Enjoy! : )
2009
Hershey was silent during the ride back to our current home in a big, red, half-dead pickup truck. I constantly fiddled with the radio just to give my hands something to do. Hunters. There was a pair of hunters in Forks. I didn't know why we didn't just run and move onto the next town. That's what we were going to do anyway after Valentine's Day. Why did we suddenly have to stay?
"Relax, Cola. Just looking at you is making me have a nervous breakdown," he teased softly. I glared at him. "Seriously, this isn't my first rodeo. We'll be fine. We'll stick around until the hunters know that we aren't monsters, and then we'll haul jets."
"So you aren't going to screw with them?" I asked. Hershey looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Because whenever you screw with hunters, I end up kidnapped with a good chance of stabbing. And being stabbed is a horrible way to spend Valentine's Day."
"Sheesh! Have a little faith in my capabilities!" I shook my head and looked out the window at the endless, oppressing forest of green. I had complete faith in Hershey's capabilities to keep himself alive and in one piece. I had slightly less faith in him keeping me alive and in one piece.
Present
I waited for Dean to leave in search of food before crawling around on Becky's floor to find that damned note. Becky sat down on the corner of her bed, looking as if someone had kicked her Sammykins.
"You should have told him." I studiously ignored her. "Nicky, I'm serious! Dean has to know. At least tell him that Gabriel's back." I finally found that crumpled piece of paper, and turned around to face her.
"I can't," I told her, absent-mindedly smoothing the crumpled paper out on my knee. "Just knowing that Hershey's alive would mean far too many questions that I can't answer."
"But – "
"But nothing!" I interrupted harshly. "Damn it, Becky! Do I think I want – " My voice caught in my throat and I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Do you think that I expected any of this to happen?" I asked quietly. "This wasn't the plan. Trust me. But we keep Dean in the dark for as long as possible. It's better for him this way." Becky looked like she was dying to say more, but the look on my face stopped her. She nodded instead. "Thank you," I said, and looked down at the note on my knee. It matched Hershey's handwriting perfectly. I didn't even have to pull out my photo to double check. That bastard. He was going to ruin everything! I tore up the note into little pieces and watched it fall like snow around me. "Damn it, Hers – Gabriel!"
2009
Hershey vanished the moment I got up the next morning, muttering something about making secret plans. Yep. He was definitely going to screw with the hunters. I made myself a cup of hot chocolate and settled down in front of the TV to pass the time. An old Dr. Sexy, M.D. was on, the one where the girl died on the one neurosomething surgeon's table, and now he's too afraid to love the sexy, but earnest doctor that was named after an instrument. It was Hershey's favorite episode.
Dr. Sexy was just tearing another doctor a new one for okaying an experimental face transplant (pretty sure those don't exist) when the doorbell rang. I frowned. No one rang our doorbell. I turned off the TV and peeked out the window.
"Crap," I hissed, quickly getting out of view. The two hunters from the restaurant were standing somewhat patiently on our front steps. "Crap. Hershey. The hunters are here!" I waited for a moment for him to magic himself up, but the house stayed decidedly Hershey-less. "Crap," I repeated as the doorbell rang again.
"FBI!" the women called out, and one of them banged on the door. At this rate they were going to break the damn thing down, or at least pick the lock. I sent Hershey another desperate plea for help, and went to answer the door.
"Hello? Sorry, I was taking a nap. Didn't hear the door ring," I told them apologetically. The woman smiled kindly at me. The man simply looked at me like I was some sort of odd insect he was about to stomp on. A chill ran through me that wasn't from the cold.
"Miss Burns?" the woman asked. I nodded. "Hi, I'm Agent Swan, this is Agent Cullen from the FBI. Do you mind if we come in and ask you a few questions?" Swan and Cullen? Seriously?
"Come in," I told them, and stepped back from the doorway.
"Thank you," Agent Cullen said. I smiled politely and we walked back into the living room. The two "agents" took a seat on the couch while I claimed an armchair. One of my hands began to fiddle with my cross. Cullen watched the movement with interest as Swan pulled out a notepad and pen from her jacket pocket.
"Miss Burns, you live here with a Jack Dawson, correct?" she asked.
"Well, sorta. It's Jack's house, well vacation house really. We're only staying here for a few weeks," I said, trying frantically to remember our cover story while mentally cursing Hershey for leaving me here alone.
"And where is Mr. Dawson?" Cullen asked.
"Port Angeles?" I said uncertainly. "He left about an hour or so ago." Swan made a quick note. "I'm sorry, but does this have to do with the recent attacks?"
"Yes," Cullen said with a smile that made my skin crawl. I suddenly got the feeling that he would prefer to just shoot me than to go through with this charade of civility.
"Oh."
"Did either you or Mr. Dawson have any connections with the victims?" Swan asked me gently. All three of us knew that I was scared, that I didn't like this whatsoever. And we all knew how this was probably going to end. This was no massive six year charade. Hershey and I blew into town and the killings began. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who was responsible. But I liked the female hunter just a little bit more for trying to make me feel more comfortable.
"Umm… I don't think so…" I paused for a moment. "Oh! Yes. Well, not really. Jack and I got into a minor fender bender with… I think his name was Billy Black. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was him. Anyway, both he and Jack got a little mad at each other, yelled a bit. You know men and their cars." That drew a genuine smile from Swan. "But the paper said that he was killed by some sort of animal. A wolf or something."
"We're simply covering all our bases," Cullen told me. "Excuse me, but can I use your bathroom?" I frowned slightly but nodded.
"Down the hall and second door on your left."
"Thanks." Swan took the time to look around to room while I was watching her partner leave. Use the bathroom. Yeah right.
"Are you an artist?" Swan asked suddenly, looking curiously at my open sketchbook that was sitting on the coffee table. Stella and Mom stared up from the pages, both only half-completed. That was probably the only pages in the whole book that didn't have Hershey on them.
"Yeah. It's more of a hobby now than anything."
"You're good," she told me, and I smiled. "Your work reminds me of Angelo Christo. Have you heard of him?" I shook my head, and she looked relieved and somewhat saddened.
"No. But thanks."
We both heard the toilet flush and Cullen reemerged. The two hunters looked at each other for a second or two, before Swan sighed and stood. I stood along with her.
"Well I suppose that's everything for now," she told me. "We'll probably come back later to talk to Mr. Dawson."
"Please don't leave town," Cullen added. "Standard procedure." I smiled faintly.
"Of course. I'll tell Jack when he gets home." I locked the door tightly behind me once they finally left, and then went to make sure every window was also locked. Cullen unnerved me. No… he scared the crap out of me. Dean had looked at me in a similar time once, back when he was wondering whether or not there were two Tricksters running around. Cullen would kill me. And he probably wouldn't lose a wink of sleep over it. I checked the last window in an upstairs bathroom. My hands shook so much I could barely move the latch. Like a ghost, I wandered back downstairs and to my cold cup of hot chocolate. Hershey found me there a few hours later, clutching the cup like a lifeline.
"Cola?"
"We need to leave," I said softly. "The two hunters came by earlier. I prayer to you but," I shrugged, "guess you weren't really listening to me." Hershey didn't say anything, just sat next to me on the couch. "They're going to find out what you are, and when they do, they'll come back here and try to kill you. And me. But that won't happen. Because you're going to end up killing them first, or doing something to them, or faking our deaths, and I'm going to be worried sick and freaking out and lose my mind until we can finally leave this goddamn town behind us."
"If we leave now, then those two will just kept hunting us," he said.
"Great," I muttered.
"The good news," the god continued, "is that they're no Winchesters. Shouldn't be that hard to fool. I already have it all planned out for tomorrow."
"What are you going to do?"
"Tomorrow," he told me firmly. "Right now, I'm going to distract you."
"Really now." He grinned at me and gently took my drink away. "You're going to have to try really hard if you're going to distract me from the fact that we have two hunters out for our blood. I'm pretty sure the guy is more than slightly psychotic."
"Good thing I'm just really awesome then." Hershey winked at me and poked me lightly on the tip of my nose. "Come on, Cola! Up and at 'em!" I rolled my eyes as he pulled me up on my feet. "I don't want to resort to bribing you, but I will."
"And just what would you bribe me with?" I asked. Hershey quickly looped an arm around my waist and pulled me in for a kiss that made me go weak at the knees. He looked satisfyingly smug when he finally pulled away. "Okay. Let's go."
Present
I walked into the empty auditorium that had slowly become my new home over the past few days. Only two days left, then I was done. Then Dean would go back to Lisa and Ben, Becky would go back to being an obsessive fan girl, and I… I didn't really know what would happen then.
"Man. I almost forgot how mad Dean could get." I ignored the voice, and continued walking towards the stage. Yep, the microphone was already there. "Although I suppose he didn't kill you, so I'm not quite sure whether or not he completely bought my note." I climbed onto the stage and stood behind the podium that I only used half the time. I tapped the microphone a few times to make sure it was on. The sound echoed loudly throughout the room, and Gabriel sighed heavily. "If you're just going to ignore me, then I'll have to take some drastic measures here." What else did I need? Oh! The transcripts for when I died. But I didn't need those until later. I could get them during lunch. "Cola." So then I was all set. "I love you."
My head jerked up, but he had already magiced himself away. Just in time too as the first few people began to filter in. "Love you too," I whispered.
And hello again out there!
So, if you scroll bacck up to the top, you'll see that I changed the story description. Again. For what's possibily the fourth time. Anywho, you'll see that this has become a trilogy. I had been planning the sequel basically since I've been writing this one, (I may or may not have started writing this so I could get to the sequel) and now I'm getting the third plot. I may have lost my mind but... no, I definitely lost my mind.
Thank you to all of you who have still stuck with me and not run away screaming by now. I love and adore you all.
Review? :)