This chapter would have been put off for days and days if it wasn't for the extremely talented and wonderful sweetkiwi604! She helped me write this chapter and I want to thank her from the bottom of my heart :)
"You sure you'll be alright?" Dean inquired, his green eyes narrowing in worry. She nodded, snatching the credit card he held out in the palm of his hand before climbing into the passenger seat. A farewell party had gathered outside Bobby's house and towered around Jo's car.
"I'll take care of your little girl, Dean," The petite blonde grinned reassuringly, her dimples coming out.
Dean scoffed, his energetic side shining along with his smirk. "I was talking to you, Jo. My little girl's gonna take care of you."
Jo laughed, rolling her eye and wiggling her closed lips to the side. Nat bit her cheek, refusing to meet her father's gaze as he leaned over to look through the open window at her stone hard expression.
"Have fun, baby," The hunter kindly said to his daughter. Natalie brushed a loose lock of hair off of her face, raising one eyebrow and curling her mouth sardonically to imply that she had acknowledged what he said. "Alright then," He dismissively replied, straightening himself up, and meeting Sam's eye for a brief moment before addressing the blonde woman in the driver's seat. "She's still a child, Jo."
"She's eightteen, Dean," She remarked over the sound of the grumbling engine coming alive. "She's not a child."
The loud muscle car jolted forward and sped down the long, winding, dirt driveway, leaving the Salvage Yard in it's dusty wake. Jo waited for a few minutes to see if Nat would start up the conversation first but the young girl silently looked out the windshield.
"Something going on with you and your dad?"
"No," was Natalie's abrupt response.
"You can trust me, you know. I know it's hard to have lived with men for your entire life." Jo gently pressed, trying to break through the hard shell that came with all Winchester's.
Nat opened her mouth to speak but couldn't make the words form on her lips immediately. "I've been thinking about moving out."
"What does your dad say?"
"He says I can go if I want."
Jo laughed lightly as she steered onto the highway. "Then what's the problem?"
She shrugged indifferently. "I don't know. I just want something different than sitting at Bobby's house. A different scene, maybe?"
"Well, it's just you and me, Natalie. Tonight we can do whatever you want." There was a silence. Jo glanced over at the young girl with a mischievous smile. "You ever been to a hookah bar?"
"A what?!" Nat declared clearly frazzled. "Aren't those colloquially called strip clubs?"
"Hookah," she repeated louder so the black haired girl could differentiate between the two words. "not hooker, kid."
"What the hell is that?"
"It's just something you smoke flavored tobacco out of. I know a good place to go."
Natalie started to squirm hesitantly again, twisting her mouth to her side.
"It'll just be me, you, and Ash."
"Where's Ash?"
Jo raised one arm and hit the roof of the car with her hand. "Ash! Get up!"
Nat nearly jumped out of her skin when Ash suddenly sat up from the back seat, obviously having been sleeping sprawled out in the backseat.
"I'm up, I'mmm up," he groggily slurred and rubbed his eyes. "What I miss?"
"Good morning, sunshine!" Jo sang, looking at him through the rearview mirror. "She's in."
"Give me some love, Winchester!" Ash held up a hand, awaiting Nat to give him a high-five which she slowly did, still uneasy about the idea. He saw her discomfort and immediately set out to console her and smooth over her ruffled feathers. "You may get a bit lightheaded but knowing the way you Winchester's drink, I don't think a little tobacco will be too hard on you."
Nat smiled giving Ash a thumbs-up before turning her gaze out the front windshield. When Jo had called her up and wanted a girl's night she figured they would rent a few chick flicks, gossip, or paint each other's fingernails. That's what girl's night were, right? Nat wasn't too sure. Sure, when she was younger Uncle Sam let her paint his nails and tie his long locks into small spikes on the top of his head. Uncle Adam would sit through a chick flick of her choice and only roll his eyes when the couple on the screen got too mushy. The only 'gossip' she heard was from Bobby muttering about one case or another and her father going on and on about some doctor television show he was too obsessed with.
This was exactly what she needed though a night out with someone who didn't have so much testosterone and a much needed change of scenery. She'd been surprised to say the least when Ash made his presence known but nothing was going to deter her mood. Tonight she was going to have fun if it killed her.
Jo eventually parked the car and the three made their way into the smoke filled bar. Nat flashed her identification to the man at the door who gave an impermeable nod and let her pass. In the small foyer there was a large sign: TABACCO CAN CAUSE ORAL CANCER AND LUNG DISEASE.
"Ready?" Jo asked linking arms with Nat pulling her into a large room filled with various couches angled around several hookahs.
The atmosphere was completely different of that from Harvelle's. There were purple, green, and blue lights placed strategically around the room while calming music filled the air very unlike the classic rock she was used to hearing. Nat was also surprised to see that most people in there were about her age.
Jo picked up the laminated menu and ran her finger down the list, "Any preferences?"
Nat shrugged not knowing what her options were when Ash plopped down next to her, "Let's do something…exotic. Nothing fruity this time, Joanna."
"Citrus mist it is then," Jo placed the page back down on the table with a triumphant smirk.
The hookah was set up and both Jo and Ash took long pulls from the pipe before Nat found it in her own hand. She glanced from the pipe to Jo and then to Ash, "I don't know how to do this."
"Put it in your mouth," Ash winked, lounging on the seat next to her looking more relaxed than she had ever seen him.
Jo shook her head at his answer, "Just inhale like you're taking a deep breath, hold the smoke in as long as you can without it becoming uncomfortable to enjoy the flavor and then exhale slowly."
Nat put the pipe in her mouth and pulled the smoke into her lungs and almost immediately exhaled through her mouth. A few coughs later and she got her breathing back to normal and the light-headedness to dissipate.
Jo chuckled, "So maybe not such a deep pull on your first try."
Natalie let out a deep breath once more and rolled her shoulders in a circular motion to alleviate her tense muscles before putting the pipe to her mouth and slowly felt the smooth smoke fill up her body. She closed her eyes and focused wholly on the taste which only had a slight pinch of citrus.
"What if all of this is a dream, and it isn't even our dream, it's that dog's dream?" She asked, leaning back in the couch. "Maybe we're just existing in his mind and all of a sudden he'll go drink out of the toilet and we'll be gone. What will happen to us if that dog wakes up? It will be over."
"What dog?" Ash asked in a muffled breath, his eyes shifting around to catch sight of whatever dog Nat was talking about. "Are you smoking the same stuff as us?" He nudged the young girl's arm playfully. "I'd like to hear you after you smoke Dragonfly."
"She'd be a riot," The blonde hunter sitting across from them knowingly smirked as she steadily inhaled again.
***Smoke and Ash***
Nat stepped halfway up the back porch and waved back at Jo and Ash who started down the driveway, a contentedly smile on her face.
"Hey," Dean looked up from a dusty book when his daughter walked into the room and hung her coat neatly in the closet. The happiness in her face spread immediately to his mouth. "I'm guessing you had a good time."
"I," she started, stopping to think to herself for a moment. "I had an awesome time."
"What you and Jo do?"
"Oh, you know," Natalie shrugged. "we watched that new Nicholas Sparks movie and ate a lot of ice cream,"
"Lucky," Her father muttered, wishing he could have some ice cream with warm apple pie...and maybe a mist of citrus.
Next chapter options:
1. A young Nat has cancer
2. Bobby shows his softer side to Natalie
If anyone has any other ideas they want to read, then please feel free to let me know!