Welcome back!

This chapter idea came at me very hard and very quick. I had over half of it written within two days, which is something that has not happened to me in a very long time! So, since this chapter introduces a new character, I thought I would explain him a little bit.

Jackson Redd is Carter's boyfriend while she is a teacher. He is only three years older than Carter, and has three older sisters and one older brother, making him the baby of the family, much like Carter. The only physical feature of his that I will point out (as I leave most of it up to the reader to picture) is that he is very strong and fit. These traits coincide with his profession, which is construction worker.

It is also important to mention that I have envisioned this character ever since I started this story, but never had the chance or will to write about him. I thought this would be a great way to introduce him to you all.

With that, I hope you enjoy!

Ages:

Carter: 22

Dean: 35

Sam: 31

Takes place in season 10

Warnings: Just cursing

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural

The sharp ringing of the doorbell sent Carter gasping awake. Her eyes snapped open and she attempted to calm her now racing heart. The cold of the morning hit through her naked body, prompting her to pull the blanket farther up her chest. A dull snore erupted from the also naked man next to her and pulled her into the morning.

Looking over, Carter smiled at the man that had been her boyfriend going on three months now. What had started as a one time hookup turned into casual hookups and then dating. Spending time with him quickly became her favorite pastime. Carter turned on her side to face him and took in his disheveled hair and bare chest. She smiled as she remembered the events of the night before. She reached out to move a lock of his hair out of his face, allowing her a better view.

The sharp doorbell rang again, freezing Carter's motions and bringing her back to her rude wake up call. The noise sinking in, she drug herself out of bed, blanket wrapped around her body, and walked to the window to see her visitor's car. At the sight of the black car, she froze.

"Shit!" Heart beating faster, she dropped her blanket and ran to grab the first piece of clothing she could find. With all the commotion, Jackson started to stir in the bed.

"What's going on?" He mumbled as he stretched and wiped the morning out of his eyes. As his girlfriend danced around the room looking for a shirt, he sat up.

Having already pulled her jeans back on from the night before, she just needed to find a shirt. Rifling through the pile of dirty clothes, she answered, "You need to get dressed right now, my brothers are here." She tossed one of his shirts from the laundry pile at him and found a sweatshirt for herself. Quickly she pulled it on and started to walk to the door when she stopped. "Just get dressed and stay up here, okay? I don't need them knowing you're here."

Confused, he replied, "Carter, my car's outside, they'll know someone's here. Plus can't I meet them?"

"No, just-" she groaned, "stay up here until I say different, okay?" With that she threw open the door and slammed it behind her, flying down the stairs. Halfway down, a rough knocking sounded throughout the house.

She groaned as her hand finally landed on the handle, opening it up to find her two brothers clad in matching black suits and tired faces. At the sight of his sister, a smile grew on Sam's face. He chuckled a little and bent down to give her a hug. She smiled too, bending upwards to hug him back. As Sam stepped back, her eyes landed on Dean. Immediately she noticed his usual smile was missing, sending her heart plummeting.

He was still mad at her.

The last time Dean had stopped by had caused a rift between them and injured their feelings. Carter then realized that if it weren't for Sam, Dean would never had come.

"Hey, Dean," Carter tried, a small smile playing politely on her lips. She turned back to Sam. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We caught a case near here, and stopped by the coroner's office. I thought we should stop by and say hi for a little bit," Sam looked behind Carter and into her house. "Mind if we come in?"

Realizing her mistake, she opened the door wider, allowing her brothers to step in. Shutting out the cold air she said, "Make yourself at home." Smoothing down her bed hair, she took in the room from their perspective. But panic quickly set in when she noticed her bra strewn across the back of the couch, tossed there from last night. Her eyes widened in embarrassment and the feeling that she would get in trouble passed through. Sam and Dean weren't her parents, but they were damn good at pretending they were, and had no problem punishing her. The last time they had caught her having sex, she was put on strict research duty for a month. She might not have been 15 anymore, but she sure felt it. As soon as their eyes landed on her bra, Sam looked away and Dean rolled his eyes. Desperately trying to change the subject Carter asked, "Can I get you guys something to drink? Coffee? Beer?" She walked off towards the kitchen, cheeks burning in embarrassment.

Sam welcomed the distraction and answered, "Coffee would be great," as he followed. Dean trailed behind. Carter went to the coffee maker, turning it on and added water and coffee grounds. Her back to her brothers as they entered the room, she began pulling out mugs.

"So," Dean's gruff voice called to the quiet room. "When do I get to meet the man that's banging my sister? I assume he's still here." At his question, the mug in her hand dropped the several inches to the counter, chipping its rim and flipping over. She gasped at the noise and bit her lip.

She didn't dare turn around.

"Dean," Sam warned.

Dean rolled his eyes and turned around, muttering, "Yeah whatever." He strolled out of the kitchen.

Carter cleared her throat as she righted the mug and let the silence wash over the room. She could hear Dean's dress shoes clicking across the wood floor as he walked around.

"Ignore Dean," Sam's soft voice instructed, "you know how he gets sometimes."

Carter looked up, turning around to face Sam's puppy dog apology. "So this case?" She asked, changing the subject in typical Winchester fashion.

Sam smiled and scoffed. "Yeah, right. Um, some guy died on a hiking trail half an hour from here. Coroner is saying heart attack, but we're not so sure yet."

"Got any theories?"

Sam shrugged. "Nothing's missing on the body so take your pick of monster. Could be anything at this point."

Carter nodded as she took in the information. The beeping of the coffee machine distracted her from answering further, and prompted her to pull out the pot and dump its contents into three cups. She handed two of them to Sam. She grabbed one for herself and followed Sam out into the dining room. They found Dean standing next to the table, eyes not leaving the staircase to upstairs. Sam cleared his throat and gave Dean the extra mug.

Carter took a sip of the burning liquid and watched as her brother's eyes never wavered. She rolled her eyes in frustration.

"He's not coming down here, Dean," she spat with anger. "So drop it."

Dean's eyes slid to see both his siblings watching him. Carter's eyes were slit and daring him to protest, whereas Sam's were warning him to drop it. Finally he just scoffed and looked away, taking a sip of his coffee.

"You know what, Carter?" He asked, after letting the silence stew for awhile. "A little piece of advice for you: mixing one night stands and suburbia is a bad idea. Eventually everything turns sour."

She bit her lip in anger and shook her head. "Bold of you to assume I'm anything like you; I can actually hold down suburbia."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch. It's only been a couple months."

"Eight, Dean. It's been eight months." Carter turned towards Dean, her coffee cup as she squared her shoulders and set her jaw.

Sam stood between them, shocked at how mad they were at each other. They hadn't acted this way in years, not since Carter was a teen, when Dean actually had to parent her. "Alright that's enough, stop it," Sam commanded, setting down his own cup and raising his arms to distance the two.

However, it did little to stop them. "And he's not a one night stand. We've been dating for three months now and I-" she stopped herself before admitting she loved him. "I care about him." She hadn't even told Jackson how she really felt yet, she wasn't just going to spill her guts to her brothers now.

"You care about him?" Dean's eyebrows knitted together as he scoffed at the incredulous statement. "You're a hunter, kid. First and foremost, forever and always. You should know better than anyone that caring about civilians only gets them dead, or worse."

"What the hell is your problem? You weren't this mad when Sammy went to Stanford, and you sure as hell didn't have a problem moving in with Lisa and Ben for a year."

At the mentioning of Lisa and Ben, Dean's jaw locked and he put his coffee down. He turned his murderous glare onto his little sister.

"I told you to never mention their names again."

At his look, Carter backed down. She knew not to press the subject or else it would end badly, and she definitely didn't want that so early in the morning.

She took a sip of her coffee and let the silence wash over the room. Leaning back against the table, she let all emotions wash over her. She was exhausted, despite having just woken up. She was tired of the fighting and disappointment. Tired of constantly thinking what she was doing was wrong. She wanted it to be over.

"What's it gonna take, Dean?" Her voice came out weary and soft. The silence stretched.

He didn't answer. Sighing, he placed his coffee on the table and walked into the kitchen. "I need a beer."

Just then, footsteps were heard overhead. Jackson opened the bedroom door and glided down the stairs. At hearing him come down, Carter put down her coffee cup and walked over to meet him at the steps.

He stopped in front of her, Carter's phone in hand. Carter looked down at it in confusion, taking it from him.

"Your boss called," he explained in a soft tone, "She said she needs you to come in an hour earlier today."

Carter sighed and shoved the phone into her pocket. "I thought I told you to stay upstairs."

"I heard shouting and thought you might need the distraction. I take it it's not going good down here."

"Dean's drinking already," she said, hoping that explained everything. She took a deep breath. "So, you wanna meet them?" Since Jackson was already down there, there wasn't a point in sending him away.

Jackson smiled his agreement.

Carter grabbed his hand and led him over to Sam, who was failing to act as if he wasn't watching them. As they got closer, Sam put his cup down and sat up, pulling his body to his full height.

"Sam, this my boyfriend Jackson. Jackson, this is my brother Sam."

They both reached out to shake each other's hand.

"Nice to meet you," Sam replied with a smile on his face.

"Nice to finally meet you, too. I've heard a lot of about you guys."

"Funny," Dean called from the doorway of the kitchen. "Cause we haven't heard a damn thing about you."

"Dean," Carter warned, fed up with his shit. "Jackson, this Dean, my oldest brother. Dean, this is my boyfriend, Jackson."

Dean took a large swig of his beer and stepped forward, offering his hand. In slight hesitation, Jackson shook it, forcing a smile as he did so.

"It's nice to meet you."

"So, uh, Jackson, what do you do?" Sam asked, hoping to save the situation.

"I actually work for a construction company. We're currently building some houses in a development not that far away from here."

"Oh, that's-" Sam started but was interrupted by Dean deadpanning.

"Great, more suburbia. Just what the world needs." He received two bitch faces before his phone started ringing, sending him further into the kitchen to answer.

Sam rolled his eyes as he turned back to the couple in front of him. "Just ignore Dean. He's had a rough couple of months."

Jackson nodded with a sympathy smile as Dean came back into the room. "The, uh," Dean glanced over at Jackson before choosing his next words, "stiff doctor got back to us with something else they found; I said we would be there as soon as we could." Dean chugged the rest of his beer and placed it down.

"I guess we better get going, then." Sam drank the last of his coffee and stuck his hand out to shake Jackson's one last time. "It was great meeting you; maybe we can get a beer sometime and continue our conversation."

"Absolutely. I'll take you up on that offer," Jackson smiled. Sam then went to Carter, giving her a hug before walking towards the door.

Carter expected Dean to walk right past without saying goodbye, but he stood right in front of Jackson. Staring down at him, he gave his best stern face, the one that shook its victim to the core.

"You love my sister?"

Taken aback by his abruptness, Jackson fumbled. They hadn't yet shared those words, so to say them aloud to a stranger scared him. "Yeah, I- yeah of course," he tripped over his words.

Dean nodded his head. "Good. I ever hear you hurt her in any way, I'll make sure you drink soup through a straw for the rest of your life. Is that clear?" He demanded in his best drill sergeant voice.

Jackson, who was no feeble little mouse, was afraid to breathe wrong. He had never before faced such a terrifying man, one that looked as though he could punch through a brick wall and not break a finger. This man was jacked and scarred and dangerous. No doubt he had a past better kept secret. The juxtaposition between Dean and Carter, the smalltown teacher, was staggering.

"Yeah, got it."

Dean stood staring at the man before nodding. "Good." He turned to look at Carter, pointedly not saying goodbye. "Come on, Sammy let's go." He turned away from his sister and walked to the front door.

Carter bit her tongue about his actions but turned around. "If your motel sucks, I got two extra beds upstairs waiting for your asses." Dean paused and looked back to take in her words, but didn't respond. Instead, he walked out the door, leaving Sam to sigh and apologetically smile.

"Thanks, we'll let you know." He waved once as he followed after Dean, shutting the door behind him.

Carter sighed in relief and frustration as her early morning interruption left. She turned to the three coffee cups on the table, two half empty and one fully empty, and picked up hers. She took a sip of the cold liquid and made a dissatisfied face. "Kinda wishing this was whiskey after that visit."

Jackson chuckled and walked over to her, surrounding his girlfriend with his arms. Carter welcomed the embrace, setting down her cup so she could reciprocate. "It could've been worse," He said as he kissed the top of her head. "They seem pretty nice; I liked them."

Carter lifted her head and looked up at him. "Even after Dean threatened your life?"

Jackson took a deep breath. "I'm sure he didn't mean it; he's just playing that protective older brother persona." He looked down with hope.

Eyebrows raised, she chuckled. "Believe what you want, but that does not sound like Dean to me."

He breathed out a sigh. "Great." He bent down and kissed her on the lips, leaving her smiling. Afterwards, she let go and went to grab the rest of the coffee cups.

"So what's the matter with Dean? He seemed kind of-"

"Pissed off?" Carter interrupted.

"That's putting it mildly."

Instead of bringing the cups to the kitchen, she pulled out a chair and sat down, exhausted. Propping her head up with her arm, she looked down at the table. "Dean's just ... mad that I left, I guess." At her tone, Jackson pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. "At the time that I left, Dean wasn't doing so good health wise and had been missing for a couple months. Sam had been looking for him, and I did too for awhile, but-" She couldn't continue. She couldn't look at Jackson. She couldn't move.

The reality of what she had done started sinking in.

Dean was her brother, but he was also so much more than that. He played Dad when John was away and Mom whenever she was sick. He always made sure she had food and nice clothes, even if it meant he went hungry and wore holes. He had placed himself between Carter and danger countless times, forever saving her life without being asked.

And she just let him run around as a demon while she played house.

She didn't deserve his kindness.

"But I just left."

She looked over at Jackson with a defeated expression. Jackson's hand met hers and gave a reassuring squeeze.

"I think you should talk to Dean. Tell him why you did what you did and apologize if you need to. You're not going to get anywhere by ignoring each other."

Carter sighed and looked down. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll text Sam and make sure they stay here tonight so I can get Dean alone."

Jackson nodded. "That sounds like a plan to me. Now, should we clean up and go find some food?"

A glad smile grew across her face. "Joe's Diner?"

"You read my mind."

The bar had been busy that night. Being Saturday, lots of locals wanted to sit back, drink, and unwind. Almost every table in the joint had been taken, every spot at the bar occupied, and the two pool tables had games going. Running back and forth between tables and the bar had earned Carter very sore feet.

Luckily as the night grew on, the bar began to empty and she got to sit down for a minute. Although as soon as she did, the bell above the door rang and in walked two large men she was all too familiar with.

Sam caught Carter's eyes as he and Dean walked to an empty table at the back. They plopped down their bags of books as Carter went to grab their favorite beers.

Coming back with the beers in her hand, she roughly clinked them onto the table and folded her arms across her chest. Obviously displeased with their last meeting, Carter glared down at Dean.

"Thanks." Sam looked between his brother and sister, looking for a way to diffuse the tension.

Dean took a swig of the drink and glanced up at his sister. Catching her displeasure, he looked down at his drink. "Didn't I ever tell you if you made that face, it would freeze that way?"

She rolled her eyes. Turning to Sam, she said, "If you need anything else, call me over." With that, she turned away and headed to another table for refills.

The rest of the time they were there, their interactions were the same. Carter would hand them another beer, ignore Dean, and then be on her way. An hour before her shift ended and the bar closed, Sam waved her over.

"Another beer?" She asked.

"Actually," Sam started to shove his laptop into his bag, "I think we're gonna head out for the night."

Carter nodded. "I'll get your bill, then." She walked away and came back a couple minutes later to find Dean gone, presumably to go start the car. She handed the bill to Sam, but stuck around for a second. "Are you guys going back to the motel tonight?" She asked tentatively.

When she had texted Sam earlier that day, he said he couldn't promise they would stay the night. With the way Dean was acting, it would be hard to get him to agree to stay in the same house as his sister. Sam said he would talk to him but couldn't promise anything.

At her words, Sam grew a half smile. "Actually, I convinced Dean to stay at your place."

Eyebrows raised in disbelief, "How did you manage that?"

Sam chuckled. "I told him you had free beer and grub, and bedsheets that don't have questionable stains."

She slowly nodded her head, realizing she would be out of beer and food by the morning. "Great," she mock-complained, which earned her a smile by Sam. "Now I just gotta figure out what I'll say to Dean that'll make him not mad at me."

Sam's smile faltered, then disappeared. "Dean's just in a weird state right now, you know that. The Mark is still messing with him and he's taking it out on you. It's not fair but," he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, "we just have to work through it."

Carter was about to respond when a voice called across the bar, inviting her attention to his empty drink. She sighed. "I'll bring you back my spare key, okay?"

She turned to walk away when Sam responded, "We have Dean's lock pick, don't worry about it."

Her eyes grew wide and she pointed her finger at him as she walked away. "No, okay? No! It's a rental, Sam, not squatter house." With that, Sam smiled.

Later that night, Carter stood at the front door, twisting car keys in hand as she waited. Being well past 2 am, the world was silent. Not even the animals around her made noises. Above, thick dark clouds blotted out the sparkling stars and moon. The only light that was provided was the light spilling through the living room curtains and the neighbor's nightlights outside.

Stepping away from the cold, she walked into the house, the warm interior enveloping her. Seated on the couch, she spotted Dean right away. One of her lore books sat on his lap and a beer was in his hand. Ignoring him, Carter put away her coat and purse and stole away up the stairs. At the top, the guest bedroom door was open and the light was on. Peeking in, she spotted Sam stretched out on one of the beds, laptop on his lap.

A small smile stretched across her face as she stood in the doorway. "How's the case going?" Sam looked up from his computer and gave a tired look.

"So far, not much luck. We, uh," he chuckled as he motioned towards the stack of books on and around his bed, "dug into your lore collection. We didn't think you would mind." Carter smiled. Sam sat up and picked up a couple of the books, looking at them in a different light. "Where did you get all these, by the way?"

A vast lore collection, such as the one she had, was limited to those that owned homes for at least several years. The Winchesters did not have that luxury until they moved into the bunker, but that was less than two years ago. It didn't seem enough time to grow such a collection, Sam thought.

Carter stepped into the room and picked up one of the books. She sat down on the bed next to Sam and began looking it over. "Well, there's a handful that I've managed to keep with me growing up." She smiled. "I had them stashed away in my duffel for years. But most of these are hand-me-downs from Bobby's collection. When I was young, he showed me this storage unit he had that was full of books, talismans, basically anything a hunter would need. I took out most of the books and some basic talismans and stuff when I moved here."

Sam looked confused. "Bobby never told Dean and I he had a unit."

A smile grew across her face as she remembered the day Bobby had told her about it. She was a mere teen and had been stuck at Bobby's for weeks on end while Dean and her father hunted, and Sam was in college. During that time, Carter had her nose stuck in Bobby's vast collection of lore books. It was then that she admitted her love for mythology, something she had not admitted to anyone before, and swore Bobby to keep secret. The next day Bobby took her to his storage unit and told her that he would give it all to her when she was old enough. And the best part was that she didn't have to share it with anyone, especially her brothers.

"It was our little secret. He told me it was all mine to have when I got older."

Sam shook his head at the revelation. "That man and his secrets. I swear, as good as we knew the guy, there's still so much we don't know."

They both sat in silence, soaking in their late father figure's life. Carter gazed down at the book in her lap. After a moment, she sighed and stood up.

"Well, I'm gonna go get some comfier clothes on and see if I can get a word in with Dean."

Sam chuckled. "Good luck with that."

"Thanks," she rolled her eyes at the task ahead.

Five minutes later Carter was rooting around in the fridge, pulling out the last bottle of beer forsaken on the bottom shelf. She popped it open and made her way over to the couch, sitting next to her brother. Dean, however, completely ignored her presence. She took a chug of her beer and tucked her legs underneath herself, pulling a book off the floor at the same time. After several minutes of sitting in silence, Dean shut his book and got up, heading towards the stairs. As soon as he did, Carter turned to him, blood boiling.

"So help me God if you walk up those stairs, Dean Winchester." Slowly, he turned towards her. "Sit your ass down. We need to talk."

He took another drink of the dark liquid and took a step back towards his sister. "I've got nothing to say to you."

"Well then just listen," she snapped. He sighed, but walked back over; however instead of sitting back on the couch, he sat on the wooden dining chair parked close by. He plopped down and rested his elbows on his knees. Carter took another large sip of her beer, as she would much rather be drunk than having this conversation.

After a minute of silence, she finally spoke. "What gives you the right to talk to me like that?" Her voice was soft, as if talking loud would break the fragile glass of their relationship.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you even remember what you told me when you showed up at my house back in October?" When Dean looked down in shame, she continued. "You hurt me. I don't know if I can ever forgive you."

"It needed to be said."

"Like hell it did. After everything I've done for this family, I didn't deserve that stab in the fucking back," her voice rose in anger.

"Everything you've done?" He asked incredulously. "You left me when I was a demon, Carter. A demon. I needed you and you were off playing house."

She gripped the book in her lap, using it to hold herself back from punching her brother. "Playing house? So, what? You and Sam are allowed to live a normal life whenever you want, even if it means leaving me behind, but I'm never allowed to? Bullshit."

"What are you talking about? You've lived a normal life plenty of times."

She scoffed. "Please don't tell me you're thinking of all those times you dropped me off at Bobby's for months." By the look of Dean's face, she scowled. "I lived in the town drunk's house. Every time I went back to that school I was treated like crap. No one respected me because of who they thought I was. Bobby did his best trying to raise me normal, but he had responsibilities he couldn't ignore." She took a deep breath as Dean sat staring down at his bottle. Carter had long forgotten hers. Hands flew to her face as she tried to rub her headache away. "That's messed up if you think that's normal."

After a moment of silence, Carter spoke in a soft tone, "I've been working on crafting this life for myself for four years. When this job opportunity came, I couldn't just ignore it. Was it bad timing? Of course. But I couldn't throw this all away." Taking the book off her lap and placing it on the stack, she turned to look at Dean. "I need to do what's right for myself right now."

Dean looked up at her with weary eyes. "How can you just ignore all the monster killings? How can you live with yourself knowing you could've saved them?"

She sighed. "There will always be monsters around killing people. I can't put their lives on my shoulders all the time; I came to terms with that long ago. And I might not be saving everyone's lives, but I am helping kids. Being a teacher, I get to make a difference in a whole new way."

Dean sighed in frustration and took another sip of the beer.

Standing up, she picked up her beer and looked down at the man she so desperately wanted the approval of. "You don't have to say anything now. Just promise me you'll think over what I said. I don't want you thinking I gave you up." She turned around and headed towards the stairs.

"Hey Carter?" Dean called out, freezing her. "I'm sorry for the way you were brought up. I never wanted that for you." His eyes pierced the heart of the kid he had worked so hard to raise.

She grew a sad smile in an attempt to lessen his pain. "You have nothing to apologize for. You did more for me than I could have ever asked for. Not many brothers are like you." With a final nod from Dean, Carter turned and headed up the stairs towards her bedroom.

Snuggling down into her bed that night, she soaked in the faint smell of Jackson's cologne. The smell alone lulled her into a safety net, one which housed everything perfect and nothing flawed. With Jackson, she could finally be someone she had longed to be forever. He was everything she needed in that moment.

Taking in his past presence only helped a little. Picking up her phone, she opened the messages she had with Jackson and typed a quick note: "Talked with Dean, fingers crossed he changes his grumpiness. I'm going to bed now, so text me when you wake up in the morning. Can't wait to see you at lunch tomorrow." She sent the text and then cuddled back under the sheets.

Everything will be okay, she told herself.

She just wished she believed it.

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