Watching
By Spense
Disclaimer: Usual disclaimers apply. Don't own, don't sue, etc.
Note: Somebody is watching Sam Winchester and his girlfriend.
The glint of the early morning California sun on darkly gleaming metal snatched her attention. She and Sam were late (as usual more often than not) for their early class. They met up with Steve on the sidewalk just outside the dorm, knowing it was tight to make the 7:45 am start time. Steve and Sam compared notes, talking just as swiftly as they moved. But the sun on black metal, and a swift movement seen out of the corner of her eye caught Jessica Moore's attention.
Stopping suddenly, she swung around to see a classic black car silhouetted in the sun. A man was sitting on the hood. Blinking, she shaded her eyes with her hand, trying to make out the silhouette.
"Jess?" Sam's voice called her attention back to him. "What is it?"
She turned to him to smile reassuringly. "Sorry, I just . . ." she began turning back to the car which inexplicable had captured her attention. She blinked in surprise. It was gone.
"Is everything okay?" Sam had stopped and was looking at her in concern, then followed to the empty spot where the car had been. It was one of the things she loved about him. They were late for class, hurrying to make the start, but if something was wrong with her, she became the complete and absolute focus of his attention.
"Nothing," she assured, taking one quick look back then returning her full attention to Sam. Giving him a mega-watt smile, guaranteed to distract him, she continued, "Just thought I saw something."
He looked again at the empty parking lot, taking a long look regardless of Steve's frustrated shifting, them frowned slightly at her before smiling once again. Taking her arm, they resumed their hurried pace, rejoining a restless Steven.
"Sure?"
"Un-huh," she answered convincingly. But she knew better. She trusted her instincts. The person and car was connected to her or Sam in someway. But only time would tell.
ooooOOOOoooo
She saw the car again a month or so later as she once again hurried to meet up with Sam. It seemed she was always late for something. The car caused her to ease her pace. It was casually parked near the student union and library complex, front wheels rakishly turned as though the absent driver had just roared into the parking spot.
The black muscle car was hard to miss. It certainly wasn't a common sedan you'd see on the road these days, and it was so well cared for, it just gleamed. Her brother would have just loved it.
She slowed a moment, frowning slightly, then shrugged and hurried on. Listening to her brother had just made her paranoid.
ooooOOOOoooo
Thanksgiving had been beautiful. Jess and Sam had spent most of it on the beach at her parents house. It had been Sam's first Thanksgiving with the family. First real Thanksgiving at all, she found out that afternoon. Funny, the things she didn't know about her boyfriend - the man she fully intended to spend the rest of her life with. But then again, everybody had secrets of some kind.
She glanced over at the object of her thoughts snoozing in the passenger seat as she drove the two of them home. She smiled happily. They actually had a real apartment now. It was in a quaint old building, and it was theirs - together. It was still so new to her - to be going home with Sam, and neither of them having to leave later to go to there dorm. Two weeks, and it was still such a wonderful novelty.
It had been a really fun day, she mused, cruising through the slowly darkening streets. Once her parents found out that Sam had never had a 'real' Thanksgiving dinner, they pulled out all the stops. Sam's eyes had been huge when he'd seen the maple table covered with all the traditional dishes, the china, crystal, mounds of food, and of course, the monstrous turkey.
Everything seemed to go perfectly. One of those few times that things did so. Her grandmother behaved, and didn't make too many lewd comments to Sam, her sister didn't spend every moment making sure they new what smart, talented, truly unbelievable geniuses her children were, and even her brother behaved and didn't fight with Dad over his career choice. It was amazing what having a stranger in their midst would do.
A day to remember. Sam even had some of the Port her father had gotten after dinner. To bad she'd forgotten to warn him how strong it was. Between the strong wine and the huge meal, she had suddenly become the designated driver. She didn't mind. It gave her time to think and go over the lovely day again. It was even more special, because her whole family loved Sam.
She slowed, looking for the still unfamiliar apartment driveway to their new dwelling place, and started when she saw the black car again. She'd have slowed more, but traffic wouldn't let her.
This time, the car was dusty, and bore dried traces of mud and road grime. It looked like it had traveled far and long in a short time. Tired and battered.
Jess snorted to herself slightly. Anthropomorphizing again. It was a car. Not a person.
But this time there was a person near it. A person who was straightening up from unlocking and opening the door, and tossing a bag in the front. The quick glimpse she had of the man was a flash of short dark blond hair, stubble, and strong features. Battered leather jacket and old t-shirt. An impression of exhaustion - just like his car.
The really scary thing was that she recognized him. She'd seen him off and on around campus. Not very often, and not like he had called attention to himself. But he was attractive, in a rough sort of bad-boy way that was hard to ignore.
She glanced in her mirror in time to see the car pull out in a u-turn and snarl off in the direction away from her.
Huh. That was the third time she'd seen it. She'd have to keep better watch.
ooooOOOOoooo
Now that she was looking for it, she saw the car fairly often. Oh, not daily, or even weekly. But a day or two in a row, then nothing for a month, then another sighting. Nothing consistent, and nothing she could put her finger on.
He was good, she had to give him that. The driver was cagey. The car would be sitting in the deep shadows, or another time tucked in at the end of a lane. The man was walking by a restaurant where she and Sam would be eating.
But there was no real pattern, and it wasn't like he was looking at her. Because of that, and because of the caution that had been instilled in her, she hesitated to mention it to Sam. He tended to worry about her too much. It was sweet, but unnecessary. So she kept quiet.
ooooOOOOoooo
Jess could draw out information out of Sam like a master. It was easy for her. He was her very favorite subject, and she absorbed information about him like a sponge. Even so, she knew that he kept much to himself. But she also knew that he would be surprised at how much she had gleaned.
And now she had a new snare set. Placing her family pictures on the mantle of their new apartment was a perfect opening.
"Do you have any family pictures you want to add Sam?"
He looked surprised, then reluctant. She waited until he opened his mouth, clearly to put her off, and added with perfect timing, "I promise I won't ask any questions. But it would be nice to know you didn't spring fully formed from the earth."
Sam's original answer was cut off in a snort of laughter. Shaking his head, he murmured, "I'll see what I can come up with."
What he finally came up with was two small, faded pictures - one of a man and woman with two small children. The other was of a man sitting on the hood of a classic car, holding a boy about 6 or 7 on his lap, with an older boy pressed up close. The three were dressed in camouflage, and had clearly been hunting. She recognized that from her brother, who was hunting full time, much to her parents complete dismay. It was not the life they'd envisioned for their brilliant son.
True to her word, Jess didn't say anything, just carefully set the pictures up in places of honor, and studied them. As the silence drew out, she could feel Sam begin to fidget. Finally, no longer able to stand the silence, he cleared his throat, and began pointing to the people.
"My Mom and Dad, and my big brother, Dean, and me," he said pointing at the first one.
She nodded, again staying silent. After another pause, he continued.
"The picture was taken a couple of weeks before the fire."
Jess silently took his arm hugging it close and leaning into her boyfriend. She knew about 'The Fire' and how it had completely changed Sam's life. He'd told her about the faulty wiring that had killed his mother, and nearly killed him.
"This one is my dad, Dean and me," he said pointing again.
She heard the softness in his voice and noticed the unknowing way he gently touched the picture. Not unloved then. He was loved and had loved. But then, she'd known that. Nobody could have that kind of gentle spirit Sam possessed without having known somebody who had cared a great deal about him.
So, whatever had led to his estrangement had not been the fact that he hadn't been loved.
It was then that she got a good look at the car in the picture. It was all she could do to not stiffen, but remain soft and loving at Sam's side. The car was the same that she'd seen on campus off and on the last year or so. Not many classic Chevy Impala's, and it was no small coincidence that they were connected to Sam's past.
So, their little spy was for Sam, not for her. Interesting.
ooooOOOOoooo
She watched in concealed bemusement as Sam introduced her to his older brother Dean, who had just broken into their apartment. Dean smiled at her like he'd never seen her, clearly not aware that she had marked him. He flirted with her openly to Sam's little-brother dismay, and threw all kinds of red-herring signs that she knew and recognized.
She smiled and filed the information away, as was her want. After all, she'd been trained by a hunter. And the hunter, her brother, had taught her carefully and well. After all, not all hunting was about putting dinner on the table, and there were things out there in the dark, and sometimes 'things' did go bump in the night.
finis