Chapter 11

Dean steered them across the state. Sam was still sleeping. Dean hadn't thought about her in years and there she was on the phone, requesting help on a hunt that was too big for her. He was honestly surprised that she was still alive. Then there she was, leaning on her car in the early morning light. She was still drop dead gorgeous. She smiled when she saw the car. Sam stirred when the car stopped. "Why are we stopping?"

"Picking up research for a hunt." Dean smacked him. "Come on."

Dean got out and stretched. She tilted her head at him. "You look awful."

"Thanks. Good to know I'm still so high on your to-do list." Dean winked at her.

"You were never on my to-do list." She met him halfway in a hug. "Good to see you, Dean."

"It's great to see you!" Dean heard Sam get out of the car.

"You look so much more grown up." She squeezed one last time. "How long has it been?"

"A few years." He grinned. "That must have been '04?"

"About then." She nodded then looked to the tall fellow trailing behind him. "Oh my God, is that Sam?"

"Yep. That's the little geek." Dean laughed and turned to his brother. "Dude, this is Claire Reid."

"Hi." Sam tilted his head at him and shrugged.

"We never told you about Claire Reid?" Dean blinked at his brother.

"Well, you know your dad never did." Claire shook Sam's hand. "You are much taller than your picture suggested."

"You knew Dad?" Sam's face contorted the way it sometimes did when he talked about his deceased parents.

"Yeah." She smiled and shut her mouth. "Yeah. I knew John. And this guy. Deviant." She slugged Dean on the shoulder. "Where is John? I figured he'd come with."

"Shit, no one told you?" Dean's shoulders slumped. "He's dead."

"When?" She wrapped her fingers around the pearls at her neck.

"'06."

"Shit." She breathed and her eyes filled with tears. She took a shuddering breath while she blinked her eyes clear. "I thought he was indestructible."

"I did, too." Dean shook his head. "No one really told you?"

"Who? Dean, I only know a handful of hunters and really… after Caleb… I fell off the world." She glanced back at her car.

"It was a few days… after Caleb." Dean told her. "You and Caleb, then?"

"He wasn't really a dick… but you know. That's my type." She snorted. "One time I stopped by, he was too drunk to be a pig. Go figure." She handed over the research. "I'm sorry to hear about John."

"Yeah… yeah… I'm sorry no one told you. I should have called." He blew out a breath, his eyes on the folder. Didn't make it easier to live the moment.

"Pardon me, but why?" Sam cut in. Mad and defensive. "You knew our dad but why are you on the short list?"

"John and I were close. He got me started." She swallowed down a lump. "Saved my life. Taught me about the dark things. Then I cut out and struck out on my own. Been doing it ever since."

"Saved you?"

Dean looked to the ground. "Dad saved her from… Pixies."

"Pixies?" Sam barked out a laugh. "Tinkerbells."

"Not. Tinkerbells." Claire bit out. "So much not Tinkerbells." She met Dean's eye. "So, he doesn't know the story, huh?"

"I'll tell him someday." Dean shrugged. "You been okay?"

"Caleb… that was hard. Jim… I don't call Bobby much. I uh… was always a little uncomfortable there. Not cause of Bobby… it was just… too soon after the Pixie." Claire shrugged. "He was a good guy."

"Is."

"Thank God." She breathed. "So many we lost… all at the same time, huh?"

"It was the thing that… killed our Mom." Dean filled in. "But I got it. I got it."

"After John, then."

"Yeah."

"And he never talked about me again, huh." She nodded to herself.

"You know how he was about you. I talked him to death about it and he would never say it out right… but once… We were spying on Sam." Dean gestured to his brother. "We were spying on him and I got him to say something about you before he mandated we didn't talk about you anymore."

Sam frowned as he tried to catch up on their shorthand. She tilted her head and the wet seeped out of her eyes. "Yeah? What did he say?"

"That every time you looked at him… the way you looked at him, he saw you on the ceiling… burning and screaming." Dean pursed his lips together. "I don't know if you know what that means."

"That's how she died." Claire breathed. "I always knew but he would… never say it." She sniffed. When she wiped her nose, her hands moved with her next words. "He was a good man. An asshole but a good man."

"You signed." Dean barked out a laugh.

"Happens sometimes still." She smiled. "Your Dad hated it. Said he had no fuckin' use for it."

"You… dated our dad?" Sam grinned suddenly.

"For a little while. He was a hard man to love."

The car door slamming shut got their attention. A little girl approached and hid behind Claire. Dean pointed. "She yours?" Claire nodded. "She's big. How old?"

"This is Erica. She is five." Claire motioned her around to the boys. "Erica, this is Sam and Dean Winchester. Old friends of Mommy's."

"Hi."

"Five?" Dean frowned and counted on his fingers. "Uh… Claire?"

"She's not John's." Claire shook her head. "Your dad made himself perfectly clear on that subject. She's Caleb's." She sniffed. "He got to see her. We were in Kansas City paying respects to my folks and Sebastien when they killed him."

"Sorry. Caleb was my man." Dean tilted his head at the little girl. "At least she looks like you. I'm sorry but Caleb… as a girl?"

"She's got his eyes." Claire reached down and hefted Erica into her arms so they could see her pretty blue eyes. "My temperament and I kind of wish that came from him."

"She's pretty. Just like her mom." Dean leaned over and kissed Claire on the cheek. "We got this. You take her home."

"No… we don't have one." Claire shook her head. "I got used to running around. I think I only sat still through my pregnancy. John's bad habits rubbing off… but I told him… he didn't do such a bad job with his kids. Winchesters are good people." She set the girl down. "Back the car, baby. We'll go in a minute." Erica ran back to the car. Claire looked at Dean for a long moment. "You ever check to see if they were still there?"

"I check all the time. No one else went missing the way we did." Dean gestured over his shoulder. "Sometimes, I still check for that thing on my back."

"I made John take a picture so I could see for myself." She shuddered. "I still don't do woods."

"Yeah, I hate the friggin' woods." Dean nodded. "And fucking pixies."

"Fucking Pixies." She agreed. "I gotta get the kid some pancakes. So… um… thanks for taking the case off my hands. I don't do those…"

"No problem." Dean glanced at the first article. "Did you catch it?"

"Yeah…" She backed away. "I did. I found one, led me to it and I made peace. A man kills your kid in a hit and run and you wanna kill him and then you find out it was a demon in the driver's seat the whole time… If it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have been in the woods that day. So then you think… was it fate? Was it supposed to happen this way? I don't do demons anymore. Give me a salt and burn any day. Demons, witches and pixies. I just…."

"I hear you."

"You boys take care. Maybe we'll see each other again."

"Be safe, Claire." Dean watched her go and motioned Sam back to the car. Once back in the Impala, they watched Claire drive off. "I forgot how fucking beautiful she was."

"She was into Dad?" Sam scoffed.

"Yeah… like crazy, hardcore and he didn't really fight her on it." Dean nodded. "It was bizarre because he insisted he didn't feel for her but… for someone with no… investment in the relationship, he didn't let her go."

"How'd they get hooked up?"

"Fuckin' Pixies man." Dean laughed. "I mean… Dad and I were hunting them. They got me. I wound up in Ohio with no clothes, no memory and fuckin' deaf… Claire… Dad saved her and she had no memory, no clothes and she could make noise but no words. He spent a year taking care of her and looking for me. When they found me, they were in the middle of some hot and heavy fight. And that's when she meets Caleb. And Dad… fought her every step. Took everything she had to give and gave it back and all she wanted was to hear three words. He couldn't do it. So she took off. We hooked up a couple of more times before Dad took off on me. She was just… burning that torch. Everyone could see it. I'm really, really surprised that kid is Caleb's."

"Whoa… you were deaf for a year?"

"Sucked, dude."

"And she was fucking Dad?"

"Caleb's word was tragic." Dean looked at the file. "This… is what she does now. Salt and burns and if the risk is too high, she passes them on. When you and I hooked up again, I stopped hearing from her… I guess she was busy with Caleb."

"Caleb was a dick." Sam shook his head.

"He was a good guy… he just… He was a hunter. Like the rest of us. Sounds like they tried to make a go of it."

"Why didn't Dad call me?"

"He said… he didn't want to give you any more excuses to hate him." Dean took a breath. "You know… as much as I've learned about Dad since he died… the thing that I cling to is the way he was after Claire left. We were always swinging by to check on you and he was sneaking in APBs on her. He was… lost and drifting, man."

"What's this hunt, huh?" Sam cleared his throat.

"OH, it's gonna be good. Claire finds me the good shit."

THE END