Chapter 14

Sam, 213 days together

"Is Grace already at school?" Serra asked as she walked back into her bedroom from the bathroom. She glanced back towards Grace's bedroom, seeing the door open. "Where the hell is she?"

I rolled across Serra's bed and rubbed my face. "It's almost nine-thirty," I commented. "I sure hope she's at school."

"Aw, shit, really?" Serra asked, walking back down the hall towards her bedroom. "Guess I missed that class."

"You need to start setting alarms."

She rolled her eyes and bent to pick up her jeans and pull them on. "Yeah," she agreed, sighing. "Normally, you're up before me. What's wrong with you? You feel okay?"

I sat up and nodded, smiling lightly. "I feel great," I murmured, pulling her back to bed. "Since you missed your first class, you might as well miss your next."

Serra giggled into my neck as I kissed her chest, trailing my tongue across her clavicle. "You're a terrible influence," she whispered.

"Don't tell Grace," I grumbled back. "She's gonna be mad when she finds out."

"That you're a bad influence?"

I muttered into her neck, not even sure what I was saying. "Mmm," the sound vibrated against Serra's skin, making me sigh contentedly.

Serra had already pushed her jeans back to the floor and was straddling my waist as I pawed at her hips, pushing her on. She leaned down and kissed me; her auburn hair falling into my face as her tongue danced with mine. Serra laughed again as I pulled her down towards the bed, switching places as I held her arms above her against the pillows. She moaned, driving me wild, and I attacked her neck with my tongue and teeth. One of her earrings caught my lip and I laughed, slowing down only momentarily. I shed the rest of my clothes and we found a rhythm, making her bed scrape the wall with every movement we made.

Finally collapsing next to her, I was out of breath and grinning, euphoric already from the morning. "You need a bigger bed," I commented, squeezing next to her.

"Put it on the list," she answered, trying to take her hair out from under my shoulder. "Get off, get off. You're pulling like, three strands."

I sat up and let her adjust, and then fell onto the pillows once more. We were quiet for a few minutes, but then, she sighed and giggled. "I can't believe I'm a semester from finishing." She glanced at me and smiled. "I'll be damn near a grown-up."

I chuckled and shook my head. "I can't believe I went back to school," I replied. "I can't believe any of this is happening. I can't believe I'm…happy."

"Believe it, buddy," Serra commented as she rolled over me to get dressed. "You're with me, now. You've got no choice."

She shimmied into her jeans and glanced at her clock. "I've got about twenty minutes. I might make it."

I turned to smile at her, shaking my head. Before I realized what I was doing, I said, "Dean is thinking about proposing to Grace."

Serendipity turned to stare at me slowly, her clothes forgotten. "Let's be real. I'm not going to make it," she whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Run that by me again?"

"He swore me to secrecy and he'd kill me if he knew I was telling you," I continued, making a face. "You can't even think about it when Grace is around."

"Holy shit," she answered, her eyes glazing over.

"Serra, please don't say anything to Grace."

She still didn't look directly at me, but instead repeated herself. "Holy shit," Serra said again.

"Shit, see? This is why Dean told me not to tell you," I sighed and rolled forward, picking my shirt up off the floor. "You're going to obsess about it and Grace will see it." I held up my finger at her. "Don't let her touch you."

"Holy shit."

I rolled my eyes and stood, pulling my jeans on with me. "Is that all you're going to say? Not, 'wow, that's great' or 'man, I can't believe that Dean is even thinking about that level of commitment'," I shook my head. "I can't believe he's thinking about that level of commitment. He's never been this committed to anything, except his car. Or maybe a cheeseburger."

"Are you comparing my sister to a cheeseburger?"

"No," I closed my eyes and shook my head, pushing hair out of my face. "No. I just…I wanted to be able to talk about it with someone other than Dean, since I practically had to beat it out of him. This is all so…unexpected, Serra." I took her hand and sat on the bed. "Are you okay with that? With Dean marrying Grace?"

Serra took a deep breath and sat next to me on the bed. "Why wouldn't I be? She loves him," she glanced up at me and smiled wistfully. "And I know he has a thing about saying it out loud, but I know he loves her, so." Serra shrugged. "That's kinda all I'm looking for."

I was quiet for a long time, mulling the words over in my head before I decided to say them aloud. Finally, I took a deep breath and licked my lips, turning towards Serendipity. "Dean marrying Grace…I don't want their relationship to change anything between us."

"Is this your way of telling me that you're not the marrying kind?" Serra's eyebrow shot up accusingly.

I shook my head, trying to form coherent sentences. "No," I argued. "That's not what I mean at all. I just…I want to make sure that their relationship doesn't dictate ours."

"Are you trying to break up with me?"

"Serra, shut up and just listen."

She smiled and raised both her eyebrows expectantly.

"All I'm saying is that Dean and Grace have nothing to do with us," I finally managed. "If they get married, it doesn't mean we have to get married. If they break up, it doesn't mean that we have to break up."

Serra nodded, shrugging, "And?"

"And," I sighed. "Getting here…getting to this place with us was difficult for me, because I didn't trust Dean's happiness and I just assumed that we would be gone before June. And then we stayed and stayed…" I shook my head, emotion pinching the back of my throat. "I haven't been in a long term relationship since Amelia, and even then…I thought Dean was gone and she turned out to be married." I hung my head, searching for the words, but Serra's face appeared beneath my hair and she leaned up, kissing me hard.

When we finally came up for air, she took my face in both her hands and forced me to stare into her hazel eyes. "Listen to me, and listen to me good," she began. "I don't care what Grace and Dean do. They can get married and have four kids for all I care. It doesn't make a goddamn difference to me because I'm not in a relationship with their relationship. I'm in a relationship with you."

"And?"

Serra grinned. "And I don't care about your relationship issues. I don't care about your past. All I need to know is your present and maybe, eventually, your future, if ours is going in the same direction. I've spent my entire life living in Grace's shadow. It's nice to be out in the sun."

"She did it to keep you safe."

"You're only saying that because Dean did the same thing to you."

I pressed my lips together and tried not to smile.

"Bottom line, Winchester," Serra stood and stared down at me with her hands on her hips, still wearing nothing but a bra and her jeans. "Are you committed to being with me?"

"Yes."

"Are you gonna puss out when shit gets hard?"

I took a breath and shook my head. "No."

Serra bent to kiss me, leaning between my legs as I sat on the bed. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and I snaked my hands up to her waist once again. Finally, she breathed through her nose and pulled her face away from mine. "Then that's good enough for me," she whispered. "Sucker."

I chuckled and licked my lips, still tasting her. "I still think I got the better end of the deal."

She bent to pick up her tank top, throwing a grin back at me. "You did."