Hey guys. So first off I would like to thank everyone who has commented. Your kind words mean so much to me you have no idea. Also the quick disclaimer that I don't own Supernatural just my OCs and the plot.
Okay so this chapter finally finishes up the episode"Pac-Man Fever" and I hope you guys like it. I try to keep it as accurate to the characters as possible. I hope you guys like it and thank you so much for reading. It always makes me happy to know that people are reading and enjoying my writing.
Lou's POV
I woke slightly later in the morning than I should have. It was almost 9:30 when I walked into the library to see Sam dialing his phone. He looked worse than the night before. He wasn't getting any better. I was starting to really worry about him.
"Charlie, it's Sam. Um, again. Call us. Okay?" He started coughing when he hung up the phone. I crossed the library to see if he was okay, but he only waved me away. That's when Dean walked in. I very stealthily, and not at all in an attempt to avoid or hide from him, moved behind Sam. "Hey," Sam greeted Dean.
Dean just nodded at Sam, not making any attempt to look at me. "Any word from Charlie?"
"Uh, no. And there was no comic convention in Topeka. I don't know why... I mean, why would she lie to us?" It was weird. Charlie, though secretive was never one to straight up lie, especially to us.
"One way to find out," Dean said, pulling out his phone.
"What are you doing?" I asked. Dean's head jerked up and his eyes met mine. I looked away first.
He took a beat to reply and then sighed, "When I called Sam from her phone, I turned on her GPS." Then we were moving.
All of us gathered into Baby and drove to the blinking light on Dean's phone in silence. The car was tense. We were all really worried about Charlie. Thinking about anything else would be irresponsible.
We finally made it to the dot. It was an apartment building. Maybe she just found some girl and they hit it off. I knew that was wishful thinking. Sam knocked on the door first, like the good boy scout he was. "Charlie! Hey, Charlie, you in there?" There was no answer. Dean nodded at Sam and me as he took his gun out of the back of my jeans, I did the same. Sam did this then proceeded to see if the door was open. It was and he opened it, letting Dean step in first, gun raised.
I walked in after Dean and lowered my gun when we saw what was inside. The place wasn't trashed per say, but it was a mess and a chair was flipped over. Something clearly happened. We found the apartment empty.
"What the hell?" Sam mumbled as he fiddled with something on the desk. I looked over to see what he had. It was a box of fake I.D.s all belonging to Charlie. What the hell was right.
"What the hell is this place?" Dean asked. He throw a glance my way but I looked away.
"Whatever it is, it belongs to Charlie," answered Sam, still looking through all the I.D.s.
"Or some variation of her," I added.
"Who the hell is she, Jason Bourne?" Dean asked, but then again we had many different I.D.s so who were we to judge. Sam sat down at the laptop and started trying to see what Charlie was doing last before she disappeared. Okay, so we got no forced entry, so either it was somebody that she knew, or…"
"Djinn." I finished his thought.
He didn't look at me as he nodded. He spotted her phone on the floor and picked it up. Here's all our missed calls. You got anything on her laptop?" He asked Sam.
"Yeah, um, she's been making donations through her aliases to Shawnee County General here in Topeka," Sam answered. He glanced at me for a split second.
"Like a charity or something?" I asked leaning to see the screen.
"A patient. Gertrude Middleton."
Dean nodded at Sam. "We need answers. I'll take Gertrude, you keep Djinn-digging." Then he left the apartment. I sighed feeling as though it were a punch to the gut, but we had bigger fish to fry. We needed to find Charlie.
"What's going on between you two Lou. First there was the silent car ride then there's the fact you two can't look each other in the eye." Sam, always the observant one.
I fiddled with my hands, ringing them, pulling and twisting my fingers. "I kissed him." I looked at him but he just waited for me to continue. "I kissed him and then I freaked and you know how he is and how I am and I'm me and he's him and...yeah." I breathed heavily through my nose.
Sam just nodded. "We need to pick up some food for the bunker before we head back." That was all he said before he left the room. I followed slowly closing the door behind me. Dean hadn't left Baby, but Charlie's car was there so we grabbed that, making our way to the grocery store.
"Are you sure this is the best idea?" I questioned a few minutes into the car ride. "I mean we really should be looking for Charlie."
"You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of someone else." I snorted.
"Practice what you preach there Sammy." He laughed slightly which turned quickly into a cough.
I looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Yeah you got me there." There was a long beat of silence between us. When we finally pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket Sam turned to me. "Look, I know I already said it, but I was way out of line and I'm sorry Lou." He looked at me with those pleading puppy dog eyes, his long hair falling slightly in his face.
"I know. I forgive you. Plus, it's not like I've been firing on all cylinders recently anyway." I shrugged it off but he wasn't buying it at all. He pulled me into a hung across the small car, crushing my to his chest. The shifter knob dug painfully into my stomach but I didn't pull away, I just hugged him back.
After a little while we broke apart and got out of the car. Food runs were usually very quick. Grab easy to make or premade food, beer, and pie. This time I thought was going to be no different, but when Sam grabbed a shopping cart instead of a basket I knew it was a real food run. I think he wanted a distraction from Charlie going missing.
It was still a fast trip, but we got more than the usual. I ran across the parking lot to buy the beer while Sam paid for the strange amount of food and food products we got. He even bought stuff to make a real pie. We hopped into the car and drove back to the bunker.
I unloaded and put the food away while Sam dug deeper into the djinn thing. I heard the bunker door open and knew it was Dean. They were talking quietly as I walked in holding a sandwich I had made for myself. Nothing fancy just salami and provolone on white bread with some mayonnaise and lettuce. No tomatoes. I hated tomatoes.
"So no chance of recovery, huh?" Sam asked. I clearly missed an important part of the conversation.
"No. No, Gertrude seemed like a cool mom, too. Kind, strong, taken from her family way too young — remind you of anybody?" Dean was only talking to Sam.
"Who's is Gertrude's kid?" I asked, thinking I already knew the answer.
Then he looked at me. Dean finally looked at me. And I almost wish he hadn't. Those green orbs were trained on me and I couldn't move. I couldn't read his face at all. It was like he was actively trying to not feel anything at all. "Charlie." He said. "She's Charlie's mom." Then he looked away, back at Sam. "Did you find anything?"
Sam who seemed to understand exactly what happened by the pitying look he throw my way, answered, "I think so. A John Doe from nine years ago. The original coroner wanted the body sent to the CDC, but the coroner's new assistant "accidentally" ordered the body to be burned."
"New assistant?" Dean asked.
"Jennifer O'Brien," Sam clarified matter-a-factly.
"Coroner's a hell of a cover for hiding kills," I added. It made sense.
Sam nodded and looked back at the computer. "Now get this. CDC never heard from Jennifer this time either. She faked the reports, burned the bodies to cover her tracks."
"So why does she get sloppy again after nine years, start leaving the bodies where they can be found?" Dean looked at me for a second. A split second, and I looked away. At the ceiling actually, like a total dork.
Sam stood from his chair. "Well, let's go ask her. According to this, she owns two pieces of property in town, one two-bedroom house about ten minutes from here, and an abandoned shipping warehouse."
"Of course she does." Dean followed Sam out of the bunker.
I ran after them mumbling, "Creepy," under my breath as I went. We all piled into Baby, on our way to the warehouse to save Charlie.
We made it to the warehouse quickly. It was dark and creepy and totally like a place a murder would happen. A shiver ran up my spine as I took out a silver blade with lamb's blood on it. Dean motioned that Sam and I should go one one and he would go another. He was putting me with Sam because Sam was sick, not because he didn't want to be around me alone. Or at least that's what I told myself.
We were moving slowly, me in front of Sam, when an older redhead who could only be Jennifer popped out of nowhere and attacked Sam. He tried to fight her off of him but she was too strong. She didn't even notice me as she rolled up her sleeve, a bright blue tattoo forming on her arm like vines. I didn't hesitate as I stabbed her in the back, right where her heart would be.
The blue light coming from her died out as she slumped to the floor. I knew she was dead before I checked her pulse. Dean came rushing in to see what the commotion was about, only to see me kneeling over Jennifer's body.
Dean looked at me for a long beat, then looked at Sam who was checking to see if his head was bleeding or not. "You okay?" The answer was obvious. No. But for the boys, that wasn't the right answer, so he simply avoided the question.
"Where's Charlie?"
I grabbed the syringe Dean held out for me, and filled it with Jennifer's glowing blue blood. Creepy. We made our way to the room where Charlie was being held. She was tied down and had a blue handprint on her arm. She was sweating slightly. Poor Charlie.
Sam took the syringe from me and jammed it into Charlie's arm, but it had no affect. I started breathing heavily. Charlie can't die. She just can't. I have to tell her she's a genius and that even though I have a crazy school girl crush on her, like I'm the nerdy outcast and she's the hot head cheerleader kind of crush, I still consider her one of my best friends. I mean she freaking family.
Dean looked angry as he yelled, "What the hell's going on?"
"I don't know. Different Djinn, maybe she needs a different antidote?" Sam offered. It seemed reasonable but what antidote? I mean we only knew of one. She couldn't just die. I mean she was Charlie. I was starting to panic ever so slightly.
Dean reached for her. "Charlie?" Like that would wake her up. He put his hand on her forehead. "She's burning up, man, we're not letting her turn to jello." He was panicking too.
"Okay, okay, uh." Sam tried.I could almost see the wheels churning in his head and the steam pouring out of his ears. "Okay, Djinn poison puts your brain in something like a feedback loop while your blood boils, right?"
"Right." Dean replied while all I could do was nod. My mouth had gone completely dry.
"Um, if the antidote didn't break the loop, then maybe we can find a way to break it from the inside. I mean, if Djinn take you to your happy place, your happy place is like a dream —" Sam continued.
Suddenly I knew exactly where he was going with this. "African dream root," I said instantly. I knew we had some in the trunk of Baby. Dean ran out to grab the stuff from Baby. A few minutes later he returned handing the jar to me. I unscrewed the lid while Sam plucked a hair off Charlie's head. Dean poured in the ginger and Sam put the hair in the jar.
"Alright, let's do this." Dean said. Before I could object he took the jar from my hand and drank the gross mix. "Ugh. Okay. Alright, I'm gonna need to go sleep fast, so, punch me." Sam looked at me hesitantly. I gave him a short quick nod. "Look, man, I know you don't want to, okay—" And then Sam punched him. Dean staggered back while Sam shook his hand in pain. Dean did have a pretty hard head. "Well, you're a little off your game there, cause I was— that was pretty—" The taunting worked and Sam punched him again. This one knocked him out. He fell into the chair next to Charlie, his head hanging low.
I sighed, and ran my hand through my hair. My bangs fell dramatically in my eyes and I pushed them to the side. I thought maybe I should cut them, but then I thought maybe I should grow them out. These were the questions I wanted on my mind. Not, what it was like in Charlie's dream? Not, will Dean be able to drag her out in time? And definitely not, if Dean can't and Charlie microwaves from the inside out, does Dean also melt?
Sam coughed making me turn. "You good?" I asked. I should be more concerned about him, but I know so little about the trials and how they are affecting him that I just don't know what to do.
Before he could answer a sound echoing through the warehouse got our attention. We paused, neither of us moving for one beat, two, three, four, five. There was nothing. Sam sighed. Then as if he was waiting for us to think it was nothing, a boy with glowing blue eyes stepped out from behind a corner.
"You killed my mom," he growled at me. Then he lunged, throwing himself at me. I fell to the ground. Sam moves but slowly and the little djinn pushes him to the ground as well. We scramble to our feet.
Sam's eyes darted towards me and I knew what he was trying to convey. "So it wasn't your mom who messed up, it was you." He said, taunting the kid, getting it's full attention. I unsheathed the silver blade and held it firm in my hand, waiting for my opening.
"Shut up!" It yelled at Sam. Or I guess he yelled… monsters. You never know what kind of pronoun to use. The Kid punched Sam sending him flying and crashing to the floor. "I just came of age, I had to feed. I screwed up." I carefully made my way to where the two of them were. He had forgotten all about me. "Mom knew how to cover her tracks. She always told me not to play with my food."
"Yeah, well, you should have listened to your mom," I said. The kid turned, facing me as I stabbed him in the heart. I watched the horror on his face. I watched the literal light go out from his eyes. Then his body fell to the floor. I might have been hunting since I was 15 but each time I did this, each time I killed. I felt it. I felt it all. I turned around so that I could wipe the tears from my eyes before Sam could see. I mean he was just a kid. Yeah he was a monster, I get that, but he was just trying to survive, to live, and I was the one who took his life away. I was the one who killed his mom. Did that make me a monster too?
There was movement from the chairs where Charlie and Dean were. Dean started waking up, grunting with the effort. "Dean? Dean. Hey. Hey! C'mere. You okay? What happened?" Sam was there all concern for his brother. He helped him out of the chair. "What happened?" He asked again but Dean didn't answer, he just brushed off his brother.
"Charlie?" He looked over at the redhead who was just starting to wake up. All eyes were fixed on her so no one saw my hands shaking so bad the blade fell to the floor. I looked down at my hands which where covered in blue blood.
Charlie opened her eyes, her bangs sticking to her forehead with sweat. The she let out a heartbreaking tearfilled gasp. "I'm sorry." Dean said. "I had to." Then he pulled Charlie into a hug and she broke down against him. It wasn't my place to ask what happened. It wasn't the right time. I pulled myself together because that's what Charlie needed. That's what Sam needed. My own person crap could wait until Charlie was okay and Sam wasn't sick.
We all went out to see Charlie off. She seemed shaken, but she still smiled like Charlie did. Sam handed her her bag.
"So…" she started, looking at Sam and me, "Thanks for saving our bacon." She smiled.
"Anytime, Your Highness," Sam teased slightly.
She focused on him, her expression getting serious. "You know you're gonna be okay, right? Those books portray you as like, one tough customer. If anyone can get through the trials, Sam, it's you."
He looked down at her. "Thanks. You know, you really should come back and dig through our archives. You are definitely a Woman of Letters." Deflection.
She laughed slightly. "I like the sound of that."
Sam wrapped her in a hug then walked back towards the bunker.
"And you," she started, looking at me, "If I didn't know how into Dean you were, I would buy you a drink." She punched my arm playfully.
I could feel my face burning red. "I don't… I mean it's not like…"
"Hey, don't forget I read all the books girly. I know how you feel about Dean, and I also know how he feels about you." She smiled.
"That's not in the books," I couldn't look her in the eye.
"Yeah, but, subtext." She laughed and pulled me into a hug. "But if you ever get tired of him, give me a call." I hugged her back then beatfeet back into the bunker where I would hide under my blankets forever out of embarrassment.
Before I made it to my bedroom I stopped by the kitchen. I opened the fridge to see what I wanted to eat because I wanted to eat something. I was stressed so I wanted to stress eat. There was nothing to clean, so I kinda couldn't stress clean. I stared into the bright cold fridge for a minute before deciding there was nothing in there that I wanted. So I moved to the freezer. Nothing again. The pantry? Nothing. I moved back to the fridge to start the whole process over again.
I heard a laugh from behind me and spun, losing my footing. "Sweet Mother Mary Mercy!" I screamed holding my chest. Dean looked down at me sprailed on the floor, the fridge door open wide. "You scared me Dean." I was breathing heavily, my face burned. "Fuck!" I yelled at no one in particular.
Sam walked in, seeing me on the floor and Dean laughing, bent over in two. "Everything okay?" He asked confused about what was going on. I stood up and shut the door. Dean finally stopped laughing nodding at Sam. Sam sighed then said, "Okay, look, you were right, I-I should've laid low, I— I know, I should've hung back, but I'm glad I was able to—" Sam started, but Dean pulled him into a hug, silencing him.
"What d'you say we find our prophet?" Dean asked, clapping Sam on the back and then he winked at me. I looked at Sam who looked at me. Dean walked out leaving us both in the kitchen very confused.
Sam shook his head and left me alone in the kitchen again. I sighed and finally settled on two day old pizza to eat. I grabbed three pieces from the box and put them on a plate, then I popped it into the microwave for a minute.
I couldn't stop thinking about what Charlie said. Me and Dean, liking each other. That couldn't be right. I get that Dean liked most girls because well, he was Dean. But that was a sexual thing. I liked him in a kind of way that was a lot like those gross romance novels. Where I may or may not have pictured him with a billowing open shirt, telling me that he wanted me and how he would die for me and all that cheesy grossness. It was all ooey gooey and that wasn't what he would want.
I took my pizza to my room and grabbed my computer to watch Gilmore Girls for the 4th time. I could have sworn Dean from that show looked exactly like how I thought Sam looked when he was younger. I was more of a Jess girl myself though. I finally got situated on my bed, the title song playing through my computer speakers, a plate of pizza balanced on my lap, when Dean walked in. He closed the door behind him. Then just stood there.
"Dean?"
"You kissed me." He seemed like this was almost shocking to him. I nodded in agreement. I was there after all. "Then you ran out of the room." I nodded again. "I've been trying to give you space to figure out what you want but I already know what I want so you're gonna sit there and listen to me."
I didn't quite understand what was happening. "Dean, I mean I get that I was kind of…" He cut me off.
"Listen. Just listen." I nodded and pressed the pause button on my computer. "You are 12 years younger than me. I watched you grow up. Bobby would kill me if he were still here." He ran a hand through his hair and started to pace. "I like you Louise. I think you're an awesome chick and you get the life." I squirmed. I hated just listening. I wanted to talk. "You're also the kind of girl who wants a real freakin relationship which I have no clue how to do. What do normal people even do? Movies and getting handsy on some outlook or parking lot in a parked car?"
I started to stand, but he put his hand up to stop me. "You deserve someone who knows what he's doing. Flowers and shit. But everytime I think about you with someone else, someone else's hands on your body," he shook his head like he was trying to get the image out of his head. "Look, I'm not saying I'd be perfect at it, I'm saying that I'm willing to try doing the whole relationship thing if that's what you want." He breathed. Then I breathed. We stared at each other for a long while. "Now you can say something."
"Are you just saying this so that you can have sex with me?" I asked. It was actually pretty big fear of mine.
He moved to the bed, sitting down and facing me. He put one hand on my cheek. "No," he breathed. "I want this, all of this with you, and if that means holding off on the one thing that is pretty epic, but also apparently a big deal for you, then no sex. I can, well I can try to deal with that. Just a lot of cold showers in my future." He smiled at me.
I bit my lip. This is everything I have ever wanted him to say to me, but it felt like a trick, like Ashton Kutcher was going to jump out of my closet and yell that I've been punked. "Please say something Sunshine before I feel like a bigger dumb ass than I already do.
"Alright." It was barely a whisper but he heard me. The smile on his face was huge and toothy. Then his lips crushed mine. It was sweet and strong and slow. He lowered me onto my back on the bed and the kiss deepened. His hands moved from my face to my sides, moving slowly along my side, make my whole body shake.
Then just like that he pulled back. He growled quietly. "Sorry Sunshine. If I am going to keep my word, we have to stop now." I laughed at his clear discomfort. He glared at me. "Scoot over Beautiful." I did, my cheeks heating at the term of endearment. "What are we watching?" he asked, swinging an arm over my shoulders, pulling me into him. He placed the laptop on his lap and I took a bite of pizza.
"Gilmore girls," I explained. Then I pressed play.
"That guy looks kind of like Sam," he commented.
I laughed. "His name is Dean."
Dean looked down at me. "So he is your favorite then." It wasn't a question, just a cocky statement.
"In your dreams Captain." I giggled.
We sat like that for a long time. I had finished my pizza a while ago and was more listening to his heartbeat than to the actual show. I snuck a peek at the beautiful man who just two hours earlier had come into my room and told me he wanted to try this relationship thing. I wasn't completely sure what that meant either. Dean's eyes where closed and he was snoring slightly. I smiled. I hadn't seen him this at peace in a while. I closed the computer and moved it to the side table. My movement was met with protests from the unconscious Dean. He pulled me closer to him and I could have died in that moment. I snuggled into him more, breathing in his scent of leather, sweat, gunpowder, and citerus. It was weird how much I liked it.
Soon after, I found my own eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Dean made a pretty great pillow. I fell asleep and for the first time in a long time I didn't have to imagine what falling asleep in his arms would feel like.
I'm sorry that this whole chapter is just from Lou's point of view, but I just felt like I couldn't add in Dean's because I was so stuck in Lou's head. Hope you guys liked the ending of this chapter.