Carmen got behind the wheel of her jeep and started the long drive home. The impala cruised along behind her. Her head was swimming with a million thoughts and scenarios, none of them good. "This is a terrible idea," she breathed. Her heart was pounding, her head was hurting and she was having difficulty breathing. At this rate it was highly unlikely she'd make it home, she needed to calm down. She put on some AC/DC and concentrated on her breathing. In and out, in and out. It really wasn't that complicated.
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"Okay so why are we going to Indiana?" Sam asked his brother who was riding shotgun, trying to sleep but in vain.
"I don't know. Carmen said she wanted to show me something." He replied, unsatisfied with his own answer.
"What? What is so important that she has to show you now? In Indiana?" Sam pressed on.
"Sam if I knew I'd be a lot less frustrated. But I don't know and it's killing me just as much as it's killing you okay?" Dean said raising his voice. "I'm not thrilled to be making this trip but I don't know man…" he hesitated, shaking his head, "something about the way she talked about it. She was…nervous. And hesitant." He looked at his brother, "Carmen is just about the most strong-willed, iron steady people I know. She doesn't get nervous, not that way."
He gazed out the window thoughtfully. Whatever it was it made Carmen nervous. That made him uncomfortable.
Carmen slowed in front of one of the houses in a very homey, all-American looking residential area. She parked her car in the garage; Sam parked the impala in the driveway. It and its occupants looked completely out of place in the sensible surroundings.
"Where are we?" asked Dean, getting out of the impala.
"Home" Carmen answered. "This is my house." She made her way to the door. Slowly, taking each step with deliberate care and caution, like she was walking around a ticking time bomb. Well, towards more like.
"What did you forget to walk?" Dean asked, his annoyance at the suspense getting the better of him. "What the hell is going on? Why are you so nervous and fidgety?"
Carmen looked from Dean's annoyed, irritated expression to Sam's confused, slightly worried one.
"You'll find out soon enough." She replied. She walked up the two steps to the door and turned the look with resolved determination. "Like a Band-Aid," she thought to herself. She opened the door and stepped into the foyer, the boys right behind her. In the corner of her eye, she sees Dean take out his gun.
"What the hell are you doing? Put that away..." just as she reaches for the gun, a high-pitched voice resonates through the house, "Mommy!"
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"This whole situation is off", thought Dean as he and Sam followed Carmen into her house. Something wasn't right and he'd be damned if whatever it was caught him with his pants down. He slowly reached behind him and pulled his gun from his waistband and held it in position. But he wasn't inconspicuous enough.
"What the hell are you doing? Put that away…" Carmen said under her breath. Why was she whispering, and did she look…scared? Before Dean could question her about it though, he heard a small, high-pitched voice. "Mommy!" Dean turned to see the owner of the voice. A small boy, not more than four, was bounding towards them, a huge smile on his face. Carmen scooped him up and twirled him around.
"Hey buddy! Miss me?" she asked snuggling him. The kid giggled a response but Dean didn't hear him. He was too preoccupied by what he had said a moment previously. Mommy? Did that kid just call Carmen mommy? He turned to Sam who jerked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows as if to ask, "did you know?" Dean just shook his head. No he didn't know. What else didn't he know? Did she have a husband? Did his one-night stand just become an affair?
Dean turned his attention back to Carmen and her…son. Just as she turned her attention back to them. Immediately her expression turned from exhilarated happiness to one of concern.
"Guys, this is Ben. My son." She paused as if to let that information sink in. Then she turned to the child in her arms, "Ben, this is Dean and Sam. They're…" she hesitated for a second, "…friends of mine. Do you wanna say hi?"
"Hello" he said smiling his big smile, his mother's smile Dean noted, at the brothers.
"Hey Ben." Sam smiled back. Dean however, just nodded. Carmen, who was looking at Dean during this whole exchange now turned back to her child.
"Ben why don't you go inside and play while mommy talks to Dean and Sam." She said putting the kid down. Who promptly ran into the living room to continue whatever he was doing before they walked in. That's when Dean noticed another person in the room, he hadn't noticed her with all that was going on.
"Maya, thank you so much. I hope he wasn't much trouble." Carmen said to the middle-aged woman standing in the archway.
"No no of course not. I love that kid, you know that." Said Maya, making her way to the door. "I'll leave you to it then."
The departure of Maya, left three of them in the most uncomfortable silence of Dean's life. No one knew where to look or what to say. Sam opened his mouth a few times but seemed to think the better of it.
A few moments later, Carmen turned to Sam, "Sam do you mind if I talk to Dean in private for a minute?"
"Oh, no of course. I'll umm keep Ben company." He said making his way into the living room. Carmen smiled gratefully. As soon as Sam was out of earshot, Dean turned to Carmen, "you have a son?" he aggressively whispered. "A son? An actual human kid? You are a mom? What the actual fuck Carmen?"
"I wanted to tell you," she said defensively, "but I thought it would be easier and better if I showed you instead."
"Easier than 'Oh by the way Dean I'm a mother of a toddler, and we live in the fucking suburbs'?" Dean asked incredulously, "How is that not easier than driving 6 hours?"
Carmen was pinching the bridge of her nose, her eyes tight shut.
"Do you also have a husband that's gonna pop out of the houseplants?" asked Dean.
Carmen jerked her head up in confusion, "a husband? What…no. No husband, just a kid. Its just me and Ben."
That was a relief to Dean. He hadn't had an affair with a married woman, that's one less problem he had to take on. God knows he has enough.
"Great." He paused, "Why did you bring me here?"
Carmen tilted her head to the side, her forehead wrinkled and she shook her head in exasperation. "Wow you really are completely clueless aren't you?"
That's when something clicked in Dean's head. A thousand questions had flooded his head when he saw Ben, but he didn't think to ask himself the most important question. The most obvious one.
He looked at Carmen, "how old his he?" he asked.
Carmen sighed, "He's four," she said. But her eyes answered his unspoken question, "Yes".
