Next chapter is the last chapter, I probably could have squeezed it all into this chapter but I have a thing about even numbers...
Shouldn't take me long to get it finished.
Enjoy
Claire watched Dean shovel food into his mouth and scoffed. "And women find you attractive?" The two were currently sitting in a booth at a small diner up the road from Dean's house. He gave the girl a smile, mouth still filled with food. She shook her head at took a sip of her soda to hide her own smile.
"I'll have you know, women love me." Dean added after swallowing. "But it is you that is supposed to be making me swoon, remember?"
"How could I forget, you keep reminding me." She had to make Dean want to kiss her, of his own free will. So the two had been 'hanging out' a lot more in the last few days. That first night, Dean actually made her buy him food and then do his laundry! The second day was her 18th Birthday, she went shopping with Castiel that morning and had lunch with him. Instead of going out with her friends, or enjoying her birthday gifts, the rest of the evening was spent helping Dean fix up that damn car of his in the shop, but he actually spoke with her while he worked and that made the time fly by. It was so easy to talk to Dean about nearly anything. She even learned a few of Dean's favorite things, like classic music made his eyes light up the same way talking about his car did. He also bought her a beautiful bracelet, he said the odd markings engraved on it was a symbol for protection. Claire rubbed the gift on her wrist with a smile and glanced over to see him taking a large drink of his soda. She had to admit, Dean always cleaned up nice. He was wearing a stainless blue T-shirt and dark blue jeans. Claire had never seen him in anything but oily work clothes or pajamas, when he stayed the night at her home because Castiel insisted he had too many beers to drive. His hair was short, but you could tell he combed it. She suddenly felt like her white tank top and worn out blue jeans were not enough.
"So, what's with the hair?" Dean brought her out of her thoughts and she touched the braid on one side of her head that lead up to her scalp. She shrugged.
"My friend wants to be a hairstylist, so I let her experiment with my hair." She said nervously. "...Do you not like it?"
Dean smiled and shook his head. "It's nice, different but nice." He leaned forward some, reaching out to gently run a hand over her head and down her braid. He held the end of it and rubbed it between his fingers. "More importantly, do you like it?"
Claire felt butterflies at the touches and looked away from those green eyes to regain some focus. She nodded. "She was going to do more, but I told her I liked it like this..."
Dean played with the tip of her braid for a bit longer then let another grin cover his face, he gave her hair a slight tug then let it fall and leaned back in his seat. "I'm glad to hear that, I thought you were going to be one of those girls when you were younger."
Claire knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. "Those girls?"
"Yeah, you know, the ones that only want to 'fit in'." He took another bite of his burger before continuing. "The brainless air-heads that walk around desperate for approval."
"Oh, you mean like the girls you date?" Claire threw back. Dean did have a reputation of dating the stupidest girls. Claire could still remember the last one he brought by. She was only a pole away from stripper status.
"Well...I wouldn't call it dating." Dean said with a slight laugh then cleared his throat. He forgot who he was talking to. Claire waited for him to clarify. "Well, I..." He sighed. "It was more of an...understanding?" He hinted. Claire stared for a second then scoffed in disgust when it clicked.
"You brought your flings over to my house? Gross."
"Hey, that was years ago alright...I'd like to think I've gotten better." Dean defended. "I was a bad kid, with a lot of problems and I took it out on the world around me."
Claire did admit it was a few years back when that happened. In fact, she couldn't recall the last time she saw Dean with anyone. "Well, I was one of those girls...for a while." She cringed at the memories of her old self. "...But something happened that made me change, I finally saw what I was around junior year." She really didn't want to talk about that right now, so she quickly added "What made you change?"
Dean could sense a story there, but also knew the signs to leave a subject alone. Maybe he'd find out later. "My brother, Castiel...your dad." He said the last part gently. He hadn't tried to talk about James in a long while.
"My dad?" Claire was surprised, she knew her father was killed and it involved a situation with Dean, Sam, and her uncle but she was too young to know all the details back when it happened. "How?"
"Yeah...hey, maybe you should ask Cas about this story?" Dean didn't want to get in the way, or say something he shouldn't about this subject. "Just know that your dad saved my life." He smiled at her sadly, the memories of that day floating to the top of his mind. Gunshots echoed through his mind along with screams. "He was a great guy."
"Yeah, I wish I could remember more about him." Claire admitted, she had only been seven when he died.
"You got Cas though." Dean added to cheer her up, seeing Claire's face fall slightly at the subject. He didn't like to see her sad. She did give a smile at that.
"Yeah, I don't know what I'd do without him."
"Starve." Dean nodded. "I would starve." Claire couldn't help a laugh that escaped at how seriously that was said. Dean had been known to get so lost in his work that he'd forget to sleep or eat. She could remember him outside her house once, at around three in the morning, trying to get Castiel's old car working. Cas had to nearly wrestle him inside to sleep, he also did things like that when he wanted to escape his feelings. Claire opened her eyes slightly in surprise, she didn't know she knew so much about Dean. He'd always just...been around. Until these last few days, she hadn't realized how much his presence was just expected.
"So..." She needed to get talking before she got lost too deep inside her head. "Do you have a girlfriend now?"
He was the one to laugh at that, finishing off his burger. "If I did, I wouldn't be doing this bet of yours." She was a little too relieved to hear that as she leaned back to let the waitress take their plates.
"You didn't even eat?" Dean frowned when the waitress left to bring back a slice of pie as requested.
"I'm not very hungry." She continued before he could argue. "Have you not found the right person, or...?"
Dean smiled in thanks to the waitress when she sat his pie and the check down before looking back at Claire. "I just haven't been lookin' I guess. I feel like I got too many issues to drag someone into, you know?"
"You're not that bad Dean." She kicked his leg gently with her foot. "Sure, you can be moody sometimes and your mouth never takes a break-"
"Is this you trying to impress me? 'Cause I'm not feelin' it." Dean interrupted, taking a large bite of pie.
"but..." She gave him a glare for cutting her off. "You have a big heart, more than you'll admit, and you care about other people not just yourself. Come to think of it, you've always been there if Castiel or I ever needed you." There eyes met when she spoke the last sentence, but she lost her nerve to keep the contact when he let a sexy smile appear slowly on his face. "For what it's worth, I think you're a pretty great guy." She didn't have the guts to look him in the face yet, just in-case he had that obnoxiously adorable but totally smug smirk. This was ridiculous, when did she become shy?
Claire looked like she was concentrating a little too hard on the table, and Dean couldn't stop from smiling; it wasn't his normal 'I think I am adorable, and you should too' smile, but a real one. The things she had just said made him feel fluttery on the inside. He shrugged it off, so he couldn't describe it but it felt nice but also terrified him. "Well, here I thought you just saw me as an annoyance all these years." He decided to break the silence the best he could. She looked up at him and smiled gratefully.
"Oh, you were that too, so much that." She joked along. "Seriously, I think you get stuck on 'asshole' mode way too often."
He rolled his eyes and relaxed a bit more, comfortable with their normal rhythm. "Only because you like to be a royal pain, princess." He winked at her while he pulled out his wallet. Claire gave him a confused look.
"I'm not paying this time?"
"I eat too much for you to be buying all my meals." He threw a tip on the table then stood to head the register. "Besides, don't you need to save up for that trip? You can bring me a souvenir."
"If I ever get to go..." She muttered out, following him. Why was it so hard to get a kiss from this man? Her trip was looking more and more distant. Maybe she should just suck it up and ask Castiel for the money, but her uncle already over works himself just to save up for her college and expenses; asking for more, just seemed wrong. She had tried to get a job at the grocery store, but it never happened. No place wanted to hire an inexperienced worker now a days.
"Hey!" Claire snapped out of her thoughts at Dean's voice. He was by the exit and giving her a questioning look. "Are you coming, or are you just going to stand there all night?" She glared but followed after him. The warm air outside was a refreshing feeling after being inside the air-conditioned building. She was going to walk to the car when Dean headed the other way.
"Where are you going now?" She sighed out, but followed.
"I thought it would be a great night for a walk around the block." He shrugged like it was nothing. Claire jogged to catch up to him.
"Do you normally go for random strolls at night?" Claire bumped against him playfully. "You could get kidnapped and used to make pies by a deranged couple.
"Okay, first off, you've been watching too many horror movies..." Dean pushed back, making her stumble slightly but laugh when he continued. "Secondly, I can think of worse things than becoming pie. I used to walk around at night all the time, easier not to be seen by the cops that way."
"Oh, such a bad-ass." Claire looped her arm around his without thinking too much about it, but she didn't miss Dean smile at her. "Castiel would freak out if I wasn't in by six." Claire could already see his worried face when she came home an hour or so late a few times. She got an earful those nights.
Dean shrugged again. "Hey, at least you had someone there to freak out. My old man was in and out of our lives so much, he never felt much like a parent."
"What about your mom?" Claire asked innocently, She had heard a few stories about their father, she had never heard anything about the Winchester boys's mother. Dean paused to look inside the window of a closed store, or to just hide his face for a moment.
"Ah, well, mom died when I was six...So I don't really remember much about her." Claire tightened her hold on his arm until he looked at her.
"I'm sorry, I know how that feels." He gave her another smile, but his eyes looked sad. He seemed to shake it off after a moment and continued to walk.
"Hey...isn't that Charlie?" Claire followed Dean's gaze to a group of teens standing at the corner laughing. It was a few of her friends from school, including Charlie.
"Sure is, looks like they just got out of a movie." She smiled when the red head looked over at the two and waved them over, recognizing the two quickly. "These are the kids you can thank for making that bet you love so much."
Dean looked at the group as they got closer. "Well, that explains why I was getting hit on more often..." He recognized a couple of the girls who had randomly stopped by at the shop to ask him for car advice. He had to admit, if it wasn't for their ages, and the fact he was trying to be a better person, he might have took the bait. "Teenagers are weird..."
"Yep, come on, let's get this over with." Claire knew what was going to happen, Dean was about to get a huge ego boost from these girls as they attempted to gain his affections; and for some reason that made her grumpy. She squeezed his arm tighter before letting go to walk over to her friends. She was surprised to feel Dean grip her wrist and pull her back into him. "What are you doing?" She looked up at him, confusion clear on her face.
"I'm not walking into that, so I am doing exactly what you said and get this over with." He was having fun these last few days, but enough was enough. Dean leaned down to capture her lips before she could respond. He let go of her wrist to tilt grab her jaw and tilt her head back more. It didn't take long for Claire to respond, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. She opened her mouth, giving him permission that he took without thought. Their tongues clashed for dominance, but Dean eventually won, his hands finding their way around her hips to pull her as close as possible with clothes on. Claire felt her knees shake as he greedily explored her, and she dug her fingers into his shoulders to keep from falling.
Dean let go when air became a problem, and gasped. Claire did the same, but her eyes remained shut and her cheeks were tinted a light pink. When she finally opened them to look up at him, her eyes met his. She bit back a groan at the intense stare he was giving her and dug her nails back into his shoulders; pulling him down. She wanted to kiss him more, longer and with less clothes. Dean seemed to agree by the way his eyes closed slightly and he licked his lips. She felt his hands on her hips, like Dean was about to yank her against him.
"Whoa..." Charlie's voice brought the two back to reality, and Dean pulled away. They were in the middle of a sidewalk, with a group of teens watching them basically make out. Claire reluctantly let her hands fall away and bit at her lip to try and calm her body. She looked up at Dean once more, who looked like he was concentrating on something really hard. Her eyes traveled down his body and another pulse of pleasure shot through her stomach at him trying to hide his erection with his T-shirt.
"I'm..." Dean coughed. "I'm going to go get the car warmed up...Don't take too long." He turned way quickly and stumbled off, giving a wave over his shoulder when Char said goodbye.
"Oh...my god!" Charlie and the rest of the group ran over to her. "That was the hottest thing I've seen in months!" One girl squealed. "How did it feel?" Before Claire could answer her other friend jumped in. "It felt amazing, anyone can tell that by the look on her face."
"Okay guys, I think it is official, forced or not forced, that was so hot you win the bet Claire." Charlie frowned, but smiled quickly after. "You get to go to Mexico for free!"
"O-oh, yeah, great." Claire was still trying to get her thoughts from making out with the gutter. So that was why Dean kissed her, no one could deny what was right in front of them. So that meant it was over, she could go back to her normal ways and Dean would just be Dean again.
"You okay Claire?" Charlie asked, sounding concerned. "For a second there, you kind of looked like you were going to cry."
"I'm fine, everything is fine." She pulled away from the group. "I got to go, I'll see you guys later!" She called over her shoulder to a confused Charlie as she jogged back to the vehicle.
Dean rubbed his head, he was sitting in the driver seat, and let out a sigh. He did the right thing, putting an end to this stupid bet, but he felt bad about it to be honest. "I shouldn't have even played along t begin with..." He said to himself. It was cute in the beginning but tonight he felt a shift in the relationship he had with Claire, before all this she was just his best friend's niece but looking at her now; Claire wasn't a little girl anymore, and tonight made him think she was actually interested in him. She wasn't though, Dean let his head fall back on the seat. It was all for a bet. He straightened when Claire pulled the passenger door open and climbed in. "I should get you home before Cas gets there to lecture me abou-mhn!" Dean was not expecting the blonde to climb over and kiss him. He kissed back for a moment, when his brain caught up, then pulled away. "What the hell, was that kiss out there really not enough to convince them!?" He pushed her back over to her side. "What do they want, a fucking step by step?"
"That wasn't for them." Claire stated, leaning forward to kiss him again but he stopped her with a hand on her stomach.
"Then why are you? What are you after now?" He didn't mean for it to sound so defensive, but he was being thrown off his feet here and Dean didn't like being in the dark; you get hurt that way.
"Dean...I just...I want to make a new bet." Claire said, putting her hand over the larger one against her stomach.
"Forget it, I am done with this whole-"
"I bet I can make you fall for me, like I am for you." She forced the confession out, hoping it didn't blow up in her face. Dean seemed to freeze up for a moment, so she took the opportunity to lean forward and whisper in his ear. "Let me stay the night with you?" She felt his grip tighten for a moment, and his jaw clenched. She smiled when he finally released her to grab the wheel and turn toward his house, his mind apparently made up.