Chapter 25: Good Luck With Your Monster

The first week at school went by so quickly that Sophie wasn't even entirely sure that it happened.

Other than that first day, she hadn't spoken a word to Mason, and she was beginning to see that whatever feud going on between them was shaping up to be more of a marathon than a sprint. She didn't care; she'd be ready for whatever, whenever it may come.

In the meantime, she was finding that she really enjoyed the company of Jack, Jamie, and Harry. They were lighthearted and hilarious and intelligent, qualities Sophie had always appreciated in friends. They seemed more than willing to welcome her into their little circle, and Sophie couldn't believe she'd managed to actually make not just one, but three friends.

Everything seemed to be going fairly well. She was already on track in each of her classes, and seemed to be settling into the routine of things easily. She woke up, went to school, came home, did her homework, trained with Dean or Sam, ate dinner, had free time to read or watch a movie, and then went to bed. It was like clockwork, almost too much so, but it was nice to have a sense of stability to hold onto. Which, she speculated, was probably what Sam and Dean had wanted.

That Friday afternoon, she was sitting at the table trying to teach herself all of the rules of derivatives, seeing as her teacher had been hopeless at trying to teach it during the actual class. She was just about to give up when Sam walked into the room, sat down right next to her, and said, without preamble, "Dean and I have a case."

Sophie looked up and put her pencil down. "Oh."

"It's in Missouri," he continued, as if placating her. "So it's not far at all. And it's a baby case, textbook ghost haunting. Should take us a couple of days at the most. We just thought it'd be good to go back in small, make sure everything's good with you here, alone."

Sophie grinned at him. "You know you and Dean don't need to only take small jobs that are close to the bunker," she said. "You're hunters, that's your life. Trust me, I'll be fine here. This is the safest place anyone could possibly live."

"We know," Sam replied, nodding. "But for the first job since bringing you here, we want to keep it small, just in case."

"Well, it's all good with me," she said. She paused for a moment, looked down at her homework, and then looked back up at Sam. "What's the case?"

If he was surprised or unhappy that she showed interest in the hunt, he didn't show it. "A couple moved into a house and the husband was found dead one day later, apparently from falling off the second floor balcony. But the wife is swearing he didn't fall, she's saying something pushed him. Dean and I did a little digging, and there was a big murder in the house a few years back. All signs point towards a ghost."

Sophie nodded. "Right. So, you get rid of a ghost by…oh, shoot, wait, don't tell me, I remember this..." Sam couldn't help but grin, and he was about to tell her when her head shot up. "Wait, I remember. You have to find the remains, all of them, and salt and burn them."

"Right," Sam said. "And how do you keep one at bay?"

"Salt," Sophie said. "Or iron."

"Fast learner," Sam noted, feeling a little bit of the pride that he knew Dean had felt upon learning she wasn't a shabby fighter.

She grinned. "Yeah, if only I could pick up calculus as quickly as I do monster killing."

"You know, if you ever need homework help, just ask," Sam said. "I happen to be pretty good at the whole school thing."

"Yeah, Stanford," Sophie said admiringly. "Dean told me."

"Yeah," Sam said, heaving a big breath. "Good times. I was pre-law, but I took a couple calc classes, and I wasn't half bad. So seriously, you need help, just ask."

Sophie nodded, looking down at her homework again. "Well, actually, if you're offering…these stupid derivatives keep stumping me."

"Derivatives I can do," Sam proclaimed confidently.

For the next thirty minutes Sam helped Sophie with her homework, and when they were done she was surprised that she actually felt like she had a good handle on the material. Sam helped make some of it make sense. Sophie briefly considered asking him why he'd dropped out of Stanford to hunt if he was such a good student, but she had a feeling that there was more to that story than anyone cared to rehash, so she kept quiet.

A little while later, there was a shuffle at the top of the stairs, and Sophie looked up to see Dean with bags hanging off of his arms, looking flustered and annoyed. As he walked down, he saw Sophie and Sam at the table. "Oh, so you're study buddies now while I do all the heavy lifting," he ranted as he stepped off the stairs. "That's adorable."

"You want to be the one doing calculus, Dean?" Sam asked, amused.

"No, but I don't want to be the one grocery shopping," he snapped in response. "I don't grocery shop."

"Grocery shopping?" Sophie asked in surprise. "You guys actually eat real food?"

"No," Dean said. "But if we're going to be leaving you here, we sort of have to make sure you don't starve."

"How considerate of you," Sophie remarked.

Dean ignored her sarcasm. "I got stuff that should be easy enough to make. Velveeta, cereal, frozen waffles, stuff like that."

"Did you get anything with any nutritional value, at all?" Sam asked, exasperated.

Dean set all of the bags on the table, searched through them for a moment, and then emerged with a jar of applesauce. "Does this do it for you, Sammy?"

Sam just gave Dean a look, one that clearly communicated the fact that no, the applesauce did not satisfy Sam's parameters for nutritious food, and Dean merely shrugged and stuffed it back into the bag.

Sophie watched the whole scene in amusement. "Lucky for you, I love Velveeta, cereal, frozen waffles, and applesauce. I mean, so do toddlers, but that might just be a coincidence."

"Sam told you we might be leaving tomorrow, right?" Dean asked, starting to unpack the bags. Sophie looked at the contents, trying not to laugh at the boxes of Poptarts and Pizza Rolls.

"Yep," she said, closing up her textbook and putting her homework back in its folder. "Happy hunting."

"So you're…good? On your own?"

"Dean," Sophie said, annoyed. "Last time I checked, I was fifteen, not five."

"Alright," he replied defensively. "Got it, you're good."

She sighed. "No, sorry, I appreciate you asking. But I mean that was the deal from the start, right? I stay, you hunt. Besides, I don't mind being alone. Beats being with Steve, or being dead."

"Amen," Dean proclaimed.

"Plus I'll have time to get to my reading list. This place has, like, every book in the world, and I want to read them all."

Dean just stared at her. "I'm still not entirely convinced you're my kid and not Sam's."

Sophie turned to look at Sam. "Did you ever sleep with a woman named Caroline Gardner?"

Sam grinned. "I would've been about thirteen at the time, so no."

She looked back at Dean. "Case closed."

Dean just rolled his eyes and started grabbing the food that needed to go into the fridge, carrying it into the kitchen.

Sam laughed as Dean disappeared. "You know, you may have somehow managed to get my brain, but you've got his sense of humor."

"I prefer to think I have my own sense of humor," Sophie said.

"Maybe. But you've got to admit, you and Dean both ride the same comedic wavelength when you're feeling up to it."

Sophie shrugged. "I guess. Maybe we do." She sighed, and then a thought crossed her mind and her eyes brightened. "Hey, Sam, did I tell you about how I crushed any chance of Dean ever being able to hook up with Michelle, the school secretary?"

At that moment, Dean came back into the room. "No," Dean snapped. "No story telling. Now get up, we're getting a bit of training in."

"But I want to hear this," Sam complained, grinning.

"Yeah, Dean, Sam wants to hear," Sophie echoed.

"Not happening," Dean barked. "C'mon, I want to make sure you're good to shoot to kill before we leave you alone."

"Fine, fine," Sophie relented, standing up. "Another time," she whispered to Sam, and Dean made an exasperated sound as he exited the room, Sam and Sophie's laughter following him.

The next morning when Sophie walked out of her room, shuffling slowly and suffering from a serious case of bed head, she was surprised to see Sam and Dean rushing to and fro, disappearing behind doors and reemerging with weapons and books.

"Um, good morning," she said. There was no response, just more shuffling. She shrugged, walked into the kitchen, and started a pot of coffee.

Once it was done, the shuffling had died down, and Sophie poured herself a cup and made her way to the big room. Dean was zipping up a stuffed duffle bag and Sam was trying to fit a couple more books into a backpack. "Good morning," she tried again.

"Morning," both Sam and Dean said at the same time, clearly distracted.

"I thought this was supposed to be a quick salt and burn trip," Sophie said, confused.

At that, Dean raised his head and looked at her. "It is," he said.

"You just never know what anything could turn into," Sam elaborated. "We've left for easy hunts before and then all hell breaks loose and suddenly we're gone for two months as opposed to two days."

"Right," Sophie said, a tiny knot of worry beginning to form in her stomach. "So, theoretically, let's say this ghost catches a lucky break and you two bite the dust. Where does that leave me?"

Dean looked mildly offended. "Oh ye of little faith."

Sam gave his brother a look. "She's got a point."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, and I've got a contingency plan. Cas is going to check in on you when we're gone, maybe once every couple of days. We've also got a phone, and so do you, so we'll check in once a day. If we miss a day, don't freak out. If we miss two days, shoot a quick one up to Cas, and he'll figure out what's going on. If Sam and I really have bought the farm… Cas'll take care of you."

Sophie nodded silently, biting her lip.

Dean let out a pent up breath, unable to keep looking at her concerned, conflicted expression. "Look, Soph, we're going to be fine. We've been doing this a long time."

Sophie wanted to say something about how they killed vampires and werewolves and demons, and that she wasn't stupid; she knew there was always a chance that they wouldn't come back from a hunt. Instead, she masked her hesitation with a sip of coffee, and then said, "Okay. Well…good luck with your monster, then."

At that, Dean and Sam both grinned with a similar affection. She wanted to bite her tongue. Good luck with your monster? There had to have been a better farewell than that.

"Thanks, kid," Dean said, and he seemed to really mean it. He shouldered his duffle bag, and Sam slung the backpack over his shoulder. "Now, there's a chance Cas will appear out of nowhere again, but you really don't need to freak out; he's the only supernatural being who can pop in and out of here at will. There's food in the fridge, money by the sink, weapons…everywhere. And…that's it."

Sophie nodded. "Okay."

There was a heavy moment of silence. Dean clearly felt compelled to say more. "We'll be back, okay? We'll make it back."

Sophie kept nodding. "Okay." But this time, her "okay" seemed more relaxed, more natural.

With that, Dean nodded. "Okay," he said, mostly to himself. With that, he made his way towards the garage, where the Impala was parked.

Sam walked up to Sophie before he took off. "You need me for anything, even if it's homework help, just call. A lot of hunting is sitting around and waiting for something to happen, and I could always use the time I'm not doing anything to mess around with a calc problem."

Sophie grinned up at Sam. "Thanks."

He nodded, gave her shoulder a quick squeeze, and then followed Dean's lead and made his way to the garage.

Sophie stood quietly and listened as the Impala roared to life, and then as it drove away, the whole room faded into silence.

She stood there, coffee cup in hand, and stared the truth in the face. She was alone.

Thank ya for reading! Some entertaining stuff next chapter, in my opinion at least. Until next time! ~ Lacey :)