The first time Dean Winchester laid eyes on Piper Finley, he pointed a gun at her.
"Woah, woah, woah! God dammit, don't shoot!"
All he saw were a pair of small, feminine hands holding themselves up from under the table. The voice that had come from the same place was shaking, obviously terrified, but obviously also trying to be strong. Dean smiled. He liked it when people had some spunk.
"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you, okay?" he said gently, putting the gun in one hand and holding his other in a similar gesture as hers, ignoring his father's voice in his head telling him he was being stupid. "It's all gonna be all right," he said soothingly.
There was a sniffle. "It's really not," the voice said softly. "I don't think it's ever going to be again."
He knelt, peeking under the table. Scared, wide hazel eyes were looking at him, attached to a lovely, albeit skinny teenager who looked to be about his age. "Hey, are you okay?"
She shook her head, but didn't move from the weird crouched position she was in. "It's… It's, um, it's my mom. I… I think she's dead."
Dean's blood ran cold, but he kept his face impassive. He held his hand out to her. "Well come on out here, we'll check together, all right?"
She eyed him warily. "I can get out by myself, thank you very much," she said softly, crawling out from under the table and ignoring his offered hand.
Dean frowned. "All right, no one said you couldn't, calm down."
She got out and shot him a look that, in the future, he would be very familiar with.
But he didn't know that now, so he just stared back at her. She stood and brushed herself off, the flash of sass she had shown already long gone. She wrapped her arms around her middle. "That… Thing… That monster got her. I… I don't know how long we've been here," she whispered the last, starting to shake.
Dean didn't question the impulse to step forward and wrap his arms around her. She stiffened for a moment, then leaned into him, sniffling again. "I don't know what to do," she said softly.
He rested his chin on top of her head. "I can help you figure that out, all right?"
She nodded against him. "Okay."
He leaned back and looked down at her. "My name is Dean Winchester. What's yours?"
"Piper Finley."
xxxxx
"Pipes, come on. You gotta come."
She smiled. "Dean, I need to stay here. Bobby needs me."
He tugged her toward him. "What if I need you?"
She cuddled close. "You always have me, Dean." She tilted her head up to look at him. "But I think Bobby's going through some stuff." She ran her hands down his chest, straightening his coat. "Plus, you and Sam need some time. Go work this case, get your groove back, and then come get me." She smiled up at him.
He pressed his lips to hers, and she savored the taste of coffee and whiskey and Dean. "But that could take, like, a week kitten," he muttered against her mouth.
She pulled away with a laugh. "A week that you will make it through just fine." She stepped out of his arms, ignoring his irritated noise. "Go. Play nice with Sam. Make it back to me, lover."
There was a moment of silence, and an indefinable expression on his face. "Always do, kitten."
xxxxx
"I don't need you here, woman!"
"Screw you, Bobby, you do, too!"
"I am not some sort of damn cripple!"
"No one said you are! I'm just trying to help out!"
"I don't want your help!"
Piper ran her hands through her hair, closing her eyes in frustration. "God dammit, Bobby, just let me do this. Let me help you."
He slammed his hand down on the table. "I don't need your coddling, woman!"
Her temper snapped. "I almost lost you, Bobby!" she shouted, tears gathering in her eyes. "They came to talk to be about insurance. And arrangements. Bobby, they thought you were going to die." The tears were falling down her face. "And they wanted me to take care of everything! So I did."
She wiped her face, angry at herself. "I filled out the insurance forms, I looked up funeral homes, and I prayed like no one has ever goddamn prayed before." She leaned down and pointed at him. "So you just shut the fuck up and let me help you. Let me feed you and build you wheelchair ramps and take care of the living, breathing you, because I had to take care of dead you. Understood?"
xxxxx
After that, life was easier. Bobby still bitched and moaned, but he never tried to stop her incessant cooking, cleaning, and checking on him.
Dean called every day, which gave Piper the warm fuzzies, and made her feel a little like a teenager again.
"I'm just saying, Pipes, dollars to doughnuts, if that's Little Bastard, that's what killed the guy."
She smiled and pushed her shopping cart forward, phone held between her ear and her shoulder. "James Dean's car, huh? You must be freaking out."
He sounded offended. "I am not. I don't freak out."
She laughed softly. "Sure, sure, whatever you say, Mr. Winchester."
There was a weird beat of silence, then, "You're damn right, whatever I say, Miss Finley."
She was looking through the freezer section, trying to decide what to make for dinner, when she heard, "Here's your beer," in a woman's voice through the phone.
Piper's eyes narrowed. "Dean Winchester, are you in a bar?"
"No, I'm… I'm in a restaurant."
She let her silence speak for her, knowing he would break.
"That… Happens to have a bar in it."
She looked at her phone, then put it back to her ear, frozen food forgotten. "Dean, it's three in the afternoon."
"Five o'clock somewhere, kitten."
"Yes, but not there." Her eyes narrowed again. "And Dean, if you flirt with that bartender, I'll kill you."
She heard his grin in his voice, and it sent warmth down her spine. "Would I do that, kitten?"
xxxxx
That night, Piper was on the phone with Dean again. "Like… The president? Abraham Lincoln?"
"Yeah, Abraham Lincoln and James Dean, can you believe that?"
"Why are they killing people now? That makes no sense."
"Maybe the apocalypse has got them all hot and bothered."
Sensing where this was going, she closed her eyes. "Dean, stop it. It's happening whether we like it or not, there's no use being like that."
"Well, we all know whose fault that is."
"Dean, you're being a dick."
"Well, I'm sorry, but it's true." There was a sound in the background, then, "I'll call you later. Bye." And he hung up on her.
Piper rolled her eyes, then went down to the kitchen to start on dinner. Bobby was sitting at the table, reading. He looked up as she entered. "How goes the hunt?"
"Abraham Lincoln and James Dean are their best guesses right now." She groaned and pulled her apron out of the cabinet. "And Dean is being an ass."
Bobby scoffed. "Pi, Dean is an ass."
She smiled. "True, but he's worse than usual right now. He and Sam need to work together, not pick each other apart."
Bobby hesitated. "Pi… Sam did start the apocalypse."
She rolled her eyes and groaned. "Not you, too, Bobby." She turned and looked at him. "Am I the only one who can see that heaven and hell have been arranging this for millennia? That it didn't ever matter what we did, we would have ended up here?" She turned back to start chopping vegetables. "It's no more Sam's fault than it is Dean's. And if they're too thick to see it, I'll just have to make them see it."
xxxxx
"He's treating me like I'm a little kid, Pipe. It's driving me crazy."
Piper nodded in sympathy, the phone held between her shoulder and her ear again as she wiped the barrel of the gun she was cleaning. "I know, Sam. I'm sorry, I'm trying to talk to him."
He sighed. "I know you are. I just… I don't think this is going to work."
"Stop it, Sam," she said softly. "The two of you are going to kill me with this. It is going to work. Splitting the two of you up has never done us any good. So just… Stop it. Try to keep with it, okay? I know he's difficult."
He snorted. "Difficult is one word for it."
She laughed softly. "All right, he's a huge ass. Is that better?"
"More accurate, anyway."
Piper laughed when Sam hung up. Thinking, she put the cloth she was using down and sent Dean a text message.
"Dean Winchester, go apologize to your brother."
"What did I do?"
"You know exactly what you did. Go. Now."
"Piper, we're busy."
"Make time for this, Dean. It's important."
Irritated, she text Sam instead.
"Just be honest with him, Sam. Tell him."
"He's not going to listen, Piper. He never does."
"Tell him until he does. That's what I do."
"You have an advantage that I do not."
Piper leaned her head back and fought the urge to scream. The fucking Winchesters.
xxxxx
"Bobby! Dinner!"
There was silence from the living room. Frowning, Piper went to find him.
He was sitting in front of the window, just staring out into the dark. She came forward gently to place a hand on his, crouching next to his wheelchair. "Bobby?" she said softly.
"What good am I doing here?" he asked roughly. "I'm not doing any good at all."
She frowned. "Yes, you are. You're helping research, you're keeping my head on straight, you're helping the guys. Bobby, we need you."
He shrugged. "Whatever, Pi." He rolled into the kitchen silently.
She watched him go, a cold worry taking hold in her heart.
xxxxx
"I'm worried, Dean," she said softly, watching Bobby do research from the kitchen. "He won't talk to me."
"Kitten, not everyone wants to talk about their problems."
She frowned. "Yes, that has worked out so well for us in the past."
There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line that had her rolling her eyes. "I don't know what to tell you, Pipes. Maybe the man's just quiet."
"Hmph. When are you coming home?'
There was a beat of silence on the other end. "I don't know, kitten. I think Sam found us another case. Do you want us to come get you?"
The hope in his voice made her heart hurt. "No, I need to stay here. I'm worried about Bobby."
xxxxx
Piper spent the next two days doing nonstop research on spinal injuries. She found experimental studies, shady doctors willing to do shady surgeries, and researched ways to fly to countries where those surgeries were legal under the radar.
She also turned to the supernatural. She looked through healing spells, potions, tonics, and rituals. She spoke vaguely to a witch, a few other hunters, and a "faith healer." She called Garth, Ellen, Jo, anyone she could think of to find a way to get Bobby's legs back.
She prayed to Castiel frequently during this time, but he mostly ignored her. Which pissed her off.
"Okay," she said briskly, sitting at the desk in Bobby's study. "I've got two spells that may work, and I'm going to call this witch back to see if she has some of the ingredients." She wrinkled her nose. "I know how Dean feels about witches, but she seems nice, and God knows we need all the help we can get."
Bobby sighed. "We've been looking for weeks, Piper. Nothing has worked."
She glared at him. "And we're not going to stop looking until we find something, understand me, Singer?"
She ignored his grumble as she pulled her phone out to contact the witch.
xxxxx
Dean sped the whole way home. The case with the half-demon kid had freaked him out, and he knew it had freaked Sam out, too. The way that Castiel had been willing to waste that kid…
He also knew that there would be another case soon, probably nowhere near Sioux Falls. If he was thinking right, they'd be looking for that case now, instead of driving what would probably end up being the opposite direction.
But Piper was in the opposite direction.
She was waiting for him on the porch when he pulled in. She was beautiful, in one of his old flannels and a pair of tight jeans. Her hair was braided over her shoulder, and her smile was wide.
He got out of the car and turned to catch her when she flung herself into his arms. She didn't say a word, just crashed her lips against his. He bent a little and lifted her easily, groaning when her legs wrapped around his waist. His hands kneaded her ass, and when she gasped, he swept his tongue into her mouth, savoring the taste of her.
"Jesus, guys, we were only gone for two weeks," Sam muttered, walking by to talk to Bobby on the porch.
"Hmm, missed you," she gasped against him, grinding down on him.
"You, too, kitten," he moaned, tilting his head as she kissed her way down to his shoulder. "Bed," he grunted, stifling another loud moan when she bit his shoulder through his shirt.
She laughed softly and pulled away a little, linking her hands behind his neck and smiling at him warmly. "No," she said softly. "Dinner first, then bed."
He groaned and walked his way to the house, not letting her down. He grinned at Sam and Bobby's identical irritated stares as he walked up the porch with her in his arms. "Let's eat," he said easily, bending so she could open the door for them. He wasn't too proud to admit he was showing off for her by keeping her in his arms until they got into the kitchen.
"You're an idiot, Dean," Sam said crossly.
"Idjit."
xxxxx
Later, sweaty and naked, Dean was basking in his afterglow, and in Piper's warm body against his. Her head lay on his chest, and he was running his hand through her hair.
She looked up and smiled. "Missed you, Winchester."
"Missed you, too, Finley."
She curled back into him and dozed. He tucked his hand behind his head, one arm wrapped around her, and looked up at the ceiling. He was content. Hell, Lucifer was walking the earth, the angels wanted to use him and Sammy as condoms, and Bobby was in a wheelchair, but he was happy. All because of her.
He'd never been more sure of anything in his life.
xxxxx
Hi everyone! Here's my notes:
I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural or the characters. (heartbroken)
Reviews, comments, and kudos give me the warm fuzzies and keep me going.
If there are any mistakes in continuity, canon, or geography, blame me.
