Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me. The original character of Chloe and Amanda do.
"Up and at 'em, kiddo! Time for school!"
Chloe groaned. "I don't wanna!"
"I know, sweetie. But let's go. Get up and get moving and it'll be easier. Promise."
Chloe sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, reminding her mother of her being seven years old rather than seventeen. "Coming."
Amanda, who had been turning to leave the room and go back down to the kitchen to start breakfast, stopped and turned back to Chloe. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Chloe said.
"I don't care that you're seventeen. I can and will tickle it out of you." Amanda said.
Chloe wrinkled her nose at the thought. "You wouldn't."
"You want to try me?" Amanda threatened, hand on her hip to make her threat more believable.
Chloe huffed. "Fine." She looked down and picked at a loose thread on her comforter. "I miss Riley."
Amanda immediately softened. She'd guessed correctly that there was something much more than foot-dragging going on. Amanda looked at a photo on the wall, one she'd taken herself but had no idea it would be the last one she'd ever take. Chloe had an arm around the shoulder of her best friend, Riley Sampson, at Riley's birthday party a few weeks earlier. Riley had spent lots of time at Amanda and Chloe's house over the fourteen years the two of them had been friends, to the point that Riley eventually called Amanda 'aunt Mom' and then eventually 'Mom'. Just six hours after the photo was taken, Riley had gone down to the local library, found his way to the roof, and leapt off it to his death. Chloe, and even Amanda, had been left shattered. Amanda took a seat on Chloe's bed.
"Do you want me to go to school with you?"
Chloe thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No. I need to get used to it."
"Honey, I took you and Riley to school together every single day for five years. I hate to break it to you, but you won't get used to it." Amanda said. "Do you want me to take you today and start waking you up a little earlier so you can ride the bus?"
"No." Chloe said. "I want to use the walk to talk to him. Is that dumb?"
"I don't think so." Amanda answered. "I still do."
"You do?"
"I do. I practically raised that kid the same way I raised you." Amanda said.
"Yeah, you did."
"Listen. I'll be home all day today. If you need me, call me and I'll come pick you up. But try to stay, okay? It's the last semester of your senior year. It's meant to be fun. Riley wouldn't want you to be miserable right now."
"You're right." Chloe said. She yawned and stretched. "I'm gonna get dressed and I'll be right down."
"Okay. Good girl. You want pancakes or French toast?"
"Waffles."
Amanda laughed. "Deal."
Amanda went to the kitchen and began to start on breakfast. Dean was already sitting at the counter, dressed in his work uniform, cup of coffee in his hand. John sat at the kitchen table, an open newspaper in front of his face, blocking him from Amanda's view almost completely.
"Morning, guys."
"Morning." Both said virtually at the same time.
After sharing a quick kiss with Dean, Amanda quickly pulled the ingredients together for waffles. "I'm making waffles for the princess. You guys want any?"
"Yes, please." Dean said. "Want me to make some bacon and eggs?"
"That would be great."
Dean and Amanda worked together, and a few minutes later, breakfast was ready and on the table. Chloe could be heard in her room the entire time, taking a shower and then spraying something. As they placed the last plate onto the table, Amanda said a silent prayer. John, please don't start with Chloe this morning. John had moved in a week after Riley's funeral, so he had only been in the house a little over a month. For most of the time Amanda had been married to Dean, he'd been a full time hunter. But one heart attack two years earlier, and another, more serious one a week before Riley had died, had made it easier for Dean to convince his father to move in with them. Without talking to Amanda first.
That had led to the biggest fight the couple had ever had. Chloe was extremely wary of strangers. Dean argued that John wasn't a stranger, that Chloe had met him before. Amanda argued that they'd been married for twelve years, and Chloe had met John exactly three times. He was enough of a stranger, she said, that him moving into their house was a problem. She'd eventually relented, of course, when Dean was just short of begging her.
"Babe, please. He's my dad. If he's here, I know he's not out there drifting and maybe having another heart attack that he might not live through this time. Please do this for me."
Amanda decided that he'd had a point. Dean had done more for her and Chloe than she could ever repay. When her ex-husband had dumped her and a four-year-old Chloe on the side of the road one wet, rainy night, Dean had been the one to find them and pick them up. He'd taken them to a diner, paid for dinner for them, and talked to a shaking, scared Chloe about anything other than her father. He'd made Chloe so at ease that she'd ended up sleeping in his lap before leaving the diner.
Dean had driven the two of them back home that night, over fifty miles away, and helped put a now sleeping soundly Chloe into her bed. He'd started to leave and find a motel room, but Amanda had insisted he stay with them and sleep on the couch. The rest was history. Her divorce was finalized the following year, and they'd gotten married almost right away. Dean had told her the truth the night before their wedding about monsters, and Amanda had surprised even herself at her easy acceptance of it. Dean had later quit hunting after Amanda lost her job, and found a job himself at the local garage. Though she picked up various odds and ends jobs after that, Dean had given her what she'd always dreamed of-the ability to stay home and raise Chloe. With all that, Amanda decided it was time to repay the favor Dean had given her. But she had one rule.
"I know he's your father, and I know he's family. And he can stay as long as he needs to. But he does not run this house. I expect him to contribute at least with simple chores. Washing dishes. Laundry. Maybe cook once in a while. And he needs to realize he is not in charge of this house. That means what you say and what I say goes. Can you handle telling him that?"
Dean had agreed, and thanked Amanda profusely for letting it happen. The first couple of days weren't so bad. John was polite, would make conversation, and would help her out without being asked. But he was constantly glancing sideways at Chloe. Her free spirted, artistic, and caring spirit clashed with John's no nonsense one. Amanda could tell he didn't like the way she raised Chloe, but she didn't care. He'd never directly criticize her, or worse, Chloe, but would make little comments that dug at Amanda.
When Chloe called down the hall to her mother to tell her she was going to the library, and would be back 'around seven', John had looked at Amanda and said, "That didn't sound like a question."
When he found out that Chloe attended a performing arts high school, he'd said, "What's wrong with regular school?"
When Chloe had come down one morning in shorts and a tank top, he'd asked snidely, "That's what you're wearing to school?"
When Chloe had cut her hair, which at the time had been almost down to her butt, by more than half, he'd shaken his head. "You looked like a young lady with the way it was before. Why'd you cut it?"
When he'd discovered that Amanda's best friend practically her entire life had been a boy, he'd said to Dean, not knowing that Amanda and Chloe could hear him, "Boys and girls aren't meant to be best friends. They would've ended up pregnant really young if the kid had lived.
That little incident had made Amanda snap. A crying Chloe had run to her room, and Amanda had made herself very clear to John. The criticisms of Chloe and Amanda, both verbal and non-verbal, were to stop immediately. Chloe was her daughter, and Amanda would raise her as she saw fit. If he had a problem with that, he could leave. And, she'd told him, Riley was her son. Not by blood, but he was still her son. And if he ever disrespected her son's memory in her house again, he'd be looking for a new place to live. John had, of course, apologized, not wanting to risk more of Amanda's wrath. Finally, two minutes after the table was set, Chloe came down. Amanda gasped and smiled.
"I love it!"
Chloe walked in, placed her backpack on the ground, and spun around once. Her hair was a bright green color. Amanda noticed that John looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't.
"Come on, honey. Come eat or you'll be late." Amanda handed her a plate and asked, "Why'd you do your hair that way today, sweetie?"
Chloe shrugged a little, and John was practically twitching with the urge to say something. But he didn't.
"I don't know. It's Riley's favorite color, so I thought I'd surprise him." Chloe said. "You think it's stupid?"
"Not at all." Amanda said. "Eat up, baby. So what are your plans for this afternoon?"
"Tyler and Colton are coming over to practice for my showcase." Chloe said. "Hey, Dean? Could we do that in the garage? It's got the biggest floor in the house."
"Sure, kiddo. Just be careful of my tools and stuff, okay?"
"I will. Thanks." Chloe finished the waffle she was on and then checked the clock. "Oops! Gotta go!" She grabbed her backpack and kissed her mother's cheek. "Bye, Mom. Bye, Dean. Bye, Mr. Winchester."
As she headed off towards school, Chloe could only hope to have a good day.