Chapter 2: Reunion
"Sam, you gave her my phone number and you didn't tell me."
"You love her, don't you?"
"Of course, but..."
"Then why should it matter?"
"Because, I don't know how long we can stay there, and I don't want to hurt her."
"You won't. She knows what you do for a living, Dean, and she was fine with it. If she still loves you as much as she says she does, then she'll be willing to let you go save the world. Trust me."
"I don't know if I can do this, Sam. What if she sees me and decides I'm not good enough for her?"
"Dean, she never liked you just for your looks. She also liked you for your personality. Believe it or not, looks aren't everything."
"Dude..."
"They're not, Dean. Shut up."
"That's not what I was going to say, man. Look."
Sam looked to where Dean was pointing and saw Michelle's house. It was three stories tall and was painted navy blue with white shutters. There were two gardens; one on each side of the white porch. Blue and purple flowers colored the mini-gardens and two dogs lay asleep on the porch. One was a big black labrador with a blue collar, and the other was a silver husky with a red collar. The lawn was a perfect green and cut short.
"Man, she has to be married. There's no way she'd mow that huge lawn herself. We have to go," Dean insisted. Just then, the door opened.
Michelle stepped out. Her long brown hair flowed down her back and her blue eyes sparkled happily. She was wearing a tight black tank top that just barely covered her tanned stomach. Her jeans hugged her small hips perfectly and tapered out over black leather boots. She smiled and stepped down off the porch.
Sam stepped out of the car and shut his door, followed by Dean. Michelle grabbed Sam in a tight hug and laughed, "You got taller than Dean. You look awesome."
"You too, Chelley," Sam said, "Are you married?"
"No. Never settled down. Why do you ask?"
"You just look like you'd be married by now. That's all."
Michelle looked to Dean and shook her head, "I never got married. I've never been with another guy."
A smile touched the corner of Dean's mouth, but he never showed it.
"Dean?" Michelle said, "Don't I get a hug from you?"
Dean smiled finally and grabbed her around the waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest.
"Wow," she said, "You got muscled. Definitely not the scrawny guy from twelve years ago."
"Nope. I'm a new guy, baby."
"I can tell. Come on inside. I've got two fresh-baked apple pies waiting for you."
As they followed her onto the porch, she whistled to the two dogs, "Cole, Rin, come."
The two dogs followed them inside. Michelle led Sam and Dean through the house and into the kitchen, a high-ceilinged room with cream colored walls and white appliances. In the center of the room was a polished tan table with two pies in the middle of it. Dean smiled and sat down. Sam sat on his right and Michelle sat on his left. The silver husky placed her head on Dean's lap and stared up at him. He smiled and patted her soft, shining coat.
"Rin, down," Michelle said. Dean shook his head.
"No, it's okay. She's beautiful."
"Yeah, but Cole gets really protective over her. He bit Joey once when he was wrestling with Rin. Just a small nip to show he was still there, but Joey's been a little wary of him."
The black lab, Cole walked over to where Dean was sitting and nuzzled his right hand. Dean stroked both dogs' heads and laughed, "I don't think I have anything to worry about with him."
"That's a first. So, Sam, heard you went off to college. How'd that go?"
Sam sighed and looked at Dean, "Okay, I guess."
"Also heard you had a girlfriend?"
"Yeah, but... well, she... it's kinda hard to explain."
Dean looked at Michelle and shook his head.
"Oh, God, Sam, I'm sorry. I didn't know, I'm sorry."
Sam shrugged, "It's okay. I'll live, I guess."
"God, I'm just gonna keep my big fat mouth shut from now on."
"So, how are Christian and Alice?" Dean asked, trying to liven the conversation. Cole and Rin had moved to a corner and were playing tug-of-war with a coke bottle.
"They're good. Christian went off to college and started writing. He's a novelist now. Mom got remarried and moved to Kentucky. Joey's moving to Australia to be with a girl he met online."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Her name's Erin. She's really cool."
"And Australian," Dean mused. Sam laughed.
"So?"
"It's just weird. He lived here and now he's moving to Australia."
"Okay."
"So, you've never been with another guy?" Sam asked, "Why?"
"Long story. There was one guy. He left a few years ago, never called me back. Kinda missed him."
Dean sighed. He knew who she was talking about. And it's not like he didn't want to call her back, but he didn't want to hurt her when he had to go chase ghosts again.
"That wasn't a long story," Sam pointed out.
"No, but it was a long time ago."
"I'm sorry I left, Chelle. I was fourteen. It's not like I could just tell Dad that I wasn't leaving, because you know I would have. I didn't want to leave."
"I know. Believe me, I know. But I kinda got to thinking you didn't love me anymore when you didn't call. It hurt. Then I heard from a friend that Sam went to college and I stopped by and he gave me your number and told me to give you a call sometime."
"And I didn't know about it either," Dean said.
"I'm sorry. I thought he was going to tell you I would call."
"No, it's not that big a deal. I'm glad you called. Twelve years was more than long enough without seeing you again."
"Would you two just go out already? It's been twelve years. Don't you think you should spend some of this time flirting not around me?"
"We're not flirting, Sammy," Dean said, "You wanna see real flirting?"
Sam shook his head sharply, but Dean laughed and looked at Michelle, "So, Michelle. Has anyone told you you have amazingly blue eyes?"
She smiled and moved closer to him, playing along immediately, "I've heard it a couple times."
"Really?" he asked, leaning toward her.
"Yeah," their faces were mere centimeters apart when Sam stopped them.
"Okay, I get it! You weren't flirting! Please just stop there."
Dean laughed, but neither he nor Michelle moved. Michelle's eyes kept flickering from Dean's eyes to his lips. She cleared her throat and turned to look at the table.
'Damn,' Dean thought.
'Man,' Michelle thought.
'Awkward,' Sam.
A/N This is kind of a long chapter, but I hoped you all liked it. AUSSIE SMILES!!!!!!
