Title: Come What May
Fandom: One Tree Hill/Supernatural
Genres: Angst, Romance, Crossover
Pairing: Dean/Peyton
Spoilers: One Tree Hill, "The Leaver's Dance"; Pre-Supernatural
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't 'em. Wouldn't be able to keep my hands to myself if I did. The title comes from the Air Supply song of the same name. Air Supply, Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow own the song.
Summary: This is how Dean and Peyton's love affair began. Prequel to Split Second. It isn't imperative that you read that to understand this, though.
Author's Notes: Takes place before the Supernatural pilot and at the beginning of the summer following One Tree Hill's The Leaver's Dance. In this realm Cassie never existed and Jake never came back. Plus, Sam's still at Stanford and Brooke's off in California.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! Unfortunately, there's still much story to tell before I get to that much anticipated sequel and so here's the next part! Enjoy!

Come What May: Chapter Six

After Dean had left Tree Hill, he made the quick trip to Warsaw, investigating the mysterious deaths in Room 24 of the Twin Rivers Bed and Breakfast. The B&B had been built in the early 60's, the owner forced to close it early having run it into the ground and himself into financial ruin.

It was abandoned for years until the newest owners reopened it in the late 90's after a complete renovation.

As he investigated the mysteries of Room 24 and the murders that had plagued it in the past weeks, he soon uncovered that a young girl had been murdered, her body hidden beneath the floorboards in the room.

The girl's spirit was awakened when her locket had been recovered from the lake behind the bed and breakfast where she had last been seen alive.

Dean had to gut out the floor to find her corpse, only to have a throw down with the girl's pissed off and vengeful spirit. But after the body was dust, all seemed to be well.

The inn owners had thanked him and wanted to offer him a complimentary room for all his trouble, but he kindly thanked them, then declined their offer.

After Dean had climbed into his car, he sat in the parking lot for what seemed like an eternity, staring at the stack of newspapers on his seat. He had various items circled, but none screamed paranormal to him.

He knew what he wanted to do, where he wanted to go, he just didn't know if it was fair.

To him… To her…

It was a strange situation because he'd never been in this predicament before. He had never wanted to get close to another person. He had never felt connected to another person, either. He wondered if this was how his dad had felt when he'd met his mother.

Had his dad's stomach tied in knots just thinking about his mother? Did his hands get all sweaty just thinking about touching her? Were his thoughts always on her no matter what he was doing?

"Ah, fuck it," he muttered to himself grabbed the papers, tossing them into the backseat. Quickly, he gunned the engine and backed out of his parking space.

For once he was going to do what he wanted to do. At least until he found something worth investigating.

Until then he had a girl to see.

Dusk had fallen by the time Dean arrived back in Tree Hill. It was Saturday so there was no doubt in his mind that he'd find everyone at TRIC. The town was quiet as usual as he made his way down the Main Street stretch.

Pulling into the TRIC parking lot, he was not disappointed. It was crowded and there was a line from the door around the block with people waiting to get in.

Dean sighed to himself as he climbed out of his car, slamming the door shut behind himself. He stared at the line wrapping around the building and even though he didn't fancy standing in line, he wanted--no, needed--to see Peyton.

After over an hour of standing in line while a group of high school girls ogled him, Dean finally stepped into the crowded club, frowning once again at his pink bracelet.

His eyes roamed through the crowded, immediately spotting Haley and Lucas standing near the stage, talking to a tall, leggy blonde. He had to do a double-take when he realized it was Peyton only with a much shorter haircut.

He was about to make his way over to join them when a guy joined the three friends. Dean watched as he handed Peyton a drink and tamped down the urge to heave when Peyton smiled at him.

"That's Chance Foster."

Dean turned to the familiar voice that belonged to Skills, trailed by Junk. "Oh. Hey guys."

"Man, I thought you were gone for good," Skills told Dean, smirking in knowing why the young wayward traveler had wound up back in Tree Hill had to do with a certain blonde friend of his.

Dean shrugged his shoulders, casting a glance in Peyton's direction. "I was supposed to be, but…"

"… but you wanted to kick it with Peyton first?" Skills grinned at him and he hated that he was so transparent especially considering that he barely knew these people.

Dean expelled a deep breath. "Something like that," he said as the boys led him toward the bar. "I just couldn't turn and walk away without knowing how things would've turned out. I would've hated to have gone through the rest of my life wondering if I blew it." After ordering their drinks, a beer for him and club soda for the two young'uns, Dean pointed toward Peyton and her J. Crew boy. "So what's the deal here?"

Junk intervened. "That's Chance Foster. Big football star. He goes to school over in Summerville."

"You know him, then?"

"Unfortunately," Skills interrupted, handing Dean his beer when the waitress returned with their drinks. He handed Junk his drink, then began to explain as they walked away from the bar, "We were all friends at one point, but then Chance transferred to Summerville and us Tree Hill folk were beneath him. He never passes up the opportunity to go after one of our girls, though."

"Peyton's been on his scorecard for years," Lucas continued, joining them.

"Weren't you just…?" Dean began to question as he looked back toward Haley, seeing that she and Peyton were the only ones left with Chance.

"What are you doing back?" he asked as he slapped a hand on Dean's shoulder.

"What can I say?" Dean shrugged. "I like it here."

"Uh huh. You're such a bad liar, Dean," Lucas said with a chuckle. "We all know what brought you back--who brought you back," Lucas corrected himself.

Dean returned his attention back to Peyton and her date just as she and Haley waved goodbye to Chance, leaving him alone to stare after the retreating girls. "Well, apparently he's still striking out with Peyton," he said with a smug smile.

"Don't sound so elated, Dean," Lucas said with a laugh.

"What? I'm not elated."

"I don't think you could've said that with any more elation than you did," Junk commented.

"Your thing for Peyton comes as no surprise to any of us," Skills told Dean as they settled at a table, far out of the girls' eye line.

Dean shook his head as he slid onto the stool beside Lucas. "It doesn't matter what I feel for her… I can't pursue her."

"Why not?" Lucas, Skills and Junk asked in unison.

"Because… she deserves someone your age," he said, looking at each boy.

"Yeah and you're old. You can't forget that," Lucas pointed out with a shake out of his head.

"Older," Dean corrected.

"Whatever. You're still old." Lucas was baiting Dean because he knew that age was the entire reason for his hesitance to pursue Peyton.

"Yeah, thanks, Lucas."

"Peyton doesn't care about your age."

"I know that. But I'm twenty-six years old. Do you know the looks I'd receive if I were to start dating a seventeen year old?"

"Age ain't nothing but a number," Skills told him.

"Thank you, Skills, but I'm well aware of that already," Dean said with a roll of his eyes. He knew that they were only trying to help, but he really wished that they wouldn't. This was his problem and he had to get through it on his own terms. Deep down he knew that this would be a lost opportunity if he didn't pursue Peyton, but his rebuttals on not pursuing a relationship with her always came back to their age difference. Yeah, she was mature for her age and didn't act at all like a typical seventeen year old... so what was the problem right? In the end she was still seventeen!

"You came back to be wit Peyton, right?"

"I came to spend more time with her, yeah," Dean said, staring at his beer bottle.

"So quit lettin' this age thing interfere with you gettin' wit Peyton."

Dean looked at Lucas. "Does he always make this much sense?"

"Skills is that annoying voice inside your head that isn't."

Skills huffed, "Can we stop talking about the women now? You two got problems with the honeys unlike me."

"Unlike you?" Lucas and Dean asked in unison, sharing a glance with one another.

"Yeah."

"That's because Skills gets no play from the honeys," Junk teased, causing Lucas and Dean to start laughing.

"Man, why ya'lls gotta front like that. Cuz that ain't cool, dawgs. That ain't cool at all."

"A lot changes in two weeks," Haley told Dean as they sat in the kitchen of the Scott house, talking over breakfast.

Lucas had offered him to crash on the sofa instead of getting a hotel room. Dean thanked him for his hospitality and quickly accepted his offer. They had sat up, gabbing like girls while playing the Playstation as they waited for Haley to get home.

When she walked in she squealed like a normal girl and launched herself into Dean's arms, pausing in her glee to slap Lucas for not telling her that Dean was back. The three had sat up, watching movies together until Dean declared that he was ready for sleep. Lucas and Haley then retired to their respective rooms, leaving Dean to settle onto the sofa.

He was already awake that morning when Haley walked into the living room, offering to make him breakfast.

"I noticed."

Haley flashed a smile at him, crossing to the refrigerator. "You saw her hair, huh?" she asked, grabbing the half-empty carton of milk.

"Yeah," he said with a shallow breath. He'd been blown away when he'd saw her at TRIC. Of course, he hadn't been at all excited to see her in the company of another guy. But honestly what did he expect? She was an attractive girl. She was bound to secure the attention of some young punk.

Yeah, he didn't sound jealous at all.

"She wanted something different, something more mature," Haley said as she slid into the seat across from him with the milk in one hand and the coffee pot in the other. "I think she's trying to make an impression on this much older guy."

Dean smirked at Haley from across the table. "Stop it."

"Seriously, it wasn't about you," she insisted, then shook her head, adding, "At least I don't think it was." Dean held up his coffee cup, motioning Haley to refill it. As she did so, she told him, "You should probably know that a woman started coming around while you were gone."

"Okay," Dean replied flatly, not knowing what the emergence of some woman had to do with him.

"She said she's Peyton mom."

"What?" he asked, wondering if this was some sort of practical joke.

"You know, that was Peyton's exact reaction, too."

"How is that possible? Her mom died when she was younger. She told me so herself."

"Yeah, she did. Apparently Peyton's dad failed to mention that she was adopted."

"Oh, good God," he said, sitting back in his chair. "How is she doing? Is she taking it okay?"

"She's taking it fairly well. I won't lie and say that you coming back isn't going to help a lot."

"I don't know how much help I could possibly be. I mean, what do you say to her?"

Haley shrugged her shoulders. "We don't know what to say to her, but maybe you'll be able to find the words that we couldn't."

Dean pushed back his chair, rising to his feet. Moving to put his coffee cup in the sink, he told Haley, "I don't what help I could be to her, Haley. I'm not… I'm not the best with words."

"I don't believe that for a second," Haley said, turning in her chair to face him. "If any of us could get through to Peyton and help her through this, it's going to be you. She trusts you more than she's ever trusted anyone before."

Dean slowly spun around to face Haley. What help could he possibly be to Peyton? He could listen to her rant and rave about this new person in her life, but what could he offer past that?

"Just promise me you'll go talk to her. That's all I'm asking."

Dean nodded his head. He wanted to see Peyton regardless. She was the only one who didn't know that he'd come back. Funny how that worked out. She'd been the first one he'd wanted to see and now she was the last one. It didn't make her any less important, though.

"I'll go talk to her," Dean promised, crossing into the living room to grab his wallet and his keys.

"So, just out of curiosity…," Haley began as she followed Dean into the living room. "Why did you come back?"

Dean stared blankly at her as he stuffed his wallet into his back pocket. "I had no where else to go."

"Ehh! Wrong answer. Try again."

For some reason Haley was able to look right through him. He really hated her for that. "You want me to tell you I came back for Peyton, don't you?"

"Only if she is why you came back."

"Then I'm not gonna tell you if she is or not," he said with a smirk, stalking past her toward the door. "See you later, Hales," he called over his shoulder as he let himself out.

Peyton was sitting in her room, staring at a blank page in her sketchbook. She couldn't draw anything and it was pissing her off. Since Dean had left she had wanted to put her feelings into words--into her art--but nothing had come of it. She was artfully sound, something she hardly ever was.

She had thought about him non-stop since he'd been gone. Her thoughts had been divided between him and Ellie, the woman claiming to be her mother. She couldn't very well deny claim to this woman, now could she? Not when her dad had confirmed Ellie's claims.

She'd been adopted. Her dad wasn't her dad and her mom hadn't been her mom. So, who exactly was she?

"You know, last I check you weren't supposed to just stare at it…"

Peyton spun around quickly, a grin lifting the corners of her lips as she set her eyes on Dean. "What are you doing here?" she asked, slipping out of her chair and to her feet.

Dean pushed away from the doorway, wringing his hands uneasily. "I have some time to kill between jobs and… I wanted to spend it here… with you."

"Here?" she echoed. "With me?"

"That's what I just said, yeah."

"But I thought…"

Dean shrugged it off. "Nevermind what I said before I left."

Peyton wasn't that forgetful, though. "Why? What changed between then and now?"

Dean made his way around her room, taking in the colorful walls, the numerous sketches. One in particular caught his attention. People always leave. He stood staring at it for the longest time, barely acknowledging when Peyton stepped beside him.

"I have a lot of time to think when I drive," he told over his shoulder without turning around to face her. "I was heading for my job and I couldn't stop thinking about you." He turned toward her then as he continued to move about her room. "When I go on jobs I usually worm in a one night stand or two… for distraction, for company. They never lead anywhere and I never want them to, but with you…," he trailed off with a shake of his head. Facing her once more, he told her, "…with you I wanted it to lead somewhere."

"I thought you said that we couldn't be anything."

"Just because this can't be anything in the larger sense doesn't mean it can't be anything now." He wanted to smack himself after the words had escaped his mouth. He knew that Peyton was going to perceive them differently than he'd intended them.

Peyton's eyes widened at what he was suggesting. "So you want me to be, what? A summer fling? You have got to be joking!" she said outraged.

"I can't guarantee how long I'll be around, Peyton," he told her as she turned her back to him. Letting out a deep, frustrated sigh, he said, "And promising you that I will be or that I'll visit… it would only be lies and I don't want to lie to you." He stumbled over his last words. He was already lying to her, but those lies were necessary. They would keep her safe and out of harm's way.

But was keeping the truth from her for her own good or for his? Dean quickly dismissed the thought. That was something he had no time to ponder right now.

"I won't agree to be your little play toy for the duration of the summer, Dean. I won't."

"What makes you think that I want you to be, Peyton?" he asked, his voice rising above it's usual calm tone. "Can you honestly look at me and tell me that you believe that I would take advantage of you that way?"

Peyton stared blankly at him, taken aback by his coarse tone. "No," she said, averting her gaze away from him.

He simply wanted a chance to be with her. But he wanted her to be aware of the limitations of their relationship. There was no chance of a happily ever after. At least not until the crusade was finished. He couldn't think of a future until the thing that killed his mother was dead. But would that nightmare ever be over? Would the crusade end with the destruction of that demon? Or would there be more to follow in it's wake?

Pushing that to the far recesses of his mind, Dean told her, "I can't commit to you in the way that you deserve and the way that I would like to. We both want the same thing, but I can't give it. Not now anyway."

"Then, why are we having this conversation? Why'd you come back at all?"

"I came back for you. I came back to see where this would lead… if it would lead anywhere. I could barely concentrate on my damn job because I kept thinking about you," he said in a huff.

Peyton smiled at that. Falling onto her bed, she sighed, "I'm sorry. There's just all this… stuff going on and now you're back and…," she trailed off, looking up at him. "I had come to the conclusion that you weren't coming back."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't supposed to." Dean leaned back against Peyton's dresser as she got more comfortable on her bed. "When I left, I said that was going to be it. I wasn't going to look back or think twice. I mean, yeah, I liked you and Haley and Lucas. You were all hospitable to me and then there was you…," he explained with a grunt. "I've been on my own for a long time, Peyton. It's not easy for me to let people in."

"I understand that." She understood that more than he knew.

He grinned at her. "Yeah, I knew you would." Looking down to look at his watch, he said, "I should probably go."

"But you just got here?"

"I promised Haley I'd come and check up on you and now that I have I have to go and find a hotel or something. I bunked with Haley and Lucas last night and Luke's a fucking liar. That sofa is not comfortable at all."

"I'm glad that you came back, Dean," Peyton told him as he made his way toward the door.

"Are you?"

Peyton nodded her head. "Of course I am," she insisted.

" Peyton, I heard about…"

"Yeah. Just… let's not, okay? I don't want to talk about that now, if you don't mind."

"Okay," he said, nodding his understanding. "I'll see you later."

Peyton climbed off her bed as he exited the room. She was moving back to her desk, when Dean reappeared at her door, saying, "Oh, I almost forgot… I like your hair."

"Yeah?" she asked, touching her shortened strands.

"Yeah. See ya later, Peyton." And with a parting smile, he made his leave, leaving Peyton grinning to herself behind him.