Chapter 14

Have You Seen Me Lately?

"Oh God…" Andie grumbled as she opened her eyes. Every portion of her body ached in one way or another. Plus she felt like the slightest movement would cause an astronomical stomach-emptying episode. "Oh God…"

"Morning Sunshine." Dean said to her from the other bed. He was eating some take-away pancakes Sam had dropped off before he'd gone to check them out of the motel.

"Ohh…" Andie slung her legs over the side of the bed and rested her heavy head in her hands. "Please tell me you hit me in the head with a hammer." She said quietly. Even just talking caused a throbbing pain through her skull.

"Almost." Dean replied. "Hungry?" He held his plate of pancakes out to her.

"Urgh." She pushed his hand away and fought the urge to vomit. "What was I on last night?" She rubbed her temples.

"Tequila." Dean informed her. "You know you shouldn't drink it; you're out of it by your second glass. Or second bottle, as it would seem last night."

"Wait, how did I get here?" She asked looking around. "How'd you find me?"

"I picked you up." Dean reminded her. "Don't you remember?"

"Honey, everything after my second drink is a total blur." She replied as she shakily tried getting to her feet. A wave of dizziness and nausea flew over her so she sat back down immediately. "Ooh, standing was a baaad idea." She mumbled. "Have you been here all night?" She asked.

Dean nodded. "Every time I looked at you all I could think about was of those CSI episodes where they find dead people who've choked on their own vomit; wanted to be here to turn you over if need be."

"Every time you looked at me you thought of vomit?" Andie repeated. "That might be the sweetest thing you've ever said to me."

"Well; I am a romantic." Dean smirked.

"Ok…well," Andie got to her feet again. "On that note I'm gonna go hurl." She smacked Dean on the back a couple of times and retreated to the porcelain confines of the bathroom.

Andie was surprised at how much better she felt after a shower. Granted, she stayed in there until the water ran cold and her fingertips pruned up nice and wrinkly. She drank three cups of water in succession and then scrubbed her teeth to get that god-awful taste out of her mouth. Her cell phone, which was buzzing somewhere under all her dirty clothes, caught her attention and she scrambled to find it. It was Cass.

"'Ello you," Her friend said when she answered the phone. "How's your head?"

"Did Dean call you?" Andie asked with a sigh as she assumed that was the way Cass found out about Andie's killer hangover.

"No, I called him after you called me." Cass replied. "Ahh, you've got the morning after memory loss again. That takes me back. Remember Indiana?" She paused. "I don't; guess that's the point."

"Cass, do you want something?" Andie asked. "Or am I just lucky to be getting a dose of morning craziness from you?"

"Morgan, it's almost three in the afternoon." Cass replied. "But yes, woman, I do want something. Y'know that Hierarchy demon you gave a Stay Outta Hell Free pass too so you could whet your appetite at Oktoberfest?"

"Ah, yeah," Andie remembered, though it wasn't one of her favourite memories to recall. "Forneas, right?"

"Yeah, sixth in the Order," Cass confirmed. "The one that taunts men until they commit suicide. Well, he's back and big time out here."

"Out here?" Andie repeated. "Where is 'here' exactly?"

"Fletcher, North Carolina." Cass replied. "Spate of men being found dead from apparent suicide. Wasn't hard to track. But this demon is getting quicker and more ballsy; could really use your help."

Andie sighed. "Ok, I'll leave tonight. Stay safe."

"Always do." Cass replied as she hung up.

Gathering up her clothes, Andie glanced at herself in the mirror. She'd been in the bathroom so long her hair was almost dry. She wore her second favourite pair of jeans and a well-worn green singlet that brought out the sparkling emerald in her eyes. Clothes tucked under her arm, she finally exited the bathroom to see Dean waiting expectantly for her with his arms folded. She assumed he needed the bathroom; she was wrong.

"Ok, I wasn't going to say anything but I have to know why." He asked her.

"Why what?" Andie asked, crinkling her brow as she stuffed her dirty clothes in her shoulder bag.

"Why did I pull out of a bar at two AM?" Dean asked. "And be honest."

Andie sighed and tossed her beg aside. She'd promised him she wouldn't lie anymore. Hell, if he wanted the truth she may as well give it to him. Surely it couldn't make things any worse. "I don't want you to date her." She answered with a shrug. "Jamie. I don't want you to date her." It was easier than she'd thought to actually say it. "And I know I said I was ok with it but I'm not. I lied."

Dean suppressed the urge to scream back 'I knew it!' and instead went a different way. "What, you jealous?"

"Yes." She answered unabashedly.

Dean had not expected that amount of honesty.

"And not because I want you to go out with me," Andie continued, putting her hands to her chest. "But because I don't want you to go out with anybody." She shrugged her shoulders loosely at the immaturity of that statement. "I know that sounds completely childish and stupid but I just want…I want you to be you and have no one else around you."

Dean was completely confused. "You're not making sense."

"Don't you think I know that?" Andie told him. "If you think this sounds nuts you should hear what's going on up here." She pointed to her forehead.

"Well, I didn't see Jamie." Dean admitted.

"You didn't?" Andie found herself almost yelling back.

"No!" Dean returned her yell with a yell of his own.

"Why?!"

"Because!" If she was trying to get him riled up; it was working.

"Because why?!

"Because she's not you!" Dean finally yelled walking up to her. "And I want you! I mean," He laughed without a trace of humor. "Even now when you're crazy moody and pissed off I still want to be with you! But dammit, Andie, you're so friggin' stubborn that you either can't see or choose not to see that!" He got right in her face and was happy to see she had stopped arguing back; she was listening to him. "I don't know if you're scared or angry or just clinically insane but whatever it is; I don't care! I'd rather be arguing with you at the top of my lungs like this every godamn day than not have you in my life at all!"

Unable to stop herself, Andie grabbed Dean by the back of the neck and pulled him into a furious kiss. Whether it was both of their pent up anger or pure sexual tension, Andie didn't know, but what ensued was a mad, passionate rush to the bed as they both stripped of each other's clothes. She'd forgotten how his skin felt under her hands; how warm and safe she felt when he held her. She'd missed him. And she hadn't realized just how much until that moment.

xxx

Dean had wisps of happy dreams that night. In between the now familiar flashes and memories of his time in Hell, he got light hearted flashes of Andie. Moreso how she used to be; how they used to be. Last night's escapades weren't what Dean remembered of being with Andie. Not to say it wasn't thoroughly enjoyable; he just wasn't accustomed to her being so forceful. But what he'd said to Andie the night before about wanting her no matter how crazy she got still rang true this morning for him.

So when Dean awoke the next morning, he kept his eyes closed a few extra moments to prepare what he'd do next. He didn't want to freak her out or put her off so his plan was to just sneak an arm around her in his sleepy state, playing it off as 'old habits' if she inquired what he was doing. But when Dean reached for his wife, she was gone. Opening his eyes he noticed that Andie's clothes that had been strewn about during their night were missing, too.

"Hey," Sam said as he came into the room with what looked like breakfast. "Gee, you slept late."

"Where's Andie?" Dean asked as he sat up.

"Andie?" Sam repeated looking confused. Then he took a second look around. Dean had slept late; he was naked in bed and looking somewhat at ease. "Aw, man, did you two…?"

"I have been de-hymenated." Dean confirmed proudly.

"Ew." Sam blanched. "Well, I haven't seen her since yesterday."

"She's gone?" Dean pulled his blanket up under his chin. "I feel so used."

"Well, get dressed," Sam chucked a baggie of food at his brother. "It'll take a couple of days to get to Bobby."

Dean got up out of bed and retreated to the bathroom. As he went through his morning routine he wondered if what he should do about Andie. Should he call her? He guessed not. If she'd wanted to see him or talk to him she would have stayed or left a note. Although now that he thought about it; Andie wasn't the note-leaving kind of girl. She was more the show-up-and-have-her-way-with-you kind of girl. Maybe that's what their relationship had been reduced to. And maybe that was okay.

xxx

"You had sex."

That was the first thing Cass told Andie when she arrived at her motel room in Fletcher, North Carolina a day later. "What?" Andie replied tossing her bag aside.

"You look guilty and satisfied; you had sex." Cass said again with a triumphant smile.

"It's weird how you use your talents." Andie replied.

"Was it Dean? It was Dean, wasn't i?" When all her friend gave her was a menacing look, Cass knew she was right. "Ah-ha, I knew it!"

"Forneas." Andie replied firmly, trying to get them back on track.

"Ok, ok," Cass sighed. "Geez, pain in the ass…" She muttered as she retrieved a stack of newspaper articles from her nightstand. "I've been here about a week now and there haven't been any more attacks so far, but all that means to me is that there'll be another one sooner rather than later."

Andie took the articles and sifted through them; half of them were obituaries for young men all touting apparent suicide as the cause of death. In a small town; that didn't add up. "Any connections?"

"Actually, yeah, one," Cass said retrieving a brochure from her nightstand. "I talked to three of the widows and they all told me that they all died here," She handed it to her friend. "Rutledge Lake. And the attacks have been happening every two days for the last fortnight. That's why I called you. Forneas is getting cocky; doesn't seem to care about making the murders look like coincidences anymore."

Andie gave her a strange look. "Never seen you work so much to find a demon." She muttered.

"Yeah, well…suicide…you…your mother…" Cass said slowly. "I didn't want you to do more than you had to."

Andie managed to give her an even stranger look. "So you did something nice for me with no benefit for yourself?"

"I know; I must be sober or something." Cass replied. "Well, that'll never happen again."

"So….what, Forneas lures these men to the lake and forces them to kill themselves?" Andie guessed.

"Something like that." Cass nodded in agreement. "Although weirdly enough none of them drowned." She found a certain article depicting the town's shock at all the sudden suicides. "Two shot themselves in the head, three OD'ed on some sort of drug and one guy apparently used a hunting knife to slash his wrists."

"Urgh," Andie winced as she glanced over the article. "And they all were happy beforehand?"

Cass nodded. "One guy was on his honeymoon."

"Lovely." Andie deadpanned, chewing her lip and mulling over the paperwork.

"Ok, so, like I said," Cass got to her feet. "The attacks are happening every couple of days. Which means the next attack will be tonight. That's another thing in common; all the "suicides"," She used quotation fingers. "Happened at night when their wives or girlfriends were sleeping right beside them."

"Method of killing the demon?" Andie asked.

"That I'm not so clear on," Cass admitted. "He's been roaming around in some mortal's body for a couple of weeks though; so I'm guessing some of the ol' iron knife through the chest."

"Sounds good; there's some iron bars or something rattling around in the back of Bapi that we can use," Andie remembered. "I almost chucked 'em out." She got to her feet and headed for the door.

"Bapi?" Cass gave her a confused look.

"Oh, yeah, I named your truck." Andie told her with a smirk. "And since I named him, he's stopped breaking down so I'm sticking with it."

Cass huffed as she followed Andie out the door of her motel room. "So it still considered a bootie call if you're married to the guy?" She asked trying to sound nonchalant.

"Shut it." Andie silenced her without looking back.

xxx