A/N: Kelly's POV. Takes place during chapter 38 and 39 of Caught in the Crossfire: during the haunted house and after they make it out.
Chapter 32: A Body and a Hotel (Kelly's POV)
"You'll look a lot less crazy if you can get your friend to do it with you."
-Unknown
I followed Dean down the stairs carefully, clutching the iron rod while looking enviously at the shotgun he had. He looked over his shoulder to make sure I was behind him, and likely to check for the ghost again.
"For someone who was being attacked by a ghost, you were pretty damn cheery up there."
"Better than crying in a ball like I want to on the inside."
He shot me another look, a mix of worry and slight anger. I knew from the kitchen he was furious at Michelle and me for coming here and it was only a matter of time before he'd be yelling at me...if we got out of here alive. The basement was almost pitch black as we reached the bottom step. I listened, but couldn't hear the sounds of any potential vessel. Dean stayed facing the blackness. "Do you at least have a flashlight on you?"
I patted my pockets hoping I'd magically find one and frowned. "Nope."
He muttered something sounding more annoyed, before lowering his gun and pulling a flashlight from his coat. He passed it back to me. "Here, look around."
I swung the flashlight slowly across the basement. There wasn't much beyond dirt floors and some old shelving. Dean stayed alert, gun following the beam of light. We moved further into the basement, and the light caught on a vaguely human-shaped pile in the far corner. It wasn't moving. We both moved forward silently. Dean looked over at me again about to say something but was suddenly sent flying towards the pile, his shotgun sliding to a stop near my feet. I dropped the flashlight, leaving it illuminating Dean and the pile and grabbed the gun. I rushed forward to Dean, who was flipping over. He looked from me to the space to my left before yelling "behind you!"
I spun around with the shotgun to face the ghost running at me, I fired a round, and she vanished screaming. I quickly pumped the shotgun and scanned the room ready to shoot again at anything that moved. Dean moved around me, picking up the flashlight shining it on me.
"You're looking like a pro there. Have you been practicing?"
"Yeah, with Five." I smiled at Dean as he passed me, but kept my focus on scanning the room. "Not nearly as fun as with you, obviously."
Dean moved behind me inspecting the pile. I strained my eyes in the darkness, but the ghost seemed to be gone for now. I faintly heard a shot upstairs. Guess she went to harass Michelle and Sam for a bit.
"Well, it's a dude and he's dead. Recently though, still warm...ish"
I sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. "Fuck."
The light beam flashed in front of me, and I felt Dean's hand on my arm.
"Here, give me the gun. You can ID the guy and then we can get the hell out of here."
We traded off, and I turned to look at the body. The person was sitting up against the brick wall. Their head was limp and hanging down, dark hair falling forward. Looked like a classic 90's cut. I hesitated before touching the chin to get a look at the face. I'd never touched a dead person before, Dean was right, the skin was barely warm. I tilted the face up. It was Ross Gellar. I dropped it quickly and stood, I could feel the adrenaline fading, quickly being replaced by fear. I closed the small gap between Dean and me, putting a hand to his back and prodding him forward. "Ok, let's get out of this house. Now."
We were out of the house and as expected, Dean and Sam went right into scolding us for being stupid. My emotions quickly got the better of me and I was angry crying, but also just panic crying if I was going to be honest. I'd snapped at Dean for being unreachable and that seemed to be my breaking point. Michelle had turned away and Sam was consoling her, giving us a bit of privacy on the lawn.
Dean moved towards me cautiously. "Our phones weren't working. We're fine though, see?"
"I thought the worst. An archangel tells me he is going to save you and then I don't hear from you? What the fuck Dean!"
I felt more tears falling faster now and he pulled me into a crushing hug. "I got your messages after Bobby told me what you were up to. You want to play who was more panicked right now?"
I laughed sobbed into his chest and pulled back slightly to look up at him after a few moments. "Okay, so we're both idiots in our own ways."
"No. This," he tilted his head back at the house, "way more stupid. And reckless. If you want to learn to hunt, at least let us teach you, okay?"
"It wasn't supposed to be a hunt or we would have brought back up. Trust me. After this little adventure, I'm leaving all the hunting to you and Sam."
I led the way to the check-in desk. The clerk who had checked in Michelle and me was still on duty. She was a woman about my age, who had been nothing but pleasant earlier. She plastered on a large smile as I approached the desk with Dean. I caught her lingering look at him before she focused back on me. I was always amused catching girls checking Dean out because I really did not blame them. I still found myself staring quite often. She quickly looked me over before speaking. "Welcome back. Finding everything okay?"
"Yeah, we found everything we were looking for. I booked a room with my friend earlier, but we're going to need a second one. Do you have anything available, ideally on the same floor?"
"Absolutely, same as the other room? Two beds?"
She looked from me to Dean, who was leaning against the counter but checking out the lobby. The hotel was a step up from their usual motel digs. He turned at the mention of beds though and threw an arm around my waist smiling. "Only need one. Any chance you have any kings available?"
I caught her smile falter slightly before she refocused on the computer. She hit a few keys and confirmed a room for us. "How will you be paying?"
"Cash."
This earned me a surprised look from Dean and an indescribable one from the clerk. I tried to subtly pull the wad of cash out from my pocket.
Dean leaned down to whisper, so only I could hear. "Who did you rob?"
I shrugged. "The guys wanted to help out."
"I seriously need to play poker with them more."
We sorted out the payment and the clerk handed the keys over to Dean. I felt her throw a few more judgemental looks my way in the process. As we left the desk and headed to the elevators, I realized showing up with a random guy and paying cash for a room was probably not the best look.
Dean seemed oblivious to all the looks but gave me a once over as we waited for the elevator. "Don't you have a bag or anything?"
"Crap. I left it in the room we booked earlier." I grinned, "Let's hope Sam and Mish are decent."
We stopped at Sam and Michelle's room so I could grab my stuff. I still had a key but knocked as a courtesy. Sam answered the door, telling Dean he had already set to work on finding the ghost who haunted the house. I could hear Michelle was in the bathroom showering. I knew how quick she could be so I grabbed my bag and darted out, not wanting to intrude on their private time anymore. Dean had the room key for our room and was leading the way down the hall. He practically had a skip in his step and it made me smile. As the door swung open, Dean whistled.
"King-sized bed. What a beauty. God, I haven't had one of these in years!"
He dropped his bag and flung himself onto the bed, sprawling across it. I dropped my bag on the dresser and moved to the side of the bed smiling down at Dean's gleeful face. He propped himself up looking at me with a grin. "You're covered in dirt you should probably get out of those clothes. Wouldn't want to mess up this bed."
I laughed and leaned in for a kiss. It was tender, neither of us in a rush. For once, we didn't have to worry about being interrupted. I moved on to the bed, and over top of Dean, barely breaking the kiss. I slid my hands under his shirt while his hands moved to my hair, freeing it from the ponytail I had it in.
He started to run his hands through my hair when he broke the kiss pulling back. "What the hell?"
I sat up, now straddling him, and followed his gaze to his hand. He was holding a chunk of ceramic, likely from the plates the ghost had been chucking at us. It must have gotten stuck in my hair in the scuffle. We both wordlessly realized what it was and broke out laughing. I attempted to quickly finger comb my hair and felt more dirt but luckily no more fine china. I pulled a face. "Okay, so you weren't joking about me being dirty, eh?"
Dean threw his hands up, "I wasn't complaining."
I leaned back over him and kissed him lightly, before moving off the bed. I looked down at my clothes and realized I was even worse off than I thought. "Suddenly the looks the receptionist was giving us at check-in make a whole lot more sense."
"What looks? Who cares? Just take the clothes off and get back in bed, will ya?"
He reached out to try to pull me back onto the bed, but I danced backwards.
"Nope. I have to shower."
Dean sighed and fell back on the bed dramatically. I turned and headed to the bathroom stripping layers and leaving a trail of clothes from the bed to the bathroom door. As I reached the bathroom doorway I looked back at Dean, who seemed to be glaring at the ceiling.
"Hey!" I called out, making Dean look my way, his expression changing as he realized the state of my undress, I smiled. "I didn't say you couldn't join me in the shower."
