Chapter 14: The Living
"Ok this is so not fair!" I muttered as I lifted the sword above my head. Dean's clashed with mine and I stepped back.
"Hey you are the one that wanted to learn, and if I remember correctly you told me no to hold back…" He replied. I ducked under him and used my legs to trip him. He landed on his back and I grabbed his weapon which had fallen on the ground.
"I win!" I said simply. He laughed a little.
"And you said it wasn't fair, I just got beat by a girl who has never fought with one of these in her life. Now that is unfair." He replied as he sat up.
"What can I say? I'm a quick learner." I smiled and sat down next to him. We were both sweating and out of breath.
I had asked Dean to teach me how to sword fight. I hadn't ever learned before and John had taught him when he was twelve. So we made it a bonding experience, weird, but fun, and tiring. But I was getting pretty damn good at it.
"Yeah, you are getting there." He joked, trying to catch his breath. I laughed some and lay down on my back, still trying to catch my breath.
"This was fun…" I exasperated. He rolled over to his side and looked down at me. Something caught his eye though.
"Annie… did I do that?" He asked as he pointed to a huge bruise forming on my arm. I looked down at it.
"Oh, no that wasn't from this. Well, it was just not from you… I kind of tripped over the couch and landed on the coffee table earlier… remember?" I asked, laughing at my clumsiness. He smiled a little.
"Oh yeah…" He leaned down and lightly kissed my arm. "You know what sounds good?" He asked.
"I can think of a couple things…but what is yours?" I replied.
"An extremely hot and long shower…" He told me. I closed my eyes.
"Sam and Gabi aren't due for any visits are they?" I asked. He shook his head.
"No but if they do drop by I will kill them…" He joked.
"Then by all means… take me away…" I said smiling. He got this devilish grin and quickly swooped my up in his arms and started running for the bathroom. I laughed and held on to him.
"If all of our self defense lessons can end like this, then we need to have them more often." He muttered into my ear. I giggled some and pulled back so I could face him.
"I think I would have to agree with you…" I told him before pressing my lips against his in a mind melting kiss.
----------
(Gabi's POV)
Ellie's birthday was tomorrow. I couldn't believe my little girl was going to be a year old! And neither could Sam. This had been a really eventful year to say the least, and we were both excited about this. She was actually walking now. That was hard for both of us since we always wanted to carry her, and she could say a few words, well not real words but we could understand her.
"What are we going to do Gabi? I mean if this year has gone by this fast then the rest might to… before we know it she won't be little anymore…" Sam said sadly. I laughed at him.
"Aww, poor dad…" I teased. He rolled his eyes and smiled. "We just have to face it, I mean we knew it would happen. But she is only going to be one… I don't see her getting a car or going out to bars anytime soon. So I think we are okay."
"If she is anything like you by the time she is sixteen we will have to lock her up." He joked. I narrowed my eyes.
"Hey I just liked to have fun! And I never got in trouble… well I never got caught… but even so I never did anything life threatening!" I defended. He laughed at me.
"I seem to remember Annie telling me that for her18th birthday you guys got fake ID's and got into one of the biggest clubs in New York… then the male strippers for Annie's 20th… and she happened to mention that you planned all these things…" He told me.
Ok, I was caught.
"Yeah, but we had a hell of a time. I wouldn't take it back for anything, even if it was illegal." I told him.
"What if Ellie did that?" He asked.
"Oh I would kill her, but then I would make sure she brought me along the next time." I joked. He laughed and pulled me into his arms.
"So what are we going to do tomorrow?" Sam asked me.
"Well, the family is coming over… my parents are flying in, and she gets a bunch of presents and food. So by the end of the day she will probably be more spoiled then she already is and will need a bath." I said.
"I still can't believe it has been a year… it is kind of upsetting…" He said. I rolled my eyes.
"Or relieving. If you remember correctly this time last year I was telling you I hated you, calling you the scum of the earth and I looked like a balloon. I am glad that is over with." I said as I let out a sigh. He laughed.
"Yeah, you were evil… you actually made me cry…." He told me. I remembered that and burst into laughter.
"That was my goal." I teased. He shook his head and kissed my forehead.
I guess making him cry was worth it if we could laugh about it now.
----------
(Annie's POV)
"Dean… wake up…" I grumbled. I pulled the sheet over me and slowly opened my eyes. The sun was bright and it hurt. I groaned and collapsed back down into the pillow.
"I'm not getting up if you aren't…" He mumbled.
"But you are my incentive to get up so you have to…" I complained. I heard him snicker and he threw his arm around my wait. I was lying on my stomach and I had my head buried into the pillow.
"But what if I want you to be my incentive?" He asked.
"You don't even know what the word means so I don't have to." I joked. He may have known what it meant, but insulting his intelligence was something I always had fun doing. It hurt his ego and there was a time when I had needed to do that in order to secure my place in his life. Now it was just for fun.
"Hey, I know what it means!" He retorted.
"Good for you. But we still need to get up." I said. He leaned down and kissed my shoulder, then my neck, and ran his hand along my back.
"Is that enough incentive?" He whispered closely in my ear.
"Nope, it just makes me want to stay here all day… and we can't do that because it is our nieces' birthday." I said as I rolled over to my side. For the first time that day our eyes met.
"Good morning." Dean said smiling. I smiled back.
"Back at you." I replied. He kissed me briefly. That brought back a whirlwind of memories from yesterday…. Good memories.
"What time are we supposed to be there?" He asked me.
"Like noon… and it's ten which means we really need to get up and get ready. I need to shower…" I said as the day ahead started to fold out in front of me.
"Didn't we take a long enough shower yesterday?" Dean teased. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah but this time I actually need to take a shower like God intended people too, and not the way we did." I said laughing some.
"Then I guess we really do have to get up then huh?" He replied. I nodded sadly and sat up.
"Unfortunately our lives have to consist of something other then eating, sleeping, fighting and sex. But we just have to deal with it." I joked before getting up and heading to the bathroom.
"Yeah, really unfortunate…" I heard him mutter seriously as I walked off. I laughed and started getting ready.
----
"Hey guys!" I said as I opened the door to Sam and Gabi's apartment. We were about fifteen minutes late, which was early for us. My aunt and uncle were there and so was John.
"Annie! You look amazing!" My aunt said to me as she hugged me. I returned the favor.
"So do you!" I replied. Then her eyes moved to Dean, then back to me.
"Is everything ok between you two?" She whispered quietly. I smiled.
"Never been better." I replied. She smiled back and went over to Gabi. She really wanted to hold Ellie, but once again, Sam wouldn't let go.
"Hey Sammy, you know the kid can walk." Dean joked.
"Doesn't mean I want her to!" Sam replied. I laughed at him.
"Would you be so opposed if I held her for a minute?" I asked. Sam rolled his eyes and smiled.
"I guess not…." He replied. I laughed and took her in my arms.
"Hey there birthday girl!" I said softly. She had started to try and say my name. It was really funny to, she had the 'AN' part down, but the rest was a struggle.
Ellie smiled at me and her big green eyes were bright and shining. Then she looked over at Dean and held her arms out. I laughed and turned to face him. I gave him a questioning look and he just smiled and took her out of my arms.
"Yeah, I know I am more likeable then her. Just don't tell her I told you so." He whispered loud enough for the rest of us to hear. We all laughed and I hit him on the arm.
"You so aren't funny." I joked.
"Yes I am… Ellie is laughing." He replied.
"Yeah only because you two have about the same mentality." I said.
"Hey now…." Gabi said as she came into the conversation. "Don't insult my kid with that…."
I laughed, then Sam joined in. "Yeah, I think her mentality may be a little higher then yours dude." He said to Dean.
"Ok this isn't funny anymore geek boy." Dean said.
The older ones looked at us like we were insane. But that was ok. Because this was out family. We saw each other every day, and we saved people and killed evil together. We had to be close. And it was an amazing thing to be a part of.
Ellie got a lot of presents, and somehow managed to stick her entire face in a cake. It was an amusing afternoon.
---------
(Gabi's POV)
My parents were getting on my nerves. They thought they knew everything. I hated it. And they weren't leaving for two days. Why did Sam have to suggest they stay here? I would gladly have gotten them a room at the hotel a couple blocks away, but no…. mister generous over there had offered our guest room up for auction.
I could have slapped him.
Don't get me wrong, I loved my parents. But if it was up to them I wouldn't be a fashion designer, and I wouldn't be married to Sam. Oh no, I would be a doctor in some hospital in New York and married a wealthy ass hole who cheated on me every other night with his secretary.
That life never appealed to me. I liked the one I had just fine.
So far they hadn't approved of anything. Not my apartment or my job. Luckily however, they did approve of Sam, but if he hadn't gone to Stanford I highly doubt they would have. We didn't happen to mention that he didn't actually finish Stanford… but hey, they didn't have to know everything.
"Can we switch their plane tickets?" I asked. Sam laughed at me.
"Gabi, be nice…" He joked.
"I'm serious! Or… what if we had Annie cast some kind of spell? And then they would have to leave immediately! That's even better!" I exclaimed. Sam laughed… he didn't seem to get that I was serious.
"Babe we can't do that…" He said.
"You're right…" Then I got another strange idea. "Hey Sam, can you like start suffocating or something?"
He looked at me very strangely.
"What?" He asked loudly.
"Well if something happened then we would have to leave and go to the hospital or something. My parents hate conflict so they would leave. So… go on, bury your head in a pillow or something…" I said as I tried to shove his head down into his pillow. He gently pushed me off and I groaned.
"Gabi get a hold of yourself!" He said.
"If you really loved me you would do it!" I taunted. He just rolled his eyes.
"I do love you, and in that defense I am not going to kill myself just so your parents will leave." He told me.
"Not kill yourself, just pass out for a little while." I corrected… but he shook his head. I sighed and went to plan C. "Fine if you won't do it then I will. As soon as I black out, turn me around and call 911." I said before throwing my head into the pillow.
He grabbed my waist and pulled me up and turned me around.
"Sometimes I wonder if I have one or two kids…" He joked.
"Hey! That's my line!" I exclaimed. He just pulled me closer to him and kissed the top of my head.
"Just one in a half more day's baby, then they will be gone. Don't worry." He said as he ran his hand gently up and down my arm.
"Yeah and by that time you will be begging for mercy." I muttered. He just laughed at me.
"Goodnight and I love you." He said before closing his eyes.
"Yeah, I guess I love you too, even if you won't cut off your circulation for me." I mumbled before closing my eyes as well. I heard him snicker one last time before we both fell asleep.