Ellen sat down on the bed and scrubbed a hand over her face. She didn't look up as the door opened, figuring it was Sam coming in for his stuff, or maybe even Dean gearing up for round two.
"Mom?"
Ellen's head snapped up as she heard the door close and saw Jaydin standing there, staring at her. "Hey, honey. You ok?"
Jaye shrugged. "I guess. You?"
"I've been better."
"You and dad hate each other again?"
The older woman nodded. "I guess so."
"All right." She turned to leave.
"Jaye?"
The girl spun back around. "Yeah mom?"
"I've been meaning to ask you something. Um, your dad and I discussed it before you were taken, and he was ok with it then. I think he still is."
"What?" Jaydin asked, knowing what was coming.
"How would you like to spend the rest of the summer with me at the Roadhouse? I think it could be fun. We could hang out and get to know each other better. What do you say?"
Jaye smiled, her eyes sparkling. "You know what? A couple of weeks ago, I probably would have taken you up on that. A couple of days ago, I would have taken you up on that."
"But now?"
"Things change. I know that, because you changed. You didn't want me at first, did you? That's why dad took me. It wasn't because you thought something might happen, it was because you didn't think you loved him and you didn't want to have his kid. I'm ok with that. I am. You want me now, and that's cool. But you have to know that you can't just come back thirteen years after threatening my little unborn life, say that you like who I've grown up to be, and decide to steal me away from my father."
"You know," Ellen said softly, "you don't have to do this for him. It's got nothing to do with him. You've always wanted a mother, Jaye, and now you can have one."
"That's the thing," the teen argued, "I've always had a mother. I had dad. He was a better mom to me than you could ever hope to be. I used to go home in tears because my friends all bragged about how they had tea parties and played Barbies and dressed-up with their moms and I was never gonna get to do that. You know what he did?"
Ellen shook her head. "I have a feeling you're about to tell me, though."
"He had tea parties with me," Jaye laughed, "he actually played dress-up with me. We played with Barbies. He even did voices. He drove me to ballet class. He learned how to braid hair. He let me have a Princess birthday party. I made him wear a tiara. It had pink feathers on it. People took pictures. He went out and bought me dresses. He lets me have slumber parties with all my annoying little friends. He watches chick-flicks with me while he rubs my stomach when it's that special time of the month. He helped me paint my room pink for crying out loud! And where were you?"
"Jaydin-"
"No. You were a couple of hours away in your precious bar with your favorite daughter. You were blissfully pretending that I never happened and that I'd never wonder about you. I started asking dad about you when I was four, and that hurt him. I mean, a year earlier or later and it probably wouldn't have been so bad, but… he was four when his mom died and it hit him hard when I started asking. But you didn't care, because you had blondie to take care of."
"I-"
"And the past couple of days? That just wasn't fair. I begged dad to walk away with us and never look back, and he didn't. He could still be happy right now. You could still be all googoo-eyed. Just think about that."
"Is that a no, then?"
"What do you think?" Jaye sneered, crossing her arms over her chest.
Ellen nodded. "All right. You should let your dad know."
"I will. Don't worry." She turned to walk out, but stopped at the door. "Just out of curiosity," she asked, "where do you think those feelings came from?"
"What?"
Jaye turned around, hand still on the doorknob. "Come on, mom. You're smarter than that. Demons can't conjure emotion out of the blue. You love him. Deep down, you love him. It pulled that to the surface. You just don't want to admit it. The kicker, though, is that he still loves you, and he probably always will, and no matter how many times you come back and hurt him, he's still gonna forgive you. That's just the way dad works." She pulled the door open and walked out.