Rewind, Reverse and Forward
A/N: Originally posted as part of Chocolate Box Round 1 on AO3, for the pairings Dean/Cassie and Sam/Jess with the prompts 'Sam telling Jess about the family business so her life is saved' combined with 'when Dean and Cassie first met' plus AU as a treat for prettysophist.
A/N2: I wanted to play with chronology a bit, so each ellipses is a switch between character viewpoint at a different point in time - one relationship runs forward and the other runs backward.
A demon. A demon had tried to kill Jess. Sam was still internally panicking hours later, though his heart no longer seemed to be trying to beat its way out of his chest. He'd told her about ghosts and poltergeists and weird bloodthirsty creatures that went bump in the night. He hadn't really gotten as far as demons because they were just too much. Too dark, too scary, and what were the chances they would ever run afoul of one? Too high, apparently. Far too damn high. If Dean and his hunter friend hadn't come – and she was a whole slew of questions and teasing he'd get to when he could breathe normally again – Sam just didn't want to think about it.
…
Cassie is ducking into the library to study for an Art History exam when she glances over and spots someone actually making use of the old local records section of the campus library. Cassie's pretty sure she's never seen anyone other than the librarians and assistants back there the during the whole time she's been attending school here in Athens. It sparks her curiosity – and when she gets closer and the indistinct shape turns out to be a cute guy about her age in a long sleeved shirt and a pair of very nicely fitting jeans? Who looks up as she walks closer and gives her one of the cutest grins she's ever seen on a boy? Well, the class is an elective and the test is going to be multiple choice anyway.
…
"Just calm down! Panicking isn't going to help!" His voice is harsh and thrown back over his shoulder as he confronts what is hopefully not actually her friend Brady. The distraction costs him as he's flung away through some invisible force, but almost before Jess can blink he's back up and tossing something at Brady that burns on his skin but doesn't affect his clothes. Jess doesn't know who the hell this guy is and she really wants to do her own yelling at someone, but unfortunately the stranger who had barged in and started yelling at her knew a lot more about what was currently happening htan she did and clearly couldn't afford stopping to explain. So she lets his female companion with an equally stern expression pull her back away from the fight without offering any further resistance. What Sam had told her isn't enough for her to know what's going on, it's just enough to know something is going on that she's not remotely equipped to deal with. As she catches a glimpse of the naked worry on the other woman's tense face, Jess just wishes that instead of these strangers, it was Sam -
And almost as if her thought had conjured him, there he was barging in to the middle of the strange scene in her apartment she had thought was safe enough, even after Sam's stories. Jess expected him to come right to her, and frankly she could use the comfort, but as soon as Sam got in close enough to see all of them, he looked past her, to yell incredulously, "Dean?" and rush to join the fight.
…
Laying her cheek against Dean's bare chest, Cassie sighs as the sweat from their recent activity cools on their skin and Dean's hand plays with a curl of her hair absently. The greatest draw and yet also the biggest problem with her relationship with Dean is that everything between them is so passionate. She's on the verge of getting her degree here at Ohio State and then suddenly the life she's had all mapped out has this big Dean-shaped question mark in it. She wouldn't admit it aloud, but she's scared. She just doesn't know if she's more scared of things working out or things falling apart, and one of these days she knows she's either going to push him away for good or pull him in and hang on for keeps. When the time comes, she's not sure what choice she's gonna make.
…
Somewhere around a year and three months, the lies just become too much for Sam. The admonition not to ever tell was drilled into him so hard for so long that it's hard to get past it, but his life now is different and based on his choices. Even if he'd originally considered going back some day, John Winchester's ultimatum had cemented his decision to get out and stay out. Still, that didn't kill the awareness Sam had of what was out there, or prevent him from taking at least a few necessary precautions.
Yet he's always itchy about Jess finding the weapons he has stashed all around the apartment, he still hasn't figured out a good explanation for his lingering habit of buying salt in bulk without thinking, and when it comes down to it? Part of him just can't get over the guilt of lying to somebody he loves as much as he loves Jess. It's kind of like a constant feeling of failure, and he finally decides the fear she won't believe him isn't worth spending the rest of his life never being able to completely open up to anyone.
So one night, when they've settled in after dinner and there's no big tests coming up or other distractions to justify putting it off any longer, Sam braces himself. He leads her over and sits down next to Jess on their couch, takes both of her smaller hands in his, looking into her slightly confused but game expression and says, "Jess, there's something I need to tell you, and it's gonna be really hard to believe."
…
Dean shoves his clothes into his duffle with more force than is necessary, letting the anger at himself out in his movements. He knew he never should have opened up to Cassie. He'd been so completely stupid. Dad had told them over and over for years to never tell anyone about what their family did, that no one would understand. He'd never really doubted that was true, but he'd just felt such a connection to Cassie. He hadn't thought much about the future beyond how much he cared about her. Then Dad had called needing help on a hunt and he had to tell her something and he just couldn't bear to lie. He should have known it was a mistake getting close to someone. Letting people in, that's when they could hurt you, ditch you offhand because you didn't fit into their neat little picture of the world. Never again. He didn't need that.
He's zipping up the duffle and doing one last visual check of the room when there's a knock on the motel room door. He looks out the peephole and grits his jaw in preparation for another fight. Why else would Cassie be standing outside with that determined set to her jaw?
…
When Brady introduces them, Sam is almost immediately smitten. He hasn't really been able to connect very well with anyone at Stanford. Friends is one thing, but getting close enough to be in a relationship when you have so many secrets? It just seems too hard. For a long time, Sam didn't even really bother to try, concentrating on his studies instead.
Jess, though? Jess is different. She never pushes too hard or asks questions about his family after that first awkward conversation where he made it clear he didn't want to talk about them. After just a couple of dates that are as smooth and easy as can be, he thinks there's a chance he just might be falling in love with her.
…
"Your father called while you were out, left a message on your phone," Cassie tells him as Dean steps back into their motel room.
"Did you listen to it?" Dean asks, distractedly, grabbing the phone and dropping down onto the bed.
"I think it might be important, he tried calling a couple times before leaving the message."
When Cassie had barged into his hotel room and demanded he prove his crazy story about ghosts, Dean hadn't quite believed it – and hadn't quite known how to handle it. Hunting wasn't a life you wanted to see anyone get into, and Cassie was safer and happier believing Dean was crazy. He never had been very good at saying no to people he loved, though, so he let her talk her way into coming along to the hunt he was heading out to. Dad had not been pleased.
Eventually John Winchester had relented when he realized being rude was not going to chase her off and that Dean wasn't going to run off and stop hunting like his youngest son had. Still, the two of them butted heads on a far too frequent basis, which had meant that after Cassie had the bare basics of hunting, they had split up to take separate jobs and only sometimes met up on hunts.
Dean had been getting the strange impression his father had actually been glad he'd had an excuse to go his own way. At first, Dean was tempted to worry it had to do with some inadequacy of his or that despite his protestations to the contrary, he disliked Cassie for more than their clashing tempers. He had tentatively decided that was just paranoia when his father still kept in regular touch on the phone and had sounded both distracted and even more cryptic than normal about some big hunt he was chasing. Dean hasn't had any luck getting anything out of him about it, other than one vaguely ominous half-muttered statement about Mary. When Dean had tried to question him, Dad had just shut him down hard and refused to call for a couple of weeks.
So it's with a little bit of trepidation that Dean picks up his phone. That soon becomes panic as he listens to his father's voice telling him there are demonic omens and he has to get to Stanford right now. Shit, Sam.