KNOCK KNOCK
"Arandi!" Dean fell off the bed from her screams waking him and he scrambled to where she was huddled in the corner of their bedroom screaming her head off still. Her eyes wide with fear.
He looked around frantically to see what danger she was seeing because it took a lot to scare her. He hit one of the many hidden panels that he had built into the walls for weapons. Call him paranoid but better safe than oops I'm dead.
He hit a panic button next. Another one of his ideas so that he could alert everyone else and the other way around in case of surprise attack.
It was just a matter of a moments before the front door was crashing in and John and Jonathan with wives at their heels and guns at a ready came rushing in to fight whatever. Half asleep but alert enough to do some damage.
Only there was nothing there. Nothing visible. Only Arandi's nonstop screaming and Dean huddled protectively over her.
The men searched everywhere while Beth and Mary tried to bring Arandi back to her senses. Unfortunately it took a resounding slap from her mom to make her blink and come around. Dean winced, she wasn't going to like that. Hell, he didn't like that.
They searched again to make sure and Arandi insisted that she couldn't remember anything. She just kept staring at Dean as if she expected him to grow another head. She was trembling and rubbing her cheek.
"Well no one is getting anymore sleep tonight. We'll go get breakfast started you guys get this door fixed." Mary ordered. "Dean, you and Arandi get dressed and we'll have some hot tea for you sweetheart."
Arandi nodded and rubbed at her arms as if she was cold.
The second they were alone she launched herself into Dean's arms knocking them back into the recliner and he held onto her tightly.
"You remember don't you?" He asked softly.
She nodded against his neck and didn't raise her head as she told him the whole horrible thing.
Twice now Dean with yellow eyes. He had no clue what that meant. Or if Arandi had just had a nightmare or if she had had a vision as well. Would it be surprising after all they were the 'witch hour four' as Bobby called them and their siblings?
He suddenly felt cold too and held her a bit longer. "Come on we better get down to moms. You don't have to tell them if you don't want to say anything. I get how hard it is to see that and have to repeat it."
Arandi finally looked at him. "That's what you see? Me dying?"
He nodded biting his lower lip as the images flashed through his head.
"I don't like that fear." She said. She moved her hands to her neck and winced. "I don't like any fear."
Dean frowned and pulled her shirt down slightly. His eyes widened at the mottled purpling at her throat. He stood up fast nearly knocking her over.
How could a dream or even a vision do this? Had she been so far under that she had done it to herself somehow?
He moved his hands to his own neck and a chill ran through him. His throat had been slit by his yellow eyed self. What if….?
He didn't know and he didn't like it and he was so done being scared.
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Arandi sat huddled against Dean at the Winchester dining room table as they ate the breakfast spread Mary and Beth had made. John and Bobby fixed the apartment door and double checked the wards. They found a hex hidden under one of the steps.
Bobby looked at John with squinty eyes.
"Fine." John bellowed. "So you were right. We need to ward the entire property not just the houses. I thought the sensor lights would keep things at bay after all they are special sensor lights." He used quote fingers.
Bobby rolled his eyes. "I'll get to work princess. You go get your panties untwisted and then we'll head out to Ben's and get some warding shrubs and plants to add to the gardens, some herbs wouldn't hurt either. I'm going to call Jim and have him overnight some charms and chimes and stuff. Rufus oughta still have those blessed stepping stones by the time I get done you'll be lucky if you're hairy ass will be able to get past the wards."
"You're lucky Mary loves you." John grumbled.
"Yeah, well maybe she'll come to her damn senses and run away with a real man." Bobby snickered.
It made Arandi smile. Dean followed. "Anything I can do?"
"You just take care of your wife, you hear me?" Bobby commanded. "We got this and you and you your floppy haired brother can read about it my memoires."
"You want to take a nap?" Dean asked Arandi.
She nodded and yawned. She stood up so that Dean could stand and took two steps and stopped.
"Arandi?"
She blinked at him owlishly and then crumpled against him.
"Arandi!" He cried out. Shaking her face slightly.
The adults came running but Dean already had Arandi in his arms rushing to the Impala. He wasn't taking any chances.
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"How is this fair?" Arandi pouted. "I want to get you to the hospital and you balk but you bring me here because I fainted?"
"You could be pregnant." Dean huffed as he paced nervously. Their parents were in the lobby waiting along with Sam and Jade.
Bobby had stayed at the house to keep working and called in some help.
"Pregnant? Where did you get that from?"
Dean shrugged now clearly embarrassed. "I've been thinking about it. Haven't you?"
"Well yeah, but not for a few years."
He shrugged again. "Just wanted to make sure you were ok."
Arandi smiled softly. "Thank you."
He smiled back. "S'what I'm supposed to do."
The doctor came in then. "Mrs. Winchester, could I speak to you alone?"
Arandi instantly grabbed hold of Dean's hand. "He's my husband, anything you have to say to me you can say to him."
"You have a lot of bruising and….." The doctor began.
It was at that moment both of them remembered the handprints and finger marked bruising littering her body from their little tryst plus the bruising around her neck.
"We haven't been married very long." Dean mumbled.
The doctor quirked an eye brow.
"We're experimenting." Dean went on so red a lobster would be put to shame. Arandi matching the hue if not outdoing it.
The doctor still only stared. So Dean did the only thing he could think of and pulled down his sports pants.
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They didn't dare tell their parents that part. The doctor though had taken one look at Dean's own finger marks and hand print and had actually started chuckling.
"I've been married so long I forgot about the honeymoon stage. Anyway Mrs. Winchester if you and your husband are going to be 'experimenting' you need to eat more iron rich foods. You're anemic and too much extracurricular activities can make you faint or give you bad headaches. Get some rest and if anything else seems off in the next couple of days see your regular doctor." He handed them their paperwork.
With that they had been on their way.
The family headed home but Dean told them that he had to take Arandi to pick up some things she needed.
He insisted that she sit in a wheel chair as he picked up just about everything on the list of the suggested iron rich diet the doctor had given them.
"I fainted, Dean, I can walk." She huffed.
"You can walk in a couple of days. Hell, you can breakdance, do your version of Chuck Norris, do the hokey pokey, today and tomorrow you're all mine."
"I won't forget this."
"As if." He sighed.
She softened a bit when she noticed the way Dean looked at the baby stuff when he swung through to pick up some wipes. He wanted to start a family and he was going to be a great dad.
So Arandi sighed deeply and settled in for a couple days of ridiculous pampering.
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Bobby, Caleb, and Rufus did an amazing job of warding the properties. The plants and shrubs making designs and sigils only clear to the eyes of someone in the know.
Even the feel in the air seemed more comforting.
Dean hung the dream catcher Jim had sent over the head board. It was the real deal. Blessed, sanctified, and warded.
There were chimes everywhere but instead of being annoying like Dean had assumed they were actually soothing.
They just had to see how long the peace would last.
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A couple of weeks later on another weekend after working all week they were having another cook out and relaxing. Bobby was over and Caleb had stuck around to make sure things were working and adding things here and there.
Bobby and Rufus had broken up again as they often did. Dean could swear that they bickered more than an old married couple.
They were just about to sit down and eat when Jefferson popped his head over the fence.
"Hey, mind if I join." He smiled holding up a watermelon and other goodies.
"Come on around to the gate." Mary laughed.
Jefferson didn't move. "I'm not alone."
"Hey, Mary." A whiskey smooth female voice called out.
"Ellen?" Mary squealed.
"The one and only and her pain in the ass daughter."
"Thanks mom." Another female voice chimed in.
Dean cringed. Jo Harvelle. He looked tentatively at Arandi and she remembered her too by the scowl on her face.
When they were younger the Harvelles had been a regular fixture. Jason, Ellen, and Jo.
Jo was a couple of months younger than Dean and Arandi but they had gotten along and Jo had enjoyed being friends with Arandi and Jade.
That was until Jo developed a crush on Dean and instead of hanging with the girls when they came over she wanted to hang with Dean and she seemed to have forgotten that Dean and Arandi were joined at the hip.
It had gotten pretty bad, to the point where Dean made excuses to not be around when they came over and sometimes he was allowed to get away with it.
Then suddenly they stopped coming and Dean was relieved and finally he asked what had happened.
John wouldn't speak their names let alone say anything to Dean but Mary had finally pulled him aside and told him that Jason had been killed on a hunt and Ellen blamed John for it.
That had been nearly five years before so there was no way Ellen was coming by just to socialize after all this time.
Arandi moved herself onto Dean's lap. Snuggling in close and he splayed his legs making himself comfortable. He hooked his fingers through one of the belt loops of the shorts she was wearing.
Jefferson came around first. Then Ellen, Jo right behind her and a skinny guy with a mullet.
"Love the hair, dude." John snickered.
"It's all business in the front and party in the back." The guy said with a flair of hands and a spin.
Dean and Sam exchanged looks. They liked him instantly.
"This is Ash." Ellen introduced. "He's become like the son I never wanted."
"Ellen, really?" Ash asked wide eyed.
"No, you dope." Ellen scoffed.
Dean could feel Jo's eyes on him and he heard the clearing of two mom's throats. He looked at Arandi who rolled her eyes.
"Hey, Jo." Dean, Arandi, Sam, and Jade said that at the same time.
"Hey." She responded.
She had grown up. She had always been a string bean like Sam when she was young but she had filled out in all the right places and her blonde hair was down to the middle of her back in waves.
John stood by thin lipped until Mary elbowed him. "So, Ellen, ya'll like to join us for dinner. There is plenty for all of us and more. You know how boys eat."
Ellen gave him a half smile. "We'd like that. Haven't been to a cook out in a dog's age. Thank you."
"Well, come on have a seat."
Dean felt Arandi tense up. They were going to have to move to the picnic table. She stood up and Dean watched as Jo's eyes studied Arandi. He stood up behind her. Jo's eyes fell on him and her eyes examined him even closer.
He had been maybe five two the last time they had seen each other. He wrapped his arms around Arandi and kissed her.
When he looked back Jo was beat red with her head down.
"My goodness what did you feed this bunch?" Ellen chimed in as she made her way to the table. Dean and Sam towering over nearly everyone. Arandi and Jade were far from short.
She stopped in front of Arandi and looked up at her. "Child look at you." She said in a breath and pulled her into a hug.
Arandi hugged her back and watched as Jo tried to cover a scowl.
"You two have been together and still." Ellen marveled as Dean once again stepped behind Arandi.
"Forever." Dean said. "Now it's official." He added bringing up their hands together to show the wedding rings." His eyes on Jo as he said it.
She squirmed.
"And before you say a word about the invitation, these two eloped on us but there is going to be an official wedding to blow the roof in a year or two." Beth added quickly.
They all sat around the table and began to serve the food and talk.
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Once they were all stuffed and still enough left overs to make Sam very happy. They sat outside with cocktails and beer catching up.
Ellen grew somber. "John, I know things didn't end well with us back then but I have forgiven."
John nodded. "You had to grieve, Ellen, no one expected you to not to."
She nodded. "I still miss him."
There was silence for a couple of minutes.
"Anyway, we came to Jefferson because we may have some information that pertains to you. Well Ash does anyway."
"Oh yeah." Ash popped up from where he had been shattering nonstop with Sam. "I'll be right back."
"He's a genius." Jo smirked.
Dean chuckled.
Ash rushed back with what looked like a laptop that had been rewired and had attachments all around it. He also carried a thick folder under his arm.
"You remember that file you left at the Roadhouse?" Ellen asked Mary.
"Yeah, the one with weather patterns maybe having to do with demon sightings."
"I had stuffed in a file cabinet and I rented a room to Ash. He stumbled onto it and the next thing I know he's telling me that he figured out how to track demons. Not just any demon."
"The demon." Ash blurted loudly.
"Yellow eyes?" Sam asked looking over Ash's shoulder at the graphs on the computer screen.
"No. I think we're dealing with a bigger fish. Problem is that everything just stopped a couple of days before." Ash huffed.
"Another demon as strong Azazel?"
Ellen squinted.
"Yeah, he was kind enough to introduce himself by name. Why didn't you say something before?" John growled.
"I didn't want to come off halfcocked." Ellen replied. "The only reason we came today was because…" She looked at Ash.
"He was here sometime today and we wanted to make sure you were alright and help if we could." Ash continued. "Ellen has told me all about you and being in the service of hunter research the Winchesters and Remingtons carry quite a rep so I had to do some fangirling."
Sam slapped Ash's back as he laughed. "We'll all autograph your laptop."
Ash actually looked hopeful.
"So the new warding worked?" Jade asked.
"Looks like." John replied. "Or we're being lulled into a false sense of security."
"That's not stressful at all." Caleb mumbled.
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Jo wished that she had stayed home but the fact that her overly strict mother had included her in this had been something else. So she came along. It had been a few years since she had last been there and she hoped that since they were just kids all that mooning she had done over Dean might have been forgotten.
That was until she laid eyes on him and her heart fluttered just the way it had back in the day. There was no way in hell that she was the only one that could look at him and not get all tingly.
He was so tall now and he had filled out. His eyes that were always in a different shade of green depending on his mood so alive and damn she was staring again.
What did it matter how green his eyes were? He didn't seem to use them for anything but gazing lovingly at Arandi.
It had been bad now it was worse. Jo had often prayed that Dean would tire of Arandi and she would have her moment in the sun.
They were married. They were in love. Jo needed a strong shot of something.
Arandi had always been beautiful and those freakish blue eyes of hers that made Jo feel as if her soul was being scorched. She chuckled to herself maybe she had a crush on Arandi too.
She was an adult now and she had to act it. Dean was never going to be hers like that. Didn't mean she had to alienate him….them.
So she finally met Arandi's eyes and gave her the first genuine smile in a long time.
She got two in return.
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The night progressed and the worries were put on the back burner. Stories were passed around from old hunts and good laughs.
Arandi, Jade, and Jo eventually disappeared and Dean's curiosity got the best of him. He found them all laughing and playing pool in the Winchester game room. All three of them could put most men to shame when it came to playing those balls.
Sam came in with Ash and soon they were paired off and playing hard. Dean loved the challenge of actually playing people almost as good as he was. Almost. Arandi had beat him a couple of times and that was only because his mind tended to get a bit foggy when she bent over and yeah…..Even his dad and Bobby couldn't beat him anymore unless he let them.
Mary, Beth, and Ellen were laughing and carrying on in the kitchen. And the men continued their story telling outside.
All in all it turned out to be a good night.
Everyone was invited to spend the night since everyone had had one too many.
Dean, Sam, and Ash moved to playing darts and the girls sat close by talking and laughing playing bones.
Dean loved to see Arandi in carefree moments like that. She looked at him and smiled. Suddenly he didn't want to do anything more that carry her off to bed.
"Down boy." Sam muttered.
Dean burst into laughter and put his eyes back on the dart board before someone lost an eye.
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"I never meant to make things awkward." Jo said to Arandi while they got a guest room ready for her. "I just wasn't around any other boys but Dean and Sam."
"I forgot you were home schooled." Arandi answered.
"That got lonely fast. Mom finally let me go to public school after…." Jo trailed off. "Didn't help with the boys much. I was too much tomboy for them especially since I could kick most of their asses at just about everything."
"I don't envy you that."
"You can't possibly envy anything."
Arandi sighed. "Trust me you were just the first in a very long, long line of people that had a crush on Dean. And I say people because not all of them have been girls."
Jo laughed. "Dean must love that."
"He acts like it bothers him but I know he gets a little flattered especially when the guy isn't even gay. Just goes gay for a minute or two when they see his eyes and pouty lips." Arandi made googly eyes and clasped her hands by her head.
"That are all yours."
Arandi smiled at that. "Yeah." She said fondly.
"And you're married. Hell, I haven't been on a date in over six months. One look at my mom and it's like a magician act."
Arandi suddenly looked at Jo in a way that made her wonder if she should run.
"My brother loves blondes."
Jo blushed. "Isn't your brother overseas and way older than me?"
"Age is nothing but a number, baby. Besides you can video chat or e-mail." Arandi suddenly seemed very excited.
"You want me to date your brother?" Jo asked flabbergasted.
"My brother has never had a serious relationship. He doesn't want to fall in love and then have that person bolt the second they know the real Johnny Remington. You're a hunter like him and he doesn't have to pretend to be anything else."
"Will he even like me?" Jo asked actually beginning to get into the idea. So Johnny was halfway across the world. At least her mom couldn't scare him off. Much.
Arandi pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed. "It's afternoon over there I think. Johnny? Hey how are you? No everything is fine but do you have time to chat? I've got someone who wants to say hi. Yeah, yeah, five minutes. Love ya, bro." She grabbed Jo's hand and dragged her to the family room and booted up the family computer.
Thirty minutes later she was wishing her brother goodnight because she was more than sure that Johnny was definitely interested. Jo grinned huge at her mouthing 'thank you.' Johnny was one hell of a catch.
Arandi felt like she had done something good. Jo wasn't a bad person and she was beautiful, she was lonely and so was her brother and they were both hunters so she felt good about it.
She rushed to find Dean and Sam told her he had gone to the apartment already. She wished everyone goodnight and headed out.
She found Dean getting their bed ready and walking around in his boxers. She started to tell him the news but he kissed her quiet and then led her into the bathroom.
The tub was filled with warm water and her favorite bubble bath. He helped her take off her clothes and he stepped in first then she got in to relax against him.
"You're taking a bubble bath?"
"I'll blame it on Johnnie Walker tomorrow" He sighed. "So what were you all excited about?"
She told him.
"Johnny and Jo? That might actually work if he wasn't halfway across the world."
"Maybe if he has a good reason to come home…."
"Yeah, I miss him too."
TBC
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Thanks for reading!