Chapter Nineteen
Autumn had decided to dedicate the afternoon to finishing up her book. She wanted to get things turned in early, that way the publishers wouldn't rush Athena on the pictures again. So she'd sent everyone away, and just as an extra precaution locked herself in Dean's bedroom. She hated silence so her laptop was playing a list of her favorite songs, Dean was changing the oil in his car and tooling around under the hood, while the other two had gone off with John and a list of supplies. There should have been no distractions, but sitting on Dean's bed alone was enough to drive her crazy, but the silence through out the motel was even worse. She cranked the music up louder and put her fingers to the keys. It didn't last long, however. When Hinder's Better Than Me came on she started thinking about a guy she'd left for hunting, and that brought her straight to the reason she started hunting. The reason that was changing his oil. She disconnect herself from the power cord and with her laptop tucked under her arm she left to go sit outside. Maybe she would concentrate better out there.
"What's wrong?" Dean asked without looking up when she approached. She shrugged even though he couldn't see it.
"Nothing." she watched the muscles in his back while he tightened nuts and bolts within his car.
She sat down on the concrete her back against the sun warmed wall, opened up her computer and set to writing again. She actually managed to get some work done. It took two hours before she was writing the closing paragraph of her book. This was one of the few reasons she wrote children's books over books for teens or adults, she could keep them short and not have to cover detail extensively. She clicked save and shut the top.
"You're done?" she wasn't sure it was actually a question but she answered all the same.
"Yea." he waved her over shutting his hood.
"Athena said you've not had your oil changed in a while, I'm going to show you how." she didn't bother telling him she'd learned to change a car's oil before she was even legal to drive. He instructed her to get under the car scolding her the whole time about the damage she could be causing her car. He walked her through the whole process and then stayed under the car with her while they waited on the oil to drip out.
"Do you really think the Black Rose movie will work?" she asked.
"Always has. I'm more worried about the kids'll scream for the sitter."
"Right, so we can get in and still end up spending the night in prison and totally helpless."
"It's not all that bad. Sam will be able to get the kids to trust him in two seconds." she smiled.
"You've got oil on your nose." she commented. He went to wipe the droplet away and only managed to smear it. "That worked." he smirked at her sarcasm but didn't say anything for a long moment. Then he asked a question that had been bugging him.
"Why do you hunt?" She'd never actually thought about the question. It had never been a matter of why.
"I don't know. Guess I just wanted solid proof my uncle had been killed by spirits, and not been gored by a deer or something." she was in hopes this would be a good enough answer but it sounded stupid even to her.
"You couldn't just go along with that story?" he pressed. She was close enough to him to feel is body heat. The day was hotter than most fall days, but it was still early in and the leaves hadn't turned yet. So as he'd worked in the heat he had sweat and his shirt clung to him. She felt the sticky cotton against her arm as she tried to justify her cause.
"No, I lie, but lying about the way someone died… it seems so much worse than lying about what you really do when road tripping. That's the last thing people will remember about him and it's a lie. But they were ready to lock me in the loony bin, for the fits I threw about the whole mess. Uncle Dave was killed by spirits end of his story. He hadn't been protecting us from some territorial deer like the papers said, we'd accidentally disturbed the dead and they came back for us." silence took over except the now slow drip of the oil.
"Is that why Athena hunts?" she looked over at Dean. She wondered how much he actually understood about her and Athena and their pasts.
"No, I don't think so. I think she's just a long for the ride because she knows otherwise she'd have lost me forever." Dean nodded slightly, he understood that thought. If Sam went off to college and started his own life Dean would have lost his brother forever. When siblings start their own lives they lose something that had tied them so tightly as children, and for Dean and Athena that something had kept them going most their lives, it had been the only thing that had been a constant through out their lives. "What are you going to do after you find the thing that killed your mom?" She laughed inwardly. Score one for her, she'd asked a question she didn't have an answer for.
"Hunt." a one word response isn't what she really wanted so she pressed further.
"You going to take some time off, maybe cool your heels first?"
"Only long enough to heal." So at least he wasn't a moron. He knew he wasn't going to make it out of that fight in one piece. She'd only ever heard stories about 'The Demon" she'd never met up with it and was perfectly happy not to.
"Seriously? I think I'd buy me a little shack of a place out in West Virginia, hide away from the rest of the world for a while and just be."
"There's always going to be something to hunt, and someone to save." he commented. She shrugged.
"Okay then Superman." she left the pan now nearly full of oil on her abdomen and reached for the nuts and wrench. She started putting her car back together.
"I'm not Superman."
"No, you're more Wolverine." the wrench slipped and she slammed her knuckles into the metal. "Damn it!" she continued on with a string of swears shaking her hand.
"Let me see." he took her hand and pulled an oil rag from his pocket and wiped away the blood and oil to reveal a few tiny cuts in her fingers. "It's not that bad."
"Yea, I know that." she said trying to pull her hand away from him. He drew her fingers to his lips and kissed the cuts.
"There now its all better." she laughed.
"You are such a dork." she pulled her hand away and let him tighten the nuts.
"I thought you said I was Wolverine."
"Even Wolverine could be a dork." She was stuck waiting on him to take the pan from her because she didn't have enough room to maneuver the pan off of her with out spilling it all over the place. When he finished up he rolled over onto his stomach took the pan, and allowed Autumn to crawl out from under the car before he came out dragging the pan with him.
"You're front left tire is a going bald you'll need to get it replaced soon." he told her.
"I'll get it taken care of before we leave town."
"Go get your hand washed, you've got a lot of oil in it." Autumn grabbed her laptop off the front seat where she'd sat it before climbing under her car.
"I'll be back." she said trying to imitate Arnold Schwarzenegger. Dean chuckled and watched her leave.
