It's been a while, I know I'm sorry. Personal life's being a slight B-word while at the same time being surprisingly nice to me... and I also just bagged a new job—which I enjoy a lot since it involves books—and the hours just made balancing studying and writing fanfictions twice as hard as before I had the job, so please excuse the short updating. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 9
After taking a cold bath, I changed into a purple flowy night dress and did my nightly skincare routine. I was so tired I only went halfway through. All I wanted was to watch some TV and just let sleep take its course. I could feel a mixture of feelings from beyond the bathroom door, which were mostly of worry and concern. Scrub still on my face, I rolled my eyes.
"Sam, Carrie, I'm fine." I reassured them. I knew they were concerned about what had happened, but seriously, I was feeling better just being in my house. "Stop asking, please."
"Well, it didn't sound like you were fine on the phone." Carrie snapped. She had the right to be upset. When Dean and I got back to my place, I was feeling so warm, they practically had to shed all my clothing on my way upstairs. Sam and Carrie had prepared the bathtub with ice cubes when Dean made the call. The fever had gone down, but now I was feeling very cold. "Are you sure you'll be okay while me and Sammy search the town for that bastard?"
"Yeah." I opened the door and immediately, Dean sprung up from the couch, rushing over to me, which I found really adorable. I chuckled. "I'm fine, Dean. Just feel a little chilly from the ice bath."
"Well, since you're okay, me and Carrie can get going." Sam told me, and gave me a friendly hug. "If anything comes up, we'll call you immediately."
I smiled weakly and nodded. "Just call Dean. I'm switching off all the phones and mine aswell so I can rest. And hey, can you let Buck up here? I'd feel safer knowing he'll be around too."
"No problemo, Ari." Carrie replied, running downstairs to open the office door, letting Buck upstairs.
"If anything happens—" Sam started telling Dean.
"Yes, we'll call. I got it." Dean assured him, and Sam went downstairs, closing the front door behind him. He turned round to look at he. Smirking, he asked, "You sure you're okay?"
I groaned, laughing a little as I covered my face. "Not you too!"
"Kidding, kidding!" he laughed, taking my hands into his and kissing my forehead. "But seriously, are you sure you're okay?"
"I will be when you shut up." I replied, then frowned. "And when I gain my body temperature."
"Here." Dean shrugged off his leather jacket and put it over me. I looked down bashfully. He still had this effect on me despite stepping out of my comfort zone a few hours before. He took my hand. "Better?"
"You didn't have to. I can always go to bed and cover myself." I mastered up all my courage and looked into his beautiful, emerald eyes. "But thank you. How about we watch a movie?"
Dean smirked playfully. "Or... we can play the movie... and not watch it?"
Giggling, I rolled my eyes. "Carrie and Sam will be back very soon. They just went to do a quick round for the demon." Dean ignored me completely, leaning in for a kiss, which I gladly returned.
I forgot it all: the demon, Sam's abilities, me not being able to read Dean. It was that one kiss that washed it all away... and the one after that... and the other ones after that.
Gone.
When Dean pulled away, my eyes fluttered open and smiled softly when the first thing I saw were his green eyes. I could hear Buck's faint breathing by the bed. Dean's hands cupped my face and gave me one last lazy kiss.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked him quietly as not to wake Buck (he can get pretty cranky if he doesn't sleep very well).
"Yeah." he replied with a smile.
"Have you ever..." I paused for a second, thinking before I spoke. "... considered giving up hunting and, you know... start a new life?"
His hands left my face, instead taking my hand in his, caressing slowly, and sighed. "I considered it once... yeah. But I just—I don't know where to start. I've been doing this most of my life so I have no idea what it's like to live normal, you know."
"Start with buying your own place." I couldn't tell him to move in with me. Too early. Plus it's not like I had much space. Minneapolis is also very small town and for Dean to find a job he had to go one or two towns over. I wanted him to be close. "Then find a job."
"Isn't hunting a job?"
I shook my head. "Well, not exactly. But what if you..." Easy does it now. "... I dunno..." I looked up at him, a fake clueless expression on my face. Easy, Ariana. "... meet someone?"
Dean snorted. "With my history, I don't think that's ever gonna happen..." I frowned and looked down. Great. This was a one-time thing. Of course it was! "... but if I ever went on a hunt—well, finished it—would...? I mean..." Dean let out a short, nervous laugh and tilted my head up with one finger, my eyes lost in his. "What happened tonight, before the whole demon thing, I, uh, actually... kinda liked it." I sat up straight. Did this mean something? Duh, of course it did! "Was that what it's usually like with normal people? When they go out and stuff?"
I laughed, finding his cluelessness so cute and funny at the same time. "Kinda, yeah. They usually don't get date-crashed by a demon though. And the girl usually isn't empathic."
"I'd do normal if... if it means getting to know you. All over again" Yep. It just happened. As usual, I wanted to feel what he's feeling so badly. I still didn't have answers, and I didn't want to turn to my mom and grandmother. That meant they were right: that moving out of the community would cause trouble. It did, but after a long time. They would never understand. "We started on the wrong foot and, well, I wanna make things right." He squeezed my hand and kissed my cheek. "What do you say? Would you do me the honours and help me be normal?"
"You make being normal seem so... not normal." I chuckled and kissed him. "But yes. Yes I will."
Dean's phone started ringing. Smoke on the Water. A classic. I wish dad was around to meet him, they'd hit it off immediately. "Sammy? Oh, Carrie..." Pause. He gave me a side-glance and said, "Wait, I'll put you on speaker." He removed the phone from his ear, and pressed a button. "Okay."
"We didn't find anyone with a rose tattooed on their forearm. Wiped the whole town, went back up the hill to trace footprints. Nada." she explained.
"I had an idea but it involves the police." Sam chimed in.
"No police, Sammy. no. we need to keep this on the low-key." Dean replied. "You know how we work."
"Sam kind of has a point, Dean." I spoke. "I can go to the station, report that I was followed and the police can take it from there."
"Ari, involving the police makes this twice as hard. They wouldn't know about the demon." Dean told me. He was right. "We can continue this tomorrow during the day. Then in the afternoon Aria can do the ritual thing. By tomorrow Sam's free and we can kill that demon son of a bitch."
"Yeah." I nodded, but deep down it pained me that after this Dean would leave.
"Okay, we'll be back after one last trip. One hour tops." Carrie said and hung up. I laid down as Dean put the phone in his pocket and stood on his side, looking down at me.
"You're not okay." he simply said, running a hand through my hair, twirling a few strands round his finger. "What's wrong, Ariana?"
"There's two reasons why I've delayed everything. The one you know, and... another."
"Does the other involve keeping us here?" I nodded. "Like I told you, once this is all over, I'm here to stay. I'm gonna stop hunting once Sam's demon blood free."
"Really? I mean—I was just—"
"Really, Ariana. I've wasted most of my life huntin' and never had time to just... live, be normal. The idea made me cringe in the past, but then I met you and..." His voice trailed off, sighing dreamily. "Your eyes."
I wrinkled my nose. What did my eyes have to do with him settling down? "What does that have to do with everything?"
"They keep me grounded. You can say they made me all soft and fuzzy inside. But mention it to Carrie and Sam and you'll be in trouble." He added in a warning yet slightly teasing tone. I laughed and shook my head.
"I promise I won't. And besides..." I pulled Dean over me so that he was straddling me, catching him by surprise. "...what happened on the roof of your car was anything but soft and fuzzy."
"Want a repeat?" he asked me huskily. My breath hitched and I bt my lower lip.
"I'd like to but..." I lowered my voice. "Buck senses when something like that happens. Believe me, it does. And your brother will be here in three... two... one."
As soon as I said that, I heard the store door open and close. "Okay that was creepy." Dean murmured, and stared down at me. "To be continued?"
"It hasn't started yet." I whispered and he rolled off of me, laying next to me like nothing really happened. The movie had come to an end and the credits were rolling. Buck was still asleep.
"Hey." Sam said as he came from across the hall. "So can we head to bed? I'm pretty beat."
"Me too." Carrie sighed.
"Hey Sam." He looked up. "Why don't take the day off tomorrow? We can all go round town. Carrie and I can go shopping or something."
"I don't shop, sweetie. I can always wear the clothes I've always had or else borrow something from the bros." Carrie pointed out. "But if it means chilling with my boyfriend... sure, why not?"
"Great!" I exclaimed. "We can spend the whole day out. It's a Sunday so I don't open the shop. We can eat and hang out..." I gave Dean a knowing look. "... like normal people."
"You have any idea what's going on?" Sam asked Carrie.
"Nope. And clearly it's an inside thing. Let's just head to bed." She patted Sam's shoulder before going to her room.
"Dean?"
He looked up at his brother and waved him off. "I need to talk to Ariana for a sec. Don't wait up for me, mom."
I stiffled a laugh as Sam flipped him off and disappeared round the corner. "So, you wanted to talk to me?"
"Nah, I just wanted to lie here next to you. Do you really think sleeping in the same room as my brother is better than sleeping in the same room as a beautiful blue-eyed girl who doesn't think of me as a douche? Please, Sammy wouldn't know I never went back to his room. Once he's asleep, he's completely passed out."
"Okay, you can stay. Just as long as you don't hog the sheets. Then you're sleeping on the floor and Buck Dharma's taking the other side of the bed." Dean blinked, clearly taken aback. "I love my bed. And I especially love the sheets. They're one of the few things that make me feel at home."
"I'm not Sammy." I chuckled and Dean pulled me into his arms, kissing my head fondly. "I'd never take what's yours. I can always sleep over the sheets."
"That's by far the most surprisingly romantic thing I've ever heard in my entire life. And the sweetest." I kissed him softly on the lips. Then I made a face. "And the weirdest. But still sweet. Take off your shoes."
Dean took his shoes off and was about to take his shirt off when he stopped. "I'll just sleep with my clothes."
"If you sleep with no shirt on, I, uh, I have no problem with that." I bit my lip as he very slowly took his shirt off. Definitely no problem at all...
… Tonight's gonna be a long night. Let's just hope I don't wake up on top of him...
Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Completely aware it's short; didn't have much time to write a lengthy one. Lengthy chapters will come after May 2nd, which is when I finish my exam.
Anyway, back to the story: Dean and Ariana are growing closer by the minute and I've the ending of the story—which is very close—all planned out and written roughly so if you're curious about how the story will turn out, review! Let me know you love this!
New story called 'Room For One More?' is up. The first chapter is a little short but the net chapters will be longer I promise. The second chapter will be updated once the first chapter has at least five reviews—nearly there!—then after that the chapters will be posted after they get one or more reviews. So please review! I love writing the story but I won't continue if no one enjoys reading it!
The new chapter for 'Save Yourself' will be out sometime during or after mid-May, so please... for the love of Bobby Singer and his flask... be patient. I've already started re-writing the script. I just need to adjust a few things and include the back story, which is the Dean/Carly drama. Readers and reviews are lacking by the minute, so if anyone reads it please leave your thoughts? They make me really happy when I'm finished from a shift or studying :)
'Til next time, assbutts!
