of the lion statuette at the end. "I had a great time," she said shyly once they reached the door. "Thanks for… for everythin'."
He gave her one of those easy grins she loved so much, but now it seemed strained. "Anytime."
"So I'll see ya tomorrow?" she asked hopefully. "I only got two days left here, and then I'm gone."
"Yeah, yeah, sure." He nodded a few times, and she noticed he was tapping his foot impatiently.
"Man, you're real twitchy, aren't ya?" Ella teased.
"Heh. Yeah."
Ella shifted back and forth on her feet, waiting for him to say how amazing she was or kiss her or declare his undying love or something, but she had no such luck. "Well, uh, bye, Jimmy."
"Later, Ella."
Ella opened the door and was met with the sight of a gorgeous brunette girl with big boobs and a skirt about four inches too short. She had a big grin on her make-up caked face, but it faded as she saw Ella. "Um… who the fuck are you?" she asked rudely.
"Kate!" Jimmy exclaimed nervously. "What are you doing here?"
"It's five thirty," Kate said matter-of-factly. "You said to be here at five thirty."
Ella turned to Jimmy, eyes big and hopeful, praying that it wasn't true, that he didn't do this to her.
Jimmy ruffled his already perfectly mussed blonde hair, a grin that looked more like a grimace on his face. "Heh, no, sorry. I dunno what you're talking about, Kate."
That was enough for Ella.
Her eyes welled up with tears, and her bottom lip trembled. It felt like someone had taken a spoon and carved out her heart. "You… you lied to me…" she said pathetically. "I thought you… I—I gave you…" Tears flowed down her cheeks, and she turned and ran.
Behind her, she could hear Kate yell, "Are you screwing her?!"
And, soon, she was far enough away and running fast enough that she didn't hear anything except the wind flying past her.
"I'll kill him!" Gari spat. "C'mon, let's go! I'm gonna kill him!"
"No, Gari, don't," Ella begged, grabbing Gari's arm and keeping her on the bed. "He's not worth it."
"He's not worth anything! Who the fuck does he think he is, treating my little sister like that?!" The bed shook slightly as Gari's anger grew, and Ella tightened her grip on Gari's arm. "Ohhh, no. I'm not gonna kill him! But when I'm done with him, he's gonna wish I had!"
"Gari, please, just let it go." Ella wrapped her arms around the older girl again, ducking her head into the crook of Gari's neck. "We'll be gone in two days," she mumbled.
Gari took a deep breath and returned the hug. "You're right," she sighed. "You're only sixteen. You'll move on and find someone better. But he'll be a dick for life."
Ella gave a strained laugh. "Thanks," she said as she pulled away.
Gari leaned back against the headboard of the old bed. "So what can I do to cheer you up?" she asked. "I'll do anything."
"Anything?" Ella questioned disbelievingly, and Gari nodded, though she suddenly looked very wary. Ella opened her mouth to say something; then she chickened out and shook her head.
"What? Just ask, Elle."
The younger girl held her breath and rushed out, "Tell me somethin' about your missin' years." Gari blanched, her eyes going wide and her face going about two shades paler, which Ella didn't think was possible. "Or—or not," she said hurriedly. "Ya don't have to."
Gari quickly regained her composure, and she nodded once. "I said I'd do anything."
"Really?"
"Yep." Gari frowned thoughtfully. "What d'you wanna know?"
"How did ya survive that long on your own?"
"I wasn't on my own," the older girl said. "I was with a group of kids, kids like me—no powers, of course—other runaways. Well, I found new ones in every city."
"Where'd ya go?"
"I started out in Alabama—I hung around my neighborhood for about a month, and no one even suspected anything. I guess it was a good thing that my dad didn't get out much. No one thought it was weird to see me wandering around alone." Gari smiled slightly, much to Ella's confusion. "There was this one lady, Miss Nancy—she was about twenty-three, and she had a little baby boy and a boyfriend in the Army—I stayed with her a lot. I loved her to death. She was like the mother I never had."
"Why'd ya leave her?"
"I kept staying the night with her, and, when I barely went home, she asked where my dad was and if he was worried about me. I left a few days later."
"Where'd ya go next?"
"Well, after I left Alabama, I went to Mississippi and Louisiana, and then I came back through Alabama, and then, well," Gari shrugged, "and then you guys found me."
"And ya just met random kids in every city?" Ella asked curiously.
"Yep." Gari smiled again, recalling another memory. "I stayed in New Orleans for a few years—you wouldn't believe all the homeless kids there. There was this one place that sold the best beignets in the whole world—sure, Café du Monde is great and famous, but it was always so crowded, and, honestly, it's a little overrated. This place—I can't even remember the name of it—it was down some old, crowded street, and it wasn't famous for its beignets, but they were amazing. I started out dining and dashing, then I got caught one day and the man offered me a job to pay it off. I just bussed tables—I started when I was thirteen, so I wasn't technically supposed to be working—and, once I'd worked enough, the guy mainly paid me by letting me eat there for free. God, their gumbo was amazing, too."
"You're makin' me hungry," Ella said jokingly. "I've never had a beignet."
"In all the years hunting, you've never been to New Orleans?"
Ella shook her head. "Nah. Dad doesn't like big cities. I always wanted to go, though."
"We'll just have to persuade him to take us sometime," Gari said, grinning deviously.
And Ella knew that, if anyone could talk her dad into doing something, it would be Gari. She wondered if Gari ever reminded Greg of Milla, too. Maybe that was the reason he was so easy on the older girl.
"So where'd ya go when ya left Louisiana?" Ella asked, wondering how much more she could get Gari to spill.
"I went back through Alabama—avoiding my hometown, of course," the blonde replied. "I wanted to go back and see Nancy and her family—I found a newspaper with her and her boyfriend's marriage announcement—but I didn't know if they'd ever found out what happened to my dad, and I didn't wanna risk anything by going back."
"And then ya came to Georgia."
"Heh. It's not really that simple."
"What d'ya mean?"
"Have you ever read Oliver Twist?" Gari asked, and Ella frowned at the randomness of the question.
"No, but I saw Oliver & Company… Does that count?" Ella shrugged her shoulders embarrassedly at the look Gari gave her. "Oh! I also saw the 1997 one. The one with, uh… um… Elijah Wood. I think."
"Close enough," the older girl said with a roll of her eyes. "So, think of me as Olivia Twist—but I didn't have to deal with Fagin, and there was no Artful Dodger."
"So you're sayin' ya became a sneaky pickpocket?" Ella questioned bewilderedly.
"More or less."
Ella scoffed. "You're makin' this up."
Gari shrugged. "Hey, believe what you want. You asked, so I'm telling."
"Sure, sure." Ella narrowed her eyes, hit by a sudden thought. "Wait… so Dad was like your Mr. Brownlow?"
Gari blushed slightly and shrugged again. "More or less," she repeated quietly.
"But that's just so sweet!" Ella gushed, nudging Gari playfully. "Aw, I can't wait to tell him!"
"No!" Gari said desperately. "No, don't tell him. That's too sappy. I've only known him for two years—I can't just tell him he's my Mr. Brownlow."
"Why not?"
"That's just… that's just not how I do things," Gari said lamely.
Ella raised an eyebrow. "You're silly."
The older girl grinned. "Yeah, I know." She stared at Ella thoughtfully, and the younger girl squirmed under her piercing gaze. "Where's your arts and crafts kit?" she asked suddenly, getting off the bed.
"Huh?"
"The thing with all your art supplies that I got you for your birthday."
"I know, but why?"
Gari huffed. "Just tell me!"
"In my bag…" Ella said slowly, becoming more confused by the minute. Gari went over and started rummaging around in Ella's duffle bag until she found the art kit. "What're ya doin'?" Gari just ignored her and searched through the kit.
"Aha!" she said finally, pulling out a pair of safety scissors. She'd jokingly included them in the kit herself, saying that Ella was too clumsy to have real scissors. "C'mon, let's go!"
Ella allowed herself to be pulled from the bed, but, when Gari started dragging her toward the door, she stopped in her tracks. "Where are we goin'?" she asked suspiciously.
Gari grinned evilly and clicked the scissors together. "Where d'you think?"
Ella's heart dropped into her stomach, and she struggled to pull out of Gari's iron grip around her wrist. "Gari, no!" she protested. "I don't wanna go back there!"
"Ella, we're doing this," Gari said adamantly, opening the door and jerking Ella after her. "Well, I'm doing this, and you're gonna watch him shit his pants. It'll make you feel better."
"No, it'll make you feel better," Ella mumbled rebelliously.
"Aw, c'mon. Don't you think that seeing that dick go crying to his mommy because of a girl will be satisfying?"
Ella stopped struggling and let out a sigh, a reluctant grin stretching over her face. "Okay, yeah, you're right. Let's go."
The walk back to Jimmy Johnson's house took much longer than Ella would've thought. She ran back to the hotel room in a flash—she just assumed that the walk there would be almost as quick.
Once there, Gari told Ella to stay put and marched straight up to the door. She knocked four times and waited patiently, hands behind her back and her chin held high, the image of maturity and confidence.
Jimmy opened the door after a minute and raised his eyebrows at Gari. He was only in boxers, and, for once, Ella wasn't distracted by his bare chest. Gari leaned against the doorframe and smiled sweetly. "Honey, I'm home!" she said in a singsong voice.
"Jimmy, who's that?" a girl's voice asked, and Ella shuddered at the sight of Kate. She was in one of Jimmy's t-shirts, and the look on her face was pretty self-satisfied—that is, until she saw Gari standing on the doorstep. "Another one?!" she shrieked. "First that freckly midget, and now this goth freak?!"
Gari sighed and shook her head. "What'd I tell you about keeping it in your pants, Jimmy?" she said disappointedly. "You've gone and crushed another innocent girl's dreams." She looked Kate up and down, and then smirked at the other girl. "Well, maybe innocent's not the right word. I'm thinking more along the lines of slut."
"You bitch!" Kate exclaimed, and Ella expected to see steam pouring out of her ears at any moment.
Gari rolled her eyes. "Believe me, doll, I've been called worse." It suddenly struck Ella that Gari probably had been called worse, that she wasn't just putting up a front, and that just made her admire the older girl even more. "Now," Gari said, lazily bringing her hand up to rest on her hip, "d'you wanna get outta here before I start threatening your boyfriend, or would you like to keep adding more trash to this already trashy house?"
Kate looked at Jimmy incredulously. "Are you really gonna let her talk to me like that?!" she raged. Jimmy just stared at Gari in utter shock. Kate let out a small squeal of frustration. "Fine! Don't call me again, you dick! Find some whore!"
"Aw, there'll never be one as good as you," Gari said mockingly as Kate stormed past her, and the girl let out another scream and stalked away from the house.
"Kate!" Jimmy finally called, looking like he was about to go after her. Then he remembered that Gari was standing in his way, and he stared at her warily. "What the fuck d'you want?"
Gari shrugged. "Hm… let's see…" she said thoughtfully. "I want a lot of things—world peace, bigger boobs, my own car, Angel and Buffy together… and there's something else… hm…" She snapped her fingers once. "Oh, yeah!" she exclaimed. She went from grinning to glaring in a millisecond. "I want you to apologize to my sister."
Jimmy scoffed, and he looked over Gari's shoulder and winked at Ella. "I don't think so," he said cockily. "She wanted sex, so I gave her sex. I've got nothing to be sorry for. It's not my fault she thought I actually liked her."
Ella gave a little gasp, tears springing to her eyes, and she saw every muscle in Gari's body tense up. She had no idea what Gari was about to do to Jimmy, and a small part of her wondered if Gari would actually kill him. She didn't think her sister was capable of that, but there were times when Gari got that look in her eye—especially when hunting—and she didn't know exactly what Gari would do.
Gari's hand shot out and grabbed Jimmy by the neck. Ella could tell she was hardly exerting any pressure, but the simple action was enough to have Jimmy bug-eyed and white as a ghost. "I said apologize," Gari growled.
"N—no," Jimmy argued faintly.
Gari squeezed his throat a little harder, and she plucked the safety scissors out of her back pocket. "You see these, Jimmy?" she asked conversationally. "D'you know how much force is needed to break the skin with safety scissors?" He shook his head barely. "Neither do I. But I'm willing to find out." She glanced down at his crotch, and a devious grin stretched over her full lips. "And I know just where to start," she said happily.
"You w—wouldn't," he choked out, fear etched on every line of his stupid face.
"See, that's just the thing," Gari said, still keeping up that casual tone, "you really don't know, do you? I could be a raving lunatic, and you'd have no idea. I could be the youngest serial killer in the country, and you'd be none the wiser." She ran the scissors down his chest, stopping at the top of his boxers. "Isn't that funny?"
Jimmy's eyes darted to Ella, silently pleading for help. "Ella, please, don't let—"
"No." Gari's voice was low and dangerous, and Ella could tell that Jimmy seriously feared for his life. "You don't talk to her. Not unless it comes in the form of the sincerest apology I've ever heard."
Ella saw the defeat in Jimmy's eyes, and immense satisfaction flooded through her. "I—I'm sorry, E—Ella," he managed to say, and Gari loosened her grip the slightest bit.
"What was that?" the blonde prompted. "I didn't hear you."
"I'm sorry, Ella!" Jimmy said again, his voice a tiny bit stronger. "I'm sorry!"
Gari looked at Ella over her shoulder. "Is that good enough?"
Ella nodded eagerly. "Yeah, he sounds pretty sincere."
Gari's eyes twinkled mischievously as she turned back to Jimmy. "I'm gonna let you go now," she told the boy. "I mean, personally, I would've had you groveling on your knees for an hour before I even considered forgiving you, but Ella's just so much nicer than I am. Don't you think you should thank her?"
Jimmy took long, deep breaths as Gari released him. He glanced over at Ella before dropping his eyes to the ground. "Thanks… Ella," he mumbled.
"Oh! One more thing!" Gari said suddenly, and Jimmy took a terrified step backwards, clutching at the door. She grabbed his shoulder and dug her nails in. "If you ever so much as think about Ella again, I'll know," she said threateningly, pointing the scissors right between his eyes. "Believe me, I'll know. And I'll come back for you, and the safety scissors won't just be a threat next time." She shrugged good-naturedly. "So, if you value your manhood, I suggest you listen to me. Got it?"
"Y—yes," Jimmy stuttered, and Ella suppressed a laugh at the absolute horror on his face.
"Yes what?"
"Y—yes ma'am."
The blonde girl grinned. "Good! Well, this was fun. Have a nice life!"
With that, she turned and skipped down the stairs of the fancy porch and looped her arm through Ella's. The girls laughed the entire way back to the hotel room, picking out random points of the confrontation and making fun of Jimmy Johnson and the way he almost wet himself when confronted by a girl with a pair of safety scissors.
"I told you it would make you feel better," Gari said triumphantly, giving a smug grin.
"Yeah, okay, ya win this one," Ella relented.
"I haven't lost yet!"
Ella rolled her eyes, choosing not to reply. "Y'know, I'm proud of ya for not losin' control of your powers. I thought ya woulda vaporized him for sure."
Gari laughed nervously and glanced up at the sky. "Yeah... total control..." she said slowly.
Ella followed her gaze and saw rainclouds receding across the sky, and she shook her head at her sister. "Well, ya tried."
"And that's what counts, right?"
The younger girl grinned at the older girl, and she bumped their hips together playfully. "More or less."
As the two girls walked arm-in-arm down the sidewalk, Ella couldn't help but think how lucky she was to have a sister like Gari.
~Supernatural~Supernatural~Supernatural~
Gari and Ella rarely played Anywhere But Here anymore. Gari had gotten tired of Ella's recurring answer, saying that there had to be something she'd rather be doing.
And maybe Ella was worried about her sister. Maybe she was starting to feel some sort of animosity towards a certain gigantic Winchester. Maybe she stressed about her kids growing up in the life and losing their dad at a young age.
But, really, when it came right down to it, regardless of all the complications and the monsters and the arguments, Ella didn't want to be anywhere but here.
6,839.
Okay, the end was just freaking sappy, and I grinned like the Joker the whole time I was writing it. This is about Ella, after all, and she's totally okay with being the sappiest person in the universe. I thought you guys would appreciate a look at the world through Ella's eyes, and I also thought it was a good time to reveal a little more of Gari's past and show just how much Ella loves her adopted sister.
I hope some of you noticed all the differences in Gari and Ella back then and Gari and Ella now. I'm not gonna ramble on about them like I'm wont to do (and like I want to do), but I really do hope you noticed. I actually thought really hard about how much I wanted their personalities (and, also, in Ella's case, looks) to change. I wanted to show how much the world—and especially the loss of Greg—affected both of them, Gari in particular.
And, as for those of you who've totally caught up with everything I've written and are anxiously awaiting I'd Cross the World for You, you won't have to wait too much longer. I'm looking at posting sometime in September, but I'm trying to get a few chapters written before I start posting, just because I don't know when college might decide to slam me with work and fuck me over. I have three chapters written so far, and they have nothing to do with any episodes, and squeeeeeee! I fangirled over my own work! I'm so fucking happy with how things are going!
Ah, okay, anyway. I'm gonna stop before I give too much away.
So be on the lookout for I'd Cross the World for You sometime this month, and I look forward to reading any and all of your marvelous reviews!
Dasvidaniya!