Motel Later That Night

Colorado, USA

November 13th, 2005

It was going on four in the morning. Rory stared herself in the mirror with tired reddened eyes. Bags had settled nicely beneath them and she noticed the pale tone to her face due to lack of sleep. She'd just removed the dressings applied by the paramedics back at the ranger station. There was a bruise forming just next to her right temple and a gash settled nicely by the curve of her jaw that disappeared just under her chin. She sighed, reaching up to touch it, wincing at the sting.

"Son of a bitch..." She breathed, resting both hands on the rim of the sink as she leaned forward to stare deeper into her soul.

The things that have been happening to her over the last few days, was alarming, and it worried her to say the least. She wasn't sure what the hell was going on with her, and she wasn't sure how the hell she was going to explain any of it to her father or the boys, or if she even wanted to. There was just so much going on, and it was beginning to overwhelm her.

A knock at the door forced her to turn her eyes, and she exhaled.

She sighed, pushing away from the sink before strolling out of the bathroom after shutting off the light. She knew it was Dean at the door. She knew they'd have to talk and hash things out, thoroughly. Because it was clear over the past couple of days, that she still had issues she needed to address with Dean over what happened.

Especially since she knew she'd have to leave him afterwards.

She swung open the door, revealing the Winchester holding a six pack in hand while sporting a boyish grin that touched the flecks of hazel in his eyes. Rory couldn't hide the smirk, and stepped to the side to let him in before shutting the door lightly behind them.

"Hell of a hunt huh?" Dean started with small talk, not really sure where to begin with Rory. There were so many things they had to talk about-

"I'll say. That evil piece of shit gave me another concussion." She said, rubbing her left temple with annoyance whilst Dean gave a hearty chuckle.

"We need to get you a helmet or something. Prevent that from happening again on the next one." He spoke with amusement, earning an eye roll from the twenty-four year old.

"Funny." She sassed, taking a seat at the round table awkwardly placed in the center of the room. Dean sat across from her, testing the beer on the table as he slouched comfortably in his seat.

"Seriously though, getting hurt on the job is usually my thing. " Dean laughed, gesturing to himself. What he said was true for the most part. Rory was always the one to give pain, not receive it. She thought about every move she made before she made them. While Den was more of a shoot first and ask questions later kind of guy.

"Yeah well, my combat skills can use some touching up, I'll admit that. And you know I hate being the one who needs saving, so I'll definitely have dad whip me back into shape when I get back to Sioux Falls." She smirked, leaning an elbow onto the sturdy object, reaching over to pluck a beer from the pack. She brought the cap to her teeth, found the groove in it and used her pearly whites to crack it open. The cap fell from between her mouth and clanked onto the table. Dean watched her closely as they sat in silence.

"I'm sure he'll get you back to kick-ass in no time." Dean replied earning a hum from her. He did his best to ignore the pang in his chest at the mention of her returning home.

"So what's with the segregation? You never minded sharing beds before." He asked, diving right into what was on his mind. Rory went along with the direction and shrugged.

"I just figured you'd want your quality time, you and Sam." She answered with nonchalance.

"I could sure use some quality time with you." He said deciding to test the waters, absently tapping his fingers against the table. He was nervous, he didn't know why, but he had to speak his mind. For six months he'd been without her, missing her, wishing he never left. He had to take advantage of the situation.

Rory chuckled softly, combing her fingers through her hair absently.

"You sure you don't wanna call up Hayley and see if she's game?" Rory rose her brow, the smirk playing at the curve of her lips.

"Aww c'mon Angel, since when are you the jealous type?" Dean returned, highly surprised to hear her speak that way of another woman. Rory had never been the jealous type. It was yet another thing he loved about her.

"Since you–" she bit her tongue, stopping herself completely and looking away over his shoulder at the blank wall. She wondered what Sam was doing on the other side, and if she yelled would he hear.

The silence that had blanketed them was deafening and Dean hated it. He could see that she was practically tipping over, and it made him even more nervous than before. He prayed she'd say something, anything. If she didn't, it meant she didn't care to. He needed her to still care, after all these months, and not about his father, or his brother, but about him.

About them.

But nothing was leaving her. She was fighting with everything she had to keep the emotions bottled up inside out of fear of saying too much.

"…Talk to me."

"You left." She spilled, the pain dripping from her lips. The weight that she'd felt the moment she realized that Dean had left her all those months ago, was beginning to weigh on her yet again. There was no escaping it this time, and she was left with no choice but to tackle the matter head on.

"You slipped passed the door in the middle of the night and you left." She continued as Dean frowned deeply with regret while she spoke because this time, her voice was laced with hurt and sadness, all emotions he'd been responsible for evoking in her.

"For months, Dean." Rory stressed, feeling the ache begin to flow throughout her, causing her tongue to grow heavy.

"I-….I tried to push it all aside, for the good of the hunt, and for Sammy, but I can't do it anymore. It's too much with everything else going on-"

"Aurora-" Her hand went up to stop him, and he closed his lips into a tight line.

"Wait. I'm not done. I need to say this." She breathed, thinking it was now or never. Her anxiety over the situation caused her to rest her beer down and lift from her seat and begin to pace the room. Dean's eyes followed her calmly, never leaving her body as he looked on heavyhearted. His upper lids drooped over with despair while the corners of his lips pulled down.

"I-..I thought we were good. I thought we were happy–"

"We were!" Dean exclaimed, desperate to make her see that she wasn't the reason for his untimely departure, desperate to make her understand that he was the one who'd screwed up.

"Then why?!" She returned, her pitch rising a few notches. The pain was clear as day across her face, she had no more energy to hide it. She needed him to see now what he'd done to her, how much he'd hurt her.

"That's all I wanna know! Why just disappear?!" Her voice cracked as she paused there in front of him. Dean sighed, looking up at her as she fought back against the urge to slap him.

"I just had…some stuff I had to figure out." He explained lamely, knowing the moment the words left his lips that they were nowhere near adequate. Rory's brows nearly connected at the center of her head.

"Are you kidding me? I called you for months trying to find you-I called John, desperate for something, anything! An explanation as to why, or what would possibly make you senseless enough to leave me in the middle of nowhere!" She spoke animatedly with her hands, emphasizing her anger and frustration towards the Winchester, and he did his best not to be insulted by her words. At some point he'd pushed himself up out of his seat, hating the feeling of being beat down by her anger. She was furious with him, that much was obvious, but he was just as furious with her for his own reasons, reasons that he knew he'd have to share sooner or later.

"How could you do that, how could you just ignore everything that happened between us over the past decade?!" She exclaimed, sick to her stomach with hurt.

"I didn't ignore anything."Dean argued, feeling his patience wear thin.

"Tuh! Well you didn't acknowledge anything after you left either!" Rory crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight onto one foot as she glared at him.

"Look, I wanted to call okay-"

"Did you?!" She chuckled bitterly looking away.

"Yes! I did!-"

"THAN WHY DIDN'T YOU?!" She cried throwing her arms up in the air, the tears slipping over the edge of her bottom lids and travelling tortuously slow down her cheeks whilst her chest heaved in anger. Her lips quivered, no matter how hard she clenched her jaw. She hated crying, and Dean knew that. And knowing that he'd been the source of her pain was killing him.

He stepped forward to comfort her, only to have her step back, tearing her gaze away from him and swiping at her cheeks.

"Angel, I'm sorry." His voice was thick with emotion, and the glint in his eyes revealed the true sadness he felt for ever hurting her. He didn't know it would be this hard. He'd seen this entire conversation going a completely different way. He thought it'd involve laughter and love, but he was sadly mistaken.

He took another step forward, not wanting to give up. He had to take away the pain. Rory didn't move away this time, she faced the floor anticipating his touch. The only touch she knew that could calm her down. It was a warm spark that started from the tip of her chin, and permeated up the side of her face where he rested his hand and forced her to look into his eyes. They'd grown a darker shade of green due to the despair, but they were still as beautiful as she always thought they were.

Rory didn't respond, only blinked back the tears, the sound of her sniffles being the only soundtrack in the room.

"…Was there someone else?" She dared to ask, feeling her insides curl in fear as he watched her with regret and sorrow.

"No! Of course not!" He answered quietly with an incredulous look. Rory didn't think the question was that far-fetched.

"I just-…look, you didn't deserve what I did to you. Okay? I know that one hundred percent and I get that I hurt you. And I'm sorry.-"

"Enough with the 'I'm sorry' already. This is way bigger than an I'm sorry Dean. This is-I thought we were on the same page, and to find out that we weren't was-…heartbreaking. You broke me back in Ohio." Rory pulled away, brushing off the absence of his touch. Dean sighed, fighting against the urge to reach back out for her.

"I know I'm s-…I need you to believe me when I say I didn't mean to hurt you Aurora." He spoke, voice thick with emotion.

"I did believe that once Dean. I believed that you would never hurt me. Ever. But you did. So it's gonna take some time to get over it. I thought I could handle it and be here with you guys but-I can't do it. There's just too much going on in my head right now. I have to go-"

"Aurora please. I-…look you can't leave. Not now. I need you. Sam needs you." Dean begged, pulling desperately at every string. He thought maybe pulling the 'Sammy just lost his girlfriend' card would do it, but he knew by the set look in her eyes, she was leaving. He watched her cross the room in silence, and the tears burned his eyes, threatening to fall when Rory picked up the duffel she'd packed as soon as she got back to the motel. She walked back over to him, throwing the strap over her shoulder.

"I needed you too Dean. Hell I was in love with you." She spoke softly. Dean's chest tightened as the words registered in his head.

"Just-…I think it's best if I leave." She concluded. Dean clenched his jaw ready to fight.

"What's going on with you?" He started, earning a look of confusion from Rory.

"What are you talking about-"

"Back at Blackwater, in the forest, something happened to you. And don't tell me it was nothing, I know when you're lying." Dean spoke, voice hard.

Rory stared into his eyes, the determination in them let her know that he wasn't going to make this easy. She wouldn't be able to just walk out the door like he did six months ago.

"It-it...I don't know. That's what I'm going home to figure out." She answered truthfully. There was definitely something going on, something inside of her that was beginning, like a surge of energy was forming inside of her or something. She wasn't sure how to explain it, but it-

"It's like...something I don't know. I just felt...different out there. And then at Stanford, I'm not sure what happened I just got this...feeling. That's basically all I know know right now. That's the best way I can describe it as, a feeling." She expressed as best as she could.

"Well you don't need to leave to figure it out. I can help you. Hell, Sammy can help you. I'm sure he could read up about it and figure it out in no time-"

"No. Dean. Listen to me...I need to go home. I need to see my dad." She cut him off, eyes filled with worry and concern for herself. Going home was the best thing for her right now, she knew that, even Dean understood that much.

He just hated that he couldn't leave with her.

Karma is a bitch, he thought.

"I need to leave."

Dean continued to look fixedly at her, holding every feature of her face to his memory.

Rory shut the backdoor to her Mustang closed, and walked along the side of it to the hood where a quiet Sam and a dark eyed Dean waited to see her off. She shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans as she approached Sam first, thinking it was best to give Dean some more time to process things.

"You sure you have to go? I'm sure we could figure things out together on the road. Save some lives meanwhile?" He said trying his best to get her to stay, wishes from his brother when he'd filled him in on what was going on. Though he too wanted the woman to stay. Rory was basically the only person he could really talk to about things that were bothering him. He would miss her presence if she left, undoubtedly.

"Sorry Sammy. Just somethin' I gotta do." She tossed a smirk, removing a hand from one of her pockets to rub the side of his face.

"Call me when you need me." She told him, hoping he'd be okay.

"Don't you mean 'if'?" He smirked in amusement, earning a wink from her in return. Sam grinned, and pulled her in for a tight embrace.

"Tell Bobby hey for me." He spoke before placing a gentle peck on the crown of her head.

"I will." She replied, blinking long and hard as she squeezed him tight and let him go. She watched as he turned and made his way back to the motel. Once he disappeared behind the door she sighed.

"He's probably crying behind that door." She cracked, throwing her gaze onto Dean who no matter how hard he tried,gave into the smirk that played at the corner of his lips.

"Probably." He sounded, voice gruff as he stood there tall and towering over her. She turned to better face him, craning her neck up to meet his piercing gaze. The moon gave it a glint that she had to program into her mind so she'd never forget should anything happen in the time they were apart.

Dean never said a word, because he wasn't sure what to say. Nothing he could think of made this situation a good one. She was leaving him, and again he'd have to figure out how to cope without her.

I should've never left her, he thought.

"I should've never left you in Ohio." He spilled before his mind could process it.

Rory's shoulders slumped as she smirked lazily, too tired to grow bitter over the situation again. It was literally draining her.

"It's okay Dean."

"No it's not." He spoke strongly, eyes falling down her frame slowly, pausing on her stomach for a second before he made his way up to her face.

"I shouldn't have left you." He repeated.

Rory could see the regret in his eyes, and she knew he'd been beating himself up. Her feet moved for her, bringing her forward as her hand reached up to cup his cheek. Dean continued to brood, shutting his eyes closed at the feel of her fingers on his skin. And within the next couple of seconds he found his lips laced with hers, locked in a tantalizingly slow yet passionate kiss. He swooned at the familiar taste of her cherry flavored gloss and wrapped his arms slowly around the curve of her slim waist. They were tangled up in each other, longing for more, but too trapped inside of their current state of sadness to take anything further. So they stayed there, intertwined by the lips for a little longer before they broke away. She was left breathless by the end of it, her lips slightly swollen and puckered as well as Dean's. He released her with a light moan, his heart thumping in his ears as he held her by the waist.

She still loved him.

He still loved her.

"When you figure everything out...come back." Dean told her, not able to see how he could possibly go on without her now.

"I will." Rory answered with a nod as she reached up to touch her lips. They were still tingling.

Dean licked his before he wiped at them and let her go.

"Call me if you need anything. I mean it." He said, looking her dead in the eyes.

"Of course." She promised.

Sure it hurt what had happened between them, it killed. But that didn't mean that Dean wouldn't be the first person she thought to call in her time of need. He would always be that person she could depend on, no matter what he did.

She got in the car and revved the engine to life while Dean came to stand in the window. She turned to look up at him.

"Later Angel." He smiled earning one from her in return.

"Bye Dean."

"So you guys didn't even talk about the real problem? At all?!" Jo Asked Rory over the phone as she kept her eyes on the road while going double the speed limit down the lonely interstate. She'd left the boys going on five hours ago and decided to hightail it back to Sioux Falls, wanting to be as far away from Dean as she could get. It was a twelve hour drive, she was going to try and make it in ten.

"No." Rory replied flatly. Her eyes rolled as she thought back on the argument Dean and her had before she left. She couldn't erase the look on his face when she told him she was leaving him.

"Jesus. You two really are pros at beating around the bush."

"Bite me." Rory groaned in frustration.

"Aurora, you gotta tell him sometime. It's unhealthy for you to carry this around. It's gonna eat you alive."

"What was I supposed to say?! 'Hey, I know we haven't seen each other in six months but that's okay, I went ahead and found out I was two months pregnant without you and had a miscarriage! Don't you worry about it?!'" She grimaced, it all sounded so much worse outside of her mind.

But Jo was right, it was eating her up inside.

"No! Of course not! You would start with 'Hey long time no see! Look I don't know why you left, but would you mind telling me why?...' and then you'd end off with 'Because I was two months pregnant with your baby at the time, and down the line had a miscarriage.' And you could finish it with something like 'But no hard feelings.' Or something." Jo quipped, causing Rory to moan miserably.

It all sounds so horrible out loud.

"I was gonna tell him. I was. But I was just so mad!" She frowned, gripping the wheel at ten and two before reaching her right hand down to shift the gear.

"That's pent up emotions for ya my friend. It was bound to happen sooner or later. You're just lucky it happened with Dean and not someone who didn't deserve it."

"Lucky me." Rory sounded sarcastically earning a sigh from her friend. They'd met when Rory was twenty-two. Jo was only just entering adulthood at the time, yet she could've sworn that she was going on forty. Bobby had taken Rory on a road trip out to Nebraska on hunting business when they'd made a pit stop at the Harvelle Roadhouse, a place for other hunters from all over to gather and mingle. It was Jo's sassy personality and sense of humor that drew Rory to her, besides the fact that she was female. All Rory knew before her were the Winchesters, but she was grateful for both Jo and her mother. They'd given her a different outlook on life, from a females perspective. She finally had people who she could confide in about girl problems, and no reason to feel embarrassed about it. Jo was more than happy to have someone around the same age group as her too. She'd clung onto the Singer the moment they met, and they've been friends ever since. Though Rory could never stay too long, they made sure to keep in touch whenever they needed each other.

"Why is it so hard for you to just spit it out though Rore? I mean seriously. The matter put you through the ringer for so long. You went through a lot. Alone. You had the perfect opportunity to let him know that. Angry or not, something could've been said." Jo spoke, considerate of her friends' feelings, knowing they were all over the place.

"I just-...didn't want him to freak out. It's Dean-"

"Don't remind me."

"No one on the face of this earth has ever used his name and the words 'baby' and 'father' in the same sentence. Ever. He would react horribly." Rory expressed, imagining the look on Dean's face had she told him the real reason why she was so upset with him.

"And then to find out that I-...that I lost the baby on top of that it-" She choked up, the emotion nearly cutting off her air supply at the memory.

"But he'd react. He'd react and then you guys could finally move on from this and fix things. I mean do you two even know where you stand?"

"No. We never got that deep into the issue before I split. Fuck." She cursed in frustration. It didn't at all go how she'd hoped it would've.

"So you're basically floating in the air. You're not boyfriend and girlfriend, you're not friends with benefits...are you even friends?"

"I think so? I mean we kissed goodbye. That's gotta count for something right? Friends with benefits maybe?" Rory cringed, having not the slightest idea.

"Do you even still wanna be friends with him?"

"I wanted to be his wife Jo! I mean not in that moment, but eventually! I wanted all of that with him I-..." She let the lone tear slip out of it's cage before swiping at it furiously.

"I wanted the baby." She wept silently, staring stonily out of her windshield, the memory of her darkest day to date haunting her all over again. It was like reopening a wound.

"I know you did..."

"And when he finds out what happened, he's gonna hate me. He'll never want anything else with me ever again." Jo sighed on the other end of the phone, feeling for her best friend.

"It's gonna be okay Rore."

Soundtrack:

1. "Blue Velvet Sea" - Justin Nozuka

2. "Tonight" - Kings Of Leon

3. "Cocaine" - Eric Clapton

Hey! So I'm especially happy to deliver this chapter to you all! You can gain better insight on the situation with Dean and Aurora! I HOPE haha! But don't worry, even if it's still a little hard to understand, I promise you will in the near future. I just wanted to touch base with their story and pull away from the original plot for a moment. We'll uncover some more in the next coupe of chapters, might even throw another throwback in the mix ;)

I'm also happy to see that I have received some reviews! I'd like to shout out those people quickly! So shout out to AfireLove1998 and Suou Neko for the love and support :) I really appreciate it! As for everyone else! Thanks so much for taking the time to read any of this story! I'm having so much fun!

Okay so that's all I have to say for now! Make sure to leave your love for more frequent adds!

Until next add!

xo