Part 2. Sorry I haven't replied to reviews yet- I'm barely keeping it together right now. Please know that every one of them is profoundly appreciated, and I'll reply as soon as I can.
A/N- in this story, Natalie is 18
Please don't be here, please don't be here, please don't be here. Natalie silently continued the mantra as she walked into the coffee shop. Her date with Bryce last night had gone so badly, she didn't want to be forced to make small talk with that jackass again if he was behind the counter this morning. But she was the Coffee Wench, and had her duties to attend to. And no other coffee shop was close enough. She had scoured the town for somewhere, anywhere else- no luck.
Straightening her shoulders and swallowing her pride, she walked boldly into the place where she'd met Bryce the day before. To her enormous relief, he wasn't behind the counter or anywhere else that she could see. She allowed herself one small sigh of pleasure and got in the small line forming at the front. It was right in that time of day where people actually had time to get coffee before heading off to work, so a line formed quickly behind her. Acting on instinct more than anything, which had always taught her to watch her back, she turned briefly and smiled at the guy in line behind her.
Whoa. He was cute, she thought as she turned back around.
The guy behind her was wearing a beige pullover that looked like it was made of hemp, and artfully ripped jeans. He was only a little taller than her, which made for a nice change from all the giants she was used to hanging out with. Before she could review his image in her mind again, she mentally slapped herself. Get a grip, Winchester, she barked in her own head. What the hell? Had she suddenly unleashed the Winchester Libido gene or something? She made a concentrated effort to focus on the menu and stop thinking about the hottie behind her.
After a couple minutes of focused waiting, she ordered and walked off to the side to wait for the food. The cute guy behind her strode casually over and leaned against the wall next to her. On pure reflex (or Dean's DNA overtaking her logic, she wasn't sure which), she smiled at the guy. Dammit. Just when she thought she had a handle on this.
Before she could turn away, the guy smiled back. "You get stuck doing the morning coffee run too?" he asked, a shy grin on his face.
Natalie giggled. "What gave it away?" she asked, turning back to the guy. Oh, what the hell. Might as well lean into it.
"I didn't think that someone would actually need two coffees with extra espresso shots plus a chai tea," the guy said, gesturing back towards the counter where they ordered. "Didn't mean to eavesdrop, but…." He shrugged self-deprecatingly.
"You got me," she said, grinning. "I'm Natalie."
"Hey. Colin," he said, extending his hand like a gentleman. Natalie took his hand and shook it gratefully. It was nice to see a green flag for once.
"Nice to meet you, Colin. So I take it you're on the morning coffee run yourself?"
"Yeah, but just for me and my dad. He's at home today and our coffeemaker's broken, so I did the dutiful son thing," Colin said, tucking his hands casually into his pockets and leaning back against the wall. "No caffeine in our house isn't an option."
"Tell me about it," Natalie snorted a laugh in agreement. "My dad usually can't even form a sentence without it."
"Ah, something we have in common then," he said with a charming grin. She couldn't help it. She giggled again. Dammit.
*SPN SPN SPN*
"I don't know, Dean," Sam said, after setting his coffee down in frustration. "I don't think there's a rhyme or reason to the killings. I think the shifter's just doing it for…you know…fun."
Dean growled low under his breath, pacing around the room again. "Sick bastard," he hissed, before knocking a fourth of his coffee back in one gulp. He looked at the to-go cup in his hand for the first time, then looked at Natalie, who was sprawled out across his bed, typing on her laptop. "This the same coffee shop you met that douche bag in?" he asked her.
"Yup," she said. Dean noted the slight curl to her lip as she looked up at him. "Luckily, he wasn't working today," she said, giving a slight shrug and focusing back on her laptop. "Uncle Sam, I think you're right," she said, changing the subject. "There's no real pattern, other than the fact that it's a robbery and then death."
"Why would a shifter want to rob someone?" Sam asked again for the umpteenth time, never having gotten a satisfactory answer on it.
"Who knows," Dean said, rubbing his stubbly jaw as he thought. "Could be anything. Economy sucks nowadays, monster or not. Hard to land a job when all you got on your resume is 'ability to change my face'."
"Hey," Natalie said, suddenly sitting up. "I wonder…" and she dove right back into the laptop. Dean rolled his eyes. She always did this- started a thought and left it hanging mid sentence.
"Wonder what?" he prompted, going back over to her and sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"Just a sec," she murmured, clearly giving him lip service as she typed furiously. Dean shot a meaningful glare at Sam, who gave a snort of laugh in response, knowing how it drove Dean crazy when his daughter did this. Finally, Natalie looked up. "I'm looking to see if any businesses in town went belly up around the time that the murders started. Like, maybe the shifter was making an honest living, but then lost their livelihood and…"
"Went bat shit crazy?"
"To put it less than delicately, yeah."
"Good theory, kid. Hop to it- lemme know what you find," Dean said, reaching over and ruffling her hair. That got him a good scornful sigh.
"Dad," Natalie whined, reaching up and smoothing her hair back down. "I'm not five years old anymore. You know I hate it when you do that."
"Tit for tat, squirt," Dean answered, not in the least bit sorry. He crossed back over to Sam. "Grab your suit. I wanna go back to the last crime scene. Something there ain't sitting right with me- can't put my finger on it. I wanna check it out again."
"Uh, yeah. Okay," Sam said, tearing his eyes away from the page he'd been on. "What's eating you about it?"
Dean was pulling his suit from the tiny closet, brushing off the shoulders as he answered. "There's something in the way things were destroyed. Like…there's a fury behind it that don't make sense. This whole thing could be because the shifter's got a big grudge and a long list." Dean rolled his jaw again, thinking, then shook his head. He finished brushing off the suit and headed for the bathroom.
"Hey, so if you guys are leaving now, do you mind if I go out and get some lunch?" Natalie asked casually, her eyes not leaving her laptop. Sam's brow wrinkled a bit.
"Yeah, Bug, that's fine," he said, confused. She never asked about stuff like this, she just did it. It was a little weird. Clearly Dean had the same thought. He stopped in his tracks, fixing his daughter with a touch of The Eye. Sam could see Natalie focusing determinedly on her work, but there was no getting around the redness that was creeping into her face once she realized Dean was looking at her.
"Why do you ask?" Dean said in a flat tone, his eyebrow arching. He knew his kid better than this. She never asked if she could eat- that was always a given. She was up to something. She, however, wasn't going to give up the information easily.
"I just…saw a new place that I thought might be nice. Wanted to get out of the motel for a while, you know. Just thought you'd like to know," she answered back cheerfully, putting on her sweetest, most innocent look as she turned her head towards her father. "Maybe if it doesn't suck, we can get take-out from there tonight?" she added, with a coy tilt of her head. Sam suppressed his smile. Wow- she was pulling out the stops on this one. But Dean wasn't buying it.
"You've got another date, don't you," Dean said to Natalie, the venom creeping into his voice.
"W-what?" Natalie stammered, trying for innocent piety. Dean's eyebrow just arched farther. Suddenly sighing, she flopped facedown onto the bed, groaning into the mattress. "Dammit, how do you always know?" she whined into the comforter.
"I'm your father. I know everything. Like right now, for instance. You can keep your face pressed into that bed all you want to, but I know you're rolling your eyes at me." In response to that, Natalie's head popped up and she shot him a bitch face. He smirked. "Could've called that face too," Dean said, using his pointer finger and drawing an imaginary circle around her head to further illustrate his point. Natalie sighed dramatically.
"Yes, I met a guy this morning and told him that I'd meet him for lunch," she said, watching Dean's reaction carefully. "I didn't want to do dinner in case you needed me on surveillance or we found something else or…" Her voice died away as Dean continued to look unimpressed. "It's just lunch," she finished quietly.
Dean sighed. "Kid, you had a rotten date last night. You really think that another date so soon is suddenly gonna make everything else okay?" he asked, his stern, fatherly voice going full blast.
"It always seemed to work for YOU," Sam commented dryly, coming to his niece's defense.
"I will kill you where you stand," retorted Dean, shooting daggers at his little brother.
*SPN SPN SPN*
The café was definitely a step up from the pizza parlor last night. Natalie shook herself and refocused on Colin's story. She had to stop comparing the two dates if she wanted to get anywhere with this guy. Lunch had gone great, until the end when they started talking about future plans. He seemed genuinely nice, but…he was definitely….out there.
"So…you want to start your own commune," Natalie said, trying for a light and supportive tone.
"Oh yeah," Colin said, a bit dreamily. "I mean, think about it. We could all grow our own crops, we could raise honeybees, just really live off the land. Organic. As healthy as you can get, like what your parents are supposed to feed you when you're a kid, you know? Right back to nature."
"That sounds really great," said Natalie, who had been raised on a diet of gas station burritos and had a father who believed ketchup was a vegetable. "How many people are you thinking about for your farm?"
"It's not really a farm, it's more a lifestyle."
"Oh. Uh…sorry. My bad."
"It's totally okay, don't sweat it, you know? This idea is gonna take some time. I mean, completely off the grid, cut off from all the rampant greed and degradation of the human experience, you see what I mean?"
"Cut off completely? No technology?"
"You don't need it when you're one with nature."
"Uh. Okay, sure. But like…complete and total radio silence to the outside world?"
"The kids that would be born and raised in the family wouldn't even know what a radio is. How cool is that?"
"But…what would you do if you had a medical emergency or something like that?"
"First of all, you have to ask yourself what a true medical emergency is. Most people just want to live pill to pill. If you think that Big Pharma doesn't have their greedy mitts in everything, you're sadly mistaken. We don't NEED all their evil vaccines and drugs that only make people sicker."
Natalie honestly didn't know how to respond. Everyone was entitled to their opinions, but if this guy was trying to get her to agree with him… "To each their own, I guess," she said under her breath. "But what if someone breaks a leg or something like that?" she pressed, unable to help herself. "I mean, surely you all would go to the hospital then, right?"
"No, see, that's the beauty of the whole thing," Colin said, sounding more and more stoned off his ass. "We'll teach crystal healing. Elemental healing. Mind over matter."
"Mind over matter."
"Pretty cool, right?"
"How is mind over matter going to fix a busted leg?"
Colin chuckled, a bit patronizingly. He waved his finger at her. "I can see that your aura is blocked."
"My what now?" Natalie asked, her eyebrow arching in displeasure.
"Your aura. The energy that surrounds your life. You're completely caught up in the trappings of the physical world. If you unblock your aura, you'll see the META physical world. Do you want me to fix that for you?"
"Excuse me?"
Without waiting for an actual 'yes', Colin began unloading his pockets right there in the restaurant. He pulled out a handful of colorful rocks, some bird feathers, a tiny clay bowl, and what looked like finger cymbals. The waiter made the ill-timed decision to bring the check back with their change right at that time. His eyes nearly fell out of his head when he saw all the weird stuff this guy was dumping onto the table. Natalie felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She put her hand gently on Colin's arm, stopping him.
"You know what, that's okay," she said in a rush. "My…aura…can wait till another day. Why don't we get out of here?"
Colin blinked at her in surprise. Natalie noticed him rubbing his index finger around his thumb nervously. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment, then she turned her Winchester Charm on and smiled at him, praying that it would work enough to get him out of the restaurant. It seemed to relax him, for the moment anyway.
"Uh, yeah, sure, we can do that," he said, putting the items back in his pocket. "There's a…um…really nice park right around the corner. Do you wanna take a walk?"
"That sounds great," Natalie said, relieved.
About ten minutes later, after vacating the restaurant, they were walking down next to a crystal lake on a beautiful walking path, surrounded by bright and colorful wildflowers. Colin leaned down and plucked a sprig of lavender, holding it out to Natalie.
"I love the smell of lavender, thank you," she said, ducking her head a bit shyly. That had been incredibly sweet. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.
"Oh, lavender is so useful, especially when you need to ward yourself against evil spirits and thoughts," Colin answered matter of factly.
Without even really thinking about what she was saying, Natalie piped up. "Well, there are some cultures that believe hanging it above your door can ward off evil spirits, but it's not nearly as good as salt."
"What?" Colin said, looking at her curiously. Natalie's insides suddenly froze as she realized what she'd said. She gave an over abundantly fake laugh to try to cover up her sudden awkward silence.
"I mean, I did a research paper one time. In a medieval literature class," she said, wildly making up something on the spot. "I guess some of the details stuck," she said, throwing on the charming smile again. It did its job and got her out of the sticky spot for a second time. Colin laughed and reached for her hand.
"You're really smart. I like that," he said, giving off plenty of charm himself. He looked around, causing Natalie to do the same, purely out of hunter's reflex. "So…there's no one near us," he said, in a suddenly low voice, turning his hooded gaze onto her face.
Natalie felt a creeping sensation that she didn't like, but held it at bay. Too many years of hunting made her jumpy, that's all. "So it seems," she said lightly. Suddenly, Colin tugged her to a stop, and stepped in close to her.
"C'mon," he whispered in her ear. "Let's do it in that field over there."
Natalie immediately pushed back from him, her face a mask of shock. "What?" she said, almost giggling in her awkward nervousness.
He stepped back towards her, his tug a little firmer on her hand. "C'mon. Just let yourself go. Be in the moment. Let's go make the most natural love in the world."
Had he really just propositioned her for sex in a public park?!
Colin tried to put on his best sultry face, but he looked like a surgically altered duck, the way he was pursing his lips. "Come on, Nat, I know that you feel the same way about me," he said in what he assumed was a sexy voice. But it was too low and he was trying too hard. He suddenly choked on his own phlegm, making the incredibly awkward moment even more awkward.
"You okay there, champ?" Natalie asked in her dryest tone. Colin recovered, wiping his streaming eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry about that. I didn't mean to ruin the mood."
"Oh, trust me, you already ruined it way before you starting choking on your own spit."
Colin looked suddenly worried. "Wait- what? I…what do you mean? I thought you liked me."
"Yeah, I was kinda starting to, until you asked me to bang you in the middle of a playground!"
"But no one's around! I mean, don't you like guys who are a little adventurous? You know, easygoing, carefree, one with nature, all that kind of stuff?"
Natalie adopted her best Winchester Bitch face and laid it on him. "Look. You live however you wanna live, okay? If you wanna shove crystals up your ass instead of take aspirin for a headache, then you do you. But," she said, her tone turning to steel as she stepped closer to him. "I am NOT the kind of girl who's just going to give it up to some guy she just met because he picked her a sprig of lavender. Especially not in public! And this date is over."
Without another word, Natalie spun on her heel, tossing the lavender over her shoulder and leaving a stunned Colin in her wake.
*SPN SPN SPN*
Natalie stormed furiously down the street, pissed at everything. What the actual fuck? Was she really this oblivious? Twice- TWICE- in twenty-four hours, she'd been suckered by a pair of gorgeous eyes. She knew better! She was a freaking hunter who did research for a living, for crapssake! What had she missed? Why hadn't her 'douchebag'-ometer gone off?
She was also irritated at herself for telling her father that she'd walk to the café. She would have to pass that damn coffee shop where all this bullshit had started on her way back to the motel. And even though she knew she could, she would NOT call Dean for a ride. She didn't want to see his I-told-you-so face right now, or even get one of Sam's sympathetic smiles. She just wanted to stay freaking mad at the world.
As she passed the coffee shop, she gritted her teeth. She was burning it to the ground before they left this stupid town. She couldn't help but look at the seemingly innocent building. Was it something about the place? Did they brew something with essence of idiotic testosterone in the coffee? As she was seriously contemplating shoving a few hex bags into the foundation for the remaining time they were here, she nearly slammed into a person walking opposite her down the sidewalk. Losing her footing completely at the sudden surprise, she fell towards the concrete.
"WHOA!" the guy said, his hands shooting out suddenly to catch her. His strong arms snatched her before she could hit the ground, and he quickly set her upright on her feet. Still fuming with rage and now embarrassment, it took everything in her not to shake the guy's steadying hands off her arms. She forced herself to take a deep breath while making a slight gesture as if to regain her equilibrium; really, it was to flex her arms to get this dude to let her go. When he did immediately, some of the rage cleared from her vision and she got a look at her rescuer. He was taller- very tall, nearing her dad's height, and had closely cropped hair. He looked like he had just come from the gym. He also looked a little freaked out at the situation.
"Thanks," Natalie said gruffly, sounding a lot more like her father than she intended to.
"Yeah, no problem," the guy said, trying to look her in the face. "You okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern.
"I'm fine," Natalie replied curtly, her hands clenching into fists. The guy's eyes widened, seeing that.
"Are…are you sure? Because you look like you could tear my head off in one pull," he said awkwardly. Natalie's furious gaze shot up to him, her fury instantly reigniting, and ready to take his suggestion. His face registered terror at her look and he held his hands up in surrender. "Please don't tear my head off in one pull?" he begged in a high-pitched voice.
All the anger, embarrassment, and conflict Natalie had been warring with suddenly dissipated at the rather funny sight of the big guy who was terrified of the little girl in front of him. She couldn't help but chuckle once- it came out involuntarily. The guy slowly lowered his hands, keeping his eye on her, which struck her as even funnier, and she started laughing. The poor guy just stood there, awkward as hell, not really sure what to do with this crazy lady.
"I'm sorry," Natalie finally got out, after gasping for breath from laughing so hard. "I'm really sorry. Geez, you must think I'm nuts, huh?" she said honestly, straightening up and giving him a self-effacing smile. That brought a look of relief to his face.
"No, no, not nuts," he said, giving an awkward laugh himself, seeing that she wasn't going to kill him. "Just…you seem like you're kind of having a bad day."
"You don't know the half of it," Natalie muttered to herself. She shook her head and smiled again briefly at the man. "Anyways, thank you for saving me from biting it."
"You…uh…you want me to walk with you a little ways?" he asked, nervously running his index finger around his thumb. "You know, to make sure you don't trip again?" he grinned, but then looked serious. "No funny business, I just thought maybe you could use someone watching your back right now?"
Looking at his hands, Natalie thought for a moment. Suddenly, she looked up. "You know what? Yes. Yes, I could use someone watching my back right now," she laughed. "I would love it if you'd walk me home. Only…"
"Only what?" the man asked, looking nervous again.
"Um…do you mind if I just slip in there before we go? Restroom?" she asked a little shyly, pointing at the coffee shop. He looked relieved that she wasn't going to get violent.
"Yeah, sure, I'll just wait here for you, if that's cool," he said. "Not a coffee fan."
"Huh. Neither am I," she answered back easily. She headed into the coffee shop and beelined it straight for the bathroom. A few minutes later, she came back, and true to his word, the guy was standing there, his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth a bit awkwardly as he waited for her. She slipped her phone into her back pocket and made her way back to him. "Thanks for waiting," she said. "That's really nice of you. What's your name, by the way?"
He shrugged, avoiding her eyes. "I like to keep my word," he mumbled. "And my name is Derek. So. Which way you going?"
"This way," Natalie said, pointing in the direction of the motel. They began an easy side-by-side lope, with him staying on the street side. Natalie smiled to herself- that had been one of the things that Sam had taught her about chivalry, and she was semi-pleased to see it. She didn't say anything, and he didn't either. They got about two blocks from the motel, when Natalie suddenly pointed down a side alley.
"If we go this way, it cuts off like five minutes from my walk," she said. "And there's less stuff for me to trip over," she joked. The man chuckled back.
"This way it is then," he said. As they descended into the small side street, Derek looked around himself uncomfortably. "You walk down this alley by yourself?" he asked uncertainly.
"Nothing to be afraid of," Natalie said cheerfully. "It's the middle of the day, it's all good."
Derek looked down at her curiously. "I'll take your word for it," he said. "Where does this alley lead to, anyway?" he asked as he stepped into a bank of shadows. Suddenly, Natalie swung in close to him, thrusting her knee into his groin. As Derek doubled over, a strangled groan leaving his lips, Dean leaped out from behind the dumpster, yanking Derek's head back and holding a silver knife to his throat.
"It's not gonna matter where it leads to for much longer, shifter," Natalie snarled, pulling her own silver knife from her boot and walking towards him.
Part 3 tomorrow
