Chloe resisted the urge to bang her head against her desk as she sat down. She had had her share of harsh editors, but no one compared to the insulting Grant Gabriel. He made Kahn look like Glenda the Good Witch. She could take Lex's harsh, arrogant attitude (mostly because she figured she kind-of deserved it), but she could not stand Grant's condescending tone. And what was worse was the fact that he approved of Lois over her. She loved her cousin and she knew that she had the potential to be a great reporter— once she upped her typing speed— but for the moment, Lois was the grasshopper and Chloe was the sensei.
As long as they don't replace me with her I guess I can handle it. She thought, standing as the mail was handed to her.
"Excuse me, Miss." Chloe glanced up when she heard a familiar voice across the room.
"Sam? Dean?" She smiled, and hurried towards them. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Visiting you," Dean replied as if it were something they did often. He gave her a wry smirk, but Chloe could tell it was only half-hearted. She had a feeling that whatever problems the brothers had had during their last talk were still lingering.
"I meant, what are you doing in town. Last I heard you two were in New York," she amended. She doubted the brothers had driven to Kansas just to visit her, although, she didn't mind the thought. I need to get out more. She decided, embarrassed by her own thought process.
Sam and Dean looked at each other, silently communicating something Chloe couldn't catch. "We were just passing through," Sam said with a small shrug.
Chloe still didn't buy it. "Really?"
"Look, we didn't mean to bother you. We can leave if— " Dean started, but Chloe cut him off.
"No! No, it's fine. I'm just surprised is all." She gave him a small smile. "So you were just passing through…where were you before?"
"Sullivan! Can you tell me why your article isn't ready to be edited?" Grant asked, appearing at Chloe's side. She really hated when he did that. Not many people had the ability to sneak up on her, but apparently Grant was one of the skilled few. He kind of reminded her of Lex with that stealth.
She gestured to her desk. "I'm just polishing it up."
"Really? Well you must be one powerful typist to be able to do that from over here. I need that article on my desk pronto or it's not going to make it in tomorrow's edition," Grant stated, moving past the small group before Chloe could respond.
"Right away, sir," Chloe mumbled, giving a small salute.
Dean whistled once he was out of ear shot. "Nice guy," he mumbled.
Chloe smiled and shrugged. "Welcome to the new Daily Planet. I better get that article done before he takes another lap through here." She took a step towards her desk as she spoke. "But if you guys are going to be in town for a while why don't we meet up later?"
"Sure."
"So what happened to Atlantic City?" Sam asked his brother as he sat back on his hotel bed.
Dean shrugged. "We'll go later. I just wanted to get away from the coast for a while."
"And Chloe had nothing to do with it?" Sam asked, smirking at his brother.
Dean didn't look up from the shotgun he was cleaning. "It was either here or Bobby's. I picked the city."
"Mmhmm." Sam settled into his pillow, biting back his comment. He'd never known Dean to pick a large city over Bobby's place. Dean didn't like the cities unless they offered him something such as a casino, in the case of Atlantic City, or a curvy blonde. Although, Sam had a hard time believing Dean was interested in Chloe that way. He still wasn't completely at ease around her, so there was little chance he was looking to add her to his list of flings. Which as fine by Sam. He preferred to not know the girls Dean was "intimate" with.
Sam stood as someone knocked on the hotel door. It was mid-afternoon which probably meant a maid had overlooked their 'do not disturb' sign. He kept his stride slow as he walked to the door, allowing Dean a moment to store the guns. Most people didn't appreciate a bed full of artillery; it tended to make them nervous. After checking the peep hole, he turned and gave his brother a small nod.
"Hey Chloe," he greeted, opening the door for the reporter.
"Hey Sam, Dean." She nodded at the brothers as she walked inside. As if in response, Dean let out a small sigh, causing Chloe to frown. "Were you expecting someone?"
"No," Dean replied. He reached under the bed and pulled out his bag of weapons. "I thought I might have to hide these from a nosy maid."
"Oh."
"So, what are you doing here?" Sam asked, pulling over a chair for her. She mumbled a thanks and sat down, crossing her arms over her bag. "I thought you had an article to work on."
Chloe paused before answering, playing with the small clasp on an outer pocked of her bag. She looked troubled by something, but Sam knew better than to ask what. She was about as open with her personal problems as they were. It was going to take more than his soft-eyes to get her to confide in him. "I finished early, so I thought I'd take a long lunch break," she said finally. "My boss was…preoccupied when I went to his office so I don't think he'll miss me."
"Preoccupied? As in getting an exclusive with his favorite reporter?" Dean asked with an amused smirk.
"It's unethical for me to say," she deadpanned, earning a snort from Dean. "So what have you two been up to, besides driving across country just to 'pass through' Metropolis?"
Sam noted her quick subject change, but didn't comment. He had a feeling she was as comfortable with what she had seen as he was about his glimpse into Dean's sex life. Ignoring what had happened didn't make the mental image go away any faster, but it helped to keep it from the forefront of the mind.
"Well, Sammy here has been turning on the older women," Dean said, patting his brother on the back.
Sam rolled his eyes. "Ha. Ha."
Dean was amazed as he watched Chloe's face light up with interest. He and Sam were in the process of filling her in on their last case in Massachusetts and she had been in a state of complete intrigue since the start. She wasn't the first person to find their work interesting, but it was a little more than simple curiosity for her. She seemed generally excited to learn about all the supernatural stuff there was out there. Although, he had a feeling her excitement had more to do with the hunting than the prey. Which, considering all the strange things she'd encountered throughout her life, wasn't too surprising.
For the most part, he and Sam knew what they were hunting and how to stop it. It may be supernatural, but there was some kind of handbook to their job. With the things that Chloe faced, there was no handbook, at least not one he could see.
"Bela Talbot? Sounds like a remarkable woman," she snarked once Sam finished.
Dean shared a look with his brother. "Yeah. Remarkable," they mumbled in unison. Chloe snickered.
"No matter what career you're in there's always going to be someone only in it for themselves." Chloe paused, her expression darkening a little. "Or just out to make everyone else miserable."
Dean watched her mouth set into a firm line, surprised to find he missed her smile. It was a nice smile— even if he'd only seen it a handful of times. He had a feeling the annoyed expression was not meant for Bela, though. "They'll get what's coming to them eventually," he said.
"Let's hope it's soon."
There was a lull in the conversation as Chloe watched Dean clean the guns, and Sam watched them both. For a moment, Dean felt a calm settle over the room. Almost since the moment he'd met her, Chloe had been a force of energy: full of excitement, curiosity, or even anger. Now, though, as she sat quietly and let the silence go unfilled he realized she had a calm side to her as well.
Normally, Dean cleaned the weapons in the evenings as Sam researched a hunt. The time could be spent in complete silence or filled with conversation about their current hunt, but either way it was time for the brothers to regroup and find calm in an otherwise hectic lifestyle. Dean wasn't sentimental enough to say those moment were important for him and Sam, but it wasn't very often a third party was involved. Over the years, they had become exclusive almost by some unspoken rule.
Now, though, Dean found himself breaking the rule as he continued his cleaning and instinctively waited for the conversation to turn to a hunt.
Taking his silent cue, Chloe turned to Sam. "Have you guys found any more leads on the demons?"
Sam shook his head. "No."
"Yeah, me neither," Chloe admitted.
"You've been investigating the demons?" Dean asked, feeling annoyance simmer in the pit of his stomach. He should have known she wouldn't stay on the sidelines. It wasn't in her nature.
"From the relative safety of my desk," Chloe assured. "I've just been keeping up with the cities where the dark clouds were spotted. I don't know exactly what to look for, but I think I can tell if something is off."
"If you find anything, let us know?"
"Really? I was thinking of telling my other hunting contacts." Chloe smirked at Dean.
"You have other contacts?" Dean asked. That was quick. It had been little more than a month since she'd met the brothers and she now had other contacts in the hunting business?
"It was a joke." She paused, watching his expression harden slightly. Sometimes, Dean really hated sarcasm. "A bad joke, apparently."
Dean shook his head as his brother pulled the conversation back on track. "You haven't noticed anything?"
"Not so far. At least nothing that the news has reported. It's quiet."
"Maybe the demons are lying low."
"Yeah," Sam agreed cynically, "and planning their attack."
"Do you think this is just the calm before the storm?" Chloe asked.
Dean caught his brother's gaze, trying to gauge what Sam thought they should say. Part of him wanted to tell Chloe everything, but he still believed it wasn't necessary to worry her with the details. Maybe he'd tell her some day, but not now. She was probably scaring herself enough with her research. "Probably," he said instead. It was the truth, but it wasn't all of it.
Chloe nodded as if she'd expected that answer. "Well, unfortunately, things aren't completely calm." She reached into her bag and pulled out some papers, handing them to the brothers. "A few states over some girls have gone missing, and the police just found a corpse in some back alley. Cause of death: blood loss. From the neck."
"You don't seem surprised," Sam pointed-out, reviewing the information.
Chloe shrugged. "I've learned to expect the unexpected and, unfortunately, vampires are old news."
"You've encountered vampires?"
"Yeah, but they were less supernatural and more rabies-infected."
"Rabies?"
Chloe brushed the question off. "It's easier not to explain."
Dean glanced at the papers in his lap and smirked. "So, only a few states over?"
"Yeah," Chloe smiled. "Which means less driving to get 'in the neighborhood' again."
Dean nodded, catching his brother's gaze. Sam was actually smiling at Chloe's statement. He wanted to smile, too, at just the fact that Sam looked happy, but something stopped him. Reality decided to take that moment to smack him in the face. They couldn't do this. He and Sam couldn't get so close and comfortable with Chloe that they were actually planning to visit again.
Chloe would be fine researching in the "relative safety" of her desk. If they kept coming around, though, that safety was going to disappear. The only thing Chloe knew about the supernatural was what he and Sam had filled her in on, and possibly what she'd dug up on the Internet. It wasn't enough to defend herself against the hundreds of new demons crawling around.
Dean set his jaw, making a mental note to stay away as long as possible. He had come to Metropolis hoping Chloe might be his answer to helping Sam cope with his deal. Unfortunately, he was only now realizing it had been a false hope. Sam wasn't going to tell Chloe anything, because Dean wouldn't allow it, and if he couldn't tell her anything there wasn't much they could talk about.
"Looks like we've got a new hunt," he said, looking forward to the moment he could put the 'few states' between them and Metropolis. It's better this way. He decided, ignoring the small, arguing voice in his head that sounded remarkably like Sam.
