A/N Hey! Another Saturday, another update. I realize that a couple of you have submitted oneshot ideas. I haven't forgotten about them I promise. It just might take me some time to get to them. I lost my writing buffer a few chapters ago and so I've been trying to build that up again before I focus on oneshots.
Thank you to my reviewers: Ladysunshine6, chinaluv, EmilyAnnGibbs-McGarrett, icedragonfirebird, Sammie669, and mamasam. Y'all are amazing!
Sooo... this chapter was actually written several months ago and I just tweaked it to fit what was happening. I felt that it was time and that it kinda fit here somehow. You guys are so gonna kill me...
Tears were blurring Zara's vision as she sped down the road towards her destination. Her initial anger had burned off into hurt and confusion. She didn't understand what had happened to Dean. Why had the past few days changed his attitude towards her so much? Maybe he just didn't want her there anymore. Maybe it was something she had done. Maybe she had mistaken whatever affection she thought he had had for her. Maybe… Whatever it was, he didn't seem to want her there. The realization of that hurt more than it should have.
The black mass of the warehouse loomed before her. Zara took a deep breath. One more hunt. One more hunt and then she would leave the boys alone and never bother them again. She could hunt solo. She knew how to take care of herself. Besides, they had the journal. They wouldn't need her anymore. Zara got out of the car and took her angel blade out of her jacket as she walked towards the warehouse. She could hear her phone buzzing in the car but she didn't care anymore. One more hunt and they wouldn't have to care either.
Chapter 29
Zara opened her eyes to see the light filtering in through a bedroom window. She was lying in a bed and someone was pressed up behind her with his arm around her waist. Zara didn't dare to turn around and see that it was Sean. She couldn't bear to think that everything had been a dream. That couldn't be right... could it? Her mind raced. She didn't remember getting here. What had happened before this? She had been with Sam and Dean and they had been in some sort of fight… Zara tried to think but it only made her head hurt. The person behind her stirred and started to wake up. "Morning Princess." He mumbled before tightening his grip around her middle and giving her a little kiss on the back of her neck. Zara froze. That wasn't Sean's voice. It was Dean's.
"Morning." She barely squeaked out. What was happening? Why was Dean in bed with her? She had to admit it was nice, but this couldn't be happening. Dean let go of her, got out of bed, and went into the bathroom. As soon as the door was closed, Zara shot straight up in the bed. It appeared that she was in a house… like an honest to goodness real suburban house. She got out of bed and went over to the dresser. There were various odds and ends that one would find in any old home- loose change, keys, stray jewelry, and a photo. Zara blinked the rest of the sleep out of her eyes and gave the photo a double take. It was a picture of her and Dean… in wedding clothes? What the hell? She started breathing faster and stumbled back to sit on the bed in shock.
She heard the toilet flush and the door open behind her. Dean came over to her and touched her shoulder gently. "You okay?"
Zara looked up to him- her eyes as wide as saucers. "What's happening?"
Dean's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?" He reached up and nudged a strand of hair out of her face. Zara couldn't tell what was weirder- Dean acting so foreword or the fact that she seemed so perfectly comfortable with it. Granted, the gesture was odd, but she was okay with him doing it. It somehow felt… right. She knew for a fact that, had it been any other man, she would be freaking out right about now- a reflex from her abusive experience. But Dean? She could trust Dean. She knew he would never hurt her.
That didn't explain why it was happening though. "We were on a hunt." Zara started. "We were hunting a… what were we hunting? I don't remember. But I got jumped and… and I woke up here. What is happening?" She asked again.
Dean chuckled. "Hunting? What? Like Bambi and his mother? I thought you hated killing wild animals. Must have been some weird sort of dream." He got up and started rifling through the clothes in the dresser.
Dean thought hunting was just wild animals? Something was seriously wrong here. Zara looked around some more. "Where's Sam?"
Dean stiffened. "Sam?" He turned around with a sad and concerned look on his face. "Honey, Sam died in a car crash last year. Don't you remember that?"
Zara decided to play along. "Right." She gave a faint apologetic smile. "Sorry." Dean turned around again and picked up a shirt to put on. "Where are you going?"
"The hospital. Remember?" His voice was muffled through the shirt he had over his head.
"For what?"
Dean adjusted the shirt and sat back on the bed. He smiled. "You've gotta be joking. You know 'what for.'" He lovingly put his hand on her slightly protruding belly and Zara stopped breathing. Dean looked lovingly into her eyes. "I know you're hoping for a girl but I'm excited to find out either way." Everything froze in place. All Zara could hear was the pounding of her heart which seemed to echo one word. Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant. She was pregnant.
"Zara! Zara!" Dean was shaking her. "Wake up! Come on!" The monster in the warehouse had turned out to be a Djinn. It had taken the Winchesters hours to find the right place and every minute Dean was imagining the horrors that were probably happening to Zara out there alone. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have underestimated her like that?
When they finally found the Impala parked outside, Dean breathed a sigh of relief. At least she was here… somewhere. Nothing could have prepared him to see her strung up and unconscious among the various other victims. The others were dead. The Djinn was now dead. Dean prayed that at least Zara was still alive.
"Come on! Please!" Dean pleaded with her. Just when he was about to despair that they had lost her to the Djinn induced dream world, her eyes began flutter and open. Her eyes locked onto his instantly. "Are you okay?" He asked. She didn't answer. Instead she looked down at her stomach and bit her lip. "Zara, are you okay?" Dean pressed.
"Y-yeah." She mumbled.
"I'm sorry." He hugged her to him. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have insisted on going with you. I shouldn't have let you leave." He searched her face to see if she had understood anything he was saying. His gaze was only met by a faraway, sad expression. Whatever had happened in the last few hours, between them and by herself, apparently she didn't want to talk about it. That was okay. She had a right to be mad at him after what he had done. He would give her time.
Dean helped her up and they all went back to the Impala to begin the journey home. Zara was quiet the whole way back. She had curled her legs up against her chest, hugging them with her arms, and was looking out the window. She was trying to keep the hiccupping sobs as quiet as possible but a few escaped.
Sam looked back at her through the rearview mirror. "Are you okay?" He asked gently. Dean was lost in his own world of self loathing but brought himself out to hear her answer. She was all he really cared about.
Zara took a shuddering breath and tried in vain to compose herself. Between her and Dean's fight and the Djinn dream, she was decidedly not okay. She wouldn't be okay for a while. The dream kept on playing through her mind again and again. "I-I… I need to get something at the store before we go home tonight. Alright?"
Sam nodded. "Sure, we'll stop on the way. What do you need?"
She just shook her head.
Dean cleared his throat a little. "Um, about that… uh, fight earlier-"
"Now's not the time, Dean." Zara cut in abruptly. "I don't want to talk about it."
Dean snapped his eyes back to the road. "Yeah." His voice cracked a little- betraying his emotions. "Yeah. Okay."
Zara sat on the floor of the locked bathroom clutching the pregnancy test. She knew that it had finished some time ago but she had covered the results window with her thumbs- refusing to look at it quite yet. The Djinn dream had made her realize something. She hadn't gotten her period in the two months that she had been there, which was abnormal for her. She had also been having weird cravings and odd emotional mood swings. She had mostly ignored these things- thinking that they could just be because of everything that had happened recently, but the dream had put the idea in her head and she just couldn't ignore it anymore.
Zara had always wanted kids. It was something that she had wanted even from the time that she was a young child. The day she found out she was pregnant with Sean's child last year was the happiest day of her life up until Sean found out. She never stopped hating him for making her abort her baby. It was then that she truly realized what a monster her former husband really was. She had cried for weeks after that incident and now… now, to even think that she might have a second chance was… it was so many things… exciting, amazing, wonderful… terrifying.
She couldn't imagine bringing a baby into this new world of monsters and mayhem, but she wasn't about to let anyone hurt her child. Not again. Not ever. She couldn't stay with the Winchesters though. Even before this hunt she had decided she was going to leave. This would just be another reason.
It didn't matter that Dean was pretending to care tonight after she got jumped. She knew how he really felt. Dean didn't want her. He definitely wouldn't want her there if she was pregnant. She held back a little sob. Just when she was beginning to feel again, something like this happens. How could she be so stupid to think that Dean would feel anything towards her? She just knew he couldn't see her as anything but broken, used, and worthless, but she thought he was the sun. It was Sean all over again and she couldn't be in another relationship like that. She promised herself she would never let herself do that again. She had to leave. She had to leave now.
She could go with Balthazar. He would protect her and if she was pregnant, he would protect her baby too. Everything would be okay. She would be okay. Zara took a deep breath and started to move her thumbs off of the window. She HAD to know. Zara steeled herself and looked at the test… there was a little plus sign. Her heartbeat started pounding in her ears again. Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant.
