"It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace."
― Chuck Palahniuk
Inferno
Karleigh hugged Ellen tightly. "It's been good seeing you. Thanks for having us," she said, pulling back. Ellen smiled easily.
"It's no problem. You girls are practically family. If you're ever in the area, drop in, okay?" Isabelle nodded. Ellen looked at Sam and Dean. "It's been nice to finally meet you boys. When you find John, tell him to give me a ring, okay?"
Sam nodded. "Sure thing," he said.
"We better get going," Isabelle said. She waved at Jo, Ellen and Ash, and got into the back of the Impala with Karleigh, while Sam and Dean got into the front. Dean sped away, spraying gravel everywhere.
"And now, to Bobby's," Karleigh said. She put her earbuds in. "Okay, I'm unable to hear all of you now. You can start arguing anytime."
(**)
"Bobby!" Isabelle practically yelled, throwing her arms around the man, who made a surprised 'oof!'
"Christ, don't knock me over now," the man grumbled as Karleigh joined the group hug. He smiled. "What're you four doin' here?"
"Well, mostly because we felt you needed something good to eat, because we all know you're cooking skills are non-existent," Karleigh said brightly. 'But we also need you to hook us up with a car."
Bobby looked at them. "I've got a few you can choose from. But it depends on how well you cook."
Isabelle smirked, and looked at her sister. "Karleigh, I think the poorly-stocked kitchen is calling our names."
"Indeed it is," Karleigh replied, and with that, the two girls headed off into the direction of the kitchen. Bobby looked at Sam and Dean.
"How are you boys doing?" Bobby asked, looking at them closely.
"Fine," Sam said. "We just wanted to drop in."
"Well, that's good." Bobby grinned. "I'm glad those two haven't driven you crazy yet."
"Remember who's making the food you eat!" Isabelle called from the kitchen. Bobby rolled his eyes.
"Any word from John?" Bobby asked.
"Nope," replied Dean. "We're mainly just hunting now."
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Isabelle pulled a package of chicken from the freezer. Checking the expiration date, she sighed in relief.
"Is it okay?" Karleigh asked. "Because that's basically the only meat we've got, and Dean and Sam are gonna bitch for all eternity if we just give them 'rabbit food.'"
"It's good," Isabelle replied, handing her sister the package of chicken. Karleigh ripped open the packaging, and tossed it into the garbage. She threw the chicken into the pan, and they began to pop and sizzle in the oil. Isabelle grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables from the freezer, and dumped them into a pot on the stove, and filled it slightly with water.
"I sorta miss it," Karleigh said suddenly.
"Miss what?" Asked Isabelle absent-mindedly. She poked at the vegetables with a fork.
"Living here. Cooking for Bobby. You sort of get attached to it," Karleigh mumbled.
"I know. Weird. Remeber when we first came here, and for the first month or two, we hated it?"
"Yep. I guess you learn to love it," Karleigh said with a shrug. "After dinner, we should get working on finding another case."
"I was thinking exactly the same thing." Izzy rummaged through the freezer. Suddenly, as she was looking at a bag of expired carrots, a magazine fell out of the freezer. Busty Asian Beauties. Isabelle sighed, not allowing herself to even consider how that had gotten there.
(**)
"Dinner is served, idjits." Karleigh set down the plates of chicken in front of each person. Izzy set down five beers.
"You better like it, because I just worked my ass off," Isabelle said, glaring at the men, daring them not to like her food.
Everyone dug into their food.
"This is great," Sam said. Isabelle smiled.
"Thank God. Hey, do you think you can research any cases near here?"
Sam shrugged. "Sure."
"I'm hoping for some vamps," Karleigh said. "We haven't hunted those in a long time. The last time probably was-"
"When you were fourteen and I was sixteen," Isabelle finished for her.
"Right. And afterwards, Bobby got so drunk that we had to drag him to bed." Karleigh smirked. "I have pictures to prove it."
"It was a hard case!" Bobby protested. Isabelle and Karleigh exchanged a doubtful glance.
"Bobby, you started calling me Tinkerbell, and Karleigh Peter Pan," Isabelle said in an exasperated tone.
Bobby looked absolutely done with the conversation, his cheeks red. Sam and Dean sniggered into their plates. Bobby glared at them.
"Idjits," he muttered.
Karleigh, meanwhile, was showing everyone the pictures on her phone. "I have some from before he passed out, too. He was doing the Macerena down in the bar, but the song was Back to Black. Eventually, he hit his head on something, and knocked himself out."
Bobby had his head in his hands as everyone roared with laughter.
"Well, you two aren't exactly innocent, either," Bobby pointed out. Izzy nodded- this was a fair point.
"I remember finding the stash of vodka under your floorboards, girls."
"Don't pretend you didn't drink at least a little bit of it," Isabelle fired back, her eyebrows raised.
"I did, because it was originally mine! I've yet to discover her chip stash, though!" Bobby glared at Karleigh, who was smirking.
"You'll never find it," was all she said. "My hiding spots are legendary."
"Can't be all that legendary," Isabelle quipped. "Because if they were, Bobby wouldn't have found the vodka!"
Karleigh looked at her sister dryly. "You're the one who hid it!"
"No, I hid the chocolate stash."
"Where was that again?"
"In my underwear drawer, Bobby would never go there."
"Good thinking."
The men looked at the girls, their facial expressions a cross between amused and slightly weirded out.
"Hah, remember that time when we snuck out of the house and hung out in the woods for night?" Isabelle asked.
"Yep. Maybe we wouldn't have gotten caught if you'd remembered to put your gun on safety."
"It was funny though. Bobby running outside in his boxers and a t-shirt, hollering with his rifle."
"The look on his face when he realized it was just us."
The girls began laughing for quite a while. Finally, they each took a deep breath.
"We're good," the girls said together.
Bobby stared at them, not amused. "A chocolate stash?"
Isabelle shrugged. "Chocolate is amazing, Bobby."
"I know that, but it's a wonder you didn't get cavities!" Bobby exclaimed. Isabelle snickered.
Bobby rolled his eyes. "Girls," he muttered in an exasperated tone, rolling his eyes.
Sam and Dean still looked confused. Bobby looked at them.
"Yes, this is what it's always like," he said. Isabelle and Karleigh were laughing.
"Well, I'm gonna go and read a book," Isabelle said, standing up with her empty plate and putting by the sink.
"Hey Sam, want to come and go for a walk with me?" Karleigh asked. Isabelle's eyes met Dean, and she grinned at him.
"Sure," Sam said, obviously trying to conceal his eagerness. Shaking his head at his brother, Dean grinned slightly as the two walked out of the house.
Following Isabelle up to her room, he saw that it was really, really messy, even though they hadn't been there for a few months. Turning around once she realized she wasn't alone, Isabelle smirked at him in amusement.
"Bobby'll skin you alive if he finds you in here," she said, raising her eyebrows at him.
Dean shrugged, trying to find words to say. "You still got that vodka?" he asked. Isabelle laughed wickedly, and jumped to the floor, and down to her knees, searching under her bed, tossing various pieces of clothing, book and several knives out from under it. She finally cried out victoriously, and returned with a vodka bottle.
"So, is this our annual drinking hour or something?" she asked, grinning as she took a swig from it, then passing the bottle to him.
"Nah, I only like you when you're drunk," Dean remarked. Isabelle punched him in the shoulder, but she was grinning. She sat down against the door, and Dean sat down beside her.
"So did you really do all that stuff you were talking about at dinner?" Dean asked after a long silence.
"Of course. Karleigh and I are masters at breaking the rules. One time, Karleigh and I snuck out and we hung out at this bar four like, two hours. This guy started hitting on me. I punched him in the face," she said, her voice slightly slurred and eyes closed.
"Seems familiar," Dean joked. "Once, I TP'd a guy's house with some friends. We ended up getting caught by the police. I got out though before they cuffed me."
Isabelle laughed. "You know how I got expelled from school once? Yeah, well this stupid fucking bitch was being an asshole to Karleigh, so I sorta lost it and pushed him down two flights of stairs. I was expelled, so was Karleigh. But I didn't stop there. I TP'd his house seven nights in a row. Bobby found me on the last night I did it. He pretended like he gave a crap and yelled at me, but secretly he didn't care."
"What do you think they're doing on their walk?" Dean asked. Isabelle smirked.
"Most likely touchy-feely things," Isabelle remarked, brushing her dark hair out of her eyes.
Dean smirked, and brought the bottle of vodka to his lips.
(**)
"So, you seem to have a pretty good taste in books," Karleigh began. "Anything else you've read that's good?"
Sam was happy with the direction the conversation was going. "Have you read Harry Potter?" he asked.
Karleigh's face brightened immensely. "You've read Harry Potter? Holy shit! Holy shit! Who's your favourite character? How much did you love Draco? What house are you in? I'm in Hufflepuff, whoo! Puff Pride!" Karleigh proceeded to do the macerena. Sam tried not to laugh.
"Um, Harry was my favourite character, I thought Draco was a little shit until the sixth book, then I secretly loved him, but I'm not gay," he added quickly, as Karleigh snickered. "And apparently I'm in Gryffindor. And I didn't really strike you as a hufflepuff. More like a Gryffindor."
Karleigh looked at him seriously. "Hufflepuffs have all the bravery of Gryffindor's, but none of the rashness. And plus, our mascot is a honey badger. That strikes me as pretty cool."
Sam laughed at the girl and her fan-girling. "I guess you're right. Dean always used to make fun of me for reading those."
Karleigh wrinkled her nose in distaste. "What an uncultured swine. Isabelle loves them just as much as me, though. We used to have a whole bookshelf filled with all these books, but we were practising hand-tohand combat in our room and it sort of ... died."
Sam laughed again, finding himself at ease with the girl. "So you and Isabelle were trouble-makers, I'm guessing?"
Karleigh laughed easily. "Yep. We still are, actually. But God, Bobby had his hair full, that's for sure. Once, I got so pissed off at Izzy I threatened to drop her copy of Catcher in The Rye out the window. Bobby came home to an empty house. We accidentally locked ourselves in the panic room. It took him hours to find us."
Sam laughed, then there was a lingering silence, that was somewhere between awkward and intense. Her brown eyes met his blue ones, and Sam's mind tried to think of something to say, but his brain had seemingly turned to mush. Finally, Karleigh looked away, her caramel hair flying in the wind.
"Well, we better get back," Karleigh said, not looking at him. "Isabelle and Dean must already planning some sort embarrassing thing waiting for us when we get back."
Sam grinned. "They're getting along better, aren't they?"
Karleigh smirked. "Yep. Sort of a blessing, because they would have ended up ripping each other's heads off."
"But now, both of them will be united in a quest to annoy the hell out of us," Sam pointed out.
Karleigh raised her eyebrows. "That's a horrific thought! Christ, I'm glad we'll be getting separate cars, that would have been..."
"Scarring?" Sam suggested. Karleigh laughed.
"I was gonna say Hellish, but that's even better." Both of them laughed, and continued on their way home. This time, the silence was completely comfortable. The fading summer light shone down on Karleigh's hair, making it look like spun gold. Her eys were focused somewhere off into the distance, giving her a slightly occupied expression. She was exactly the opposite of Jessica, Jessica all soft and nice and calm.
Karleigh was hard and tough and wild and crazy, yet she was just as beautiful as Jessica was. Sam didn't really understand how that worked, but it was true.
"Prepare yourselves," Karleigh warned him as they stepped inside the house. "Isabelle and Dean have been left to entertain themselves. The house just might be destroyed."
Sam laughed, and Karleigh quickly ran up the stairs two steps at a time. She reached her room, the door closed. Sam and Karleigh exchanged equally horrified glances, then Karleigh kicked the door open.
"Ow!" Isabelle yelped. "You almost took my hand off!"
"Sorry," Karleigh said, but really didn't seem sorry at all. She noticed the bottle of vodka in her sister's hand. She gave her a dry look. "Really?"
Isabelle returned the look, maybe with an added drunken stupor. "Hey! I'm the older sister, I'm supposed to be the one who does the 'really' thing!" The girl suddenly giggled. "So, what did you two get up to on your date?"
Karleigh didn't blush, but Sam did. She nodded to the passed out Dean. "Not as much as you two seem to have had."
Isabelle gave her sister an excellent bitchface, not appearing to be embarrassed in the slightest. Karleigh gave it back, and snatched the bottle of alcohol from her sister's hands. Isabelle cried out in protest, but was too tired to try and retrieve it.
"Meany," was all Isabelle could manage. Karleigh just laughed, and left the room with Sam. Isabelle rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, that's right, go have sex or something!" Isabelle yelled weakly. She dissolved into laughter.
Nobody hear her except Bobby. Shuddering, the man shook his head, and put his head in his hands. These kids were gonna be the death of him.
End of Chapter Six