AN: No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is, in fact, a new chapter. I apologize for the long wait, but sadly it could not be helped.

Chapter title from the song ''Call Me'' by Blondie. End quote from the children's book ''Where the Wild Things Are.''

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters you recognize.

I Melt With You

Written by Becks Rylynn

Chapter Four

cover me with kisses, baby

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Ruby is like no other girl he's ever met before. He doesn't mean that as an insult to any of the other women he's been with or anything, it's just that Ruby is really fucking different. She's like this exhilarating wildfire spinning into his life, and he thinks he'd better be careful because it's always these kinds of people who manage to crawl under your skin like crazy beautiful tics and worm their way into your heart.

Looking back on it, it's not a terribly long time that they get to spend together. Summer is fleeting. It's always been like that. It is the season that flies by like a jet, because it's the busiest season, full of laughter and crazy adventures. But the time he gets to spend with Ruby feels like it's a long time and it's still not enough. They grow pretty inseparable pretty fast. There are a lot of dinner dates, a lot of days spent in the park, at art galleries, days spent with Ben and Sam, with her family. She becomes a fixture at the Winchester man cave and eventually winds up spending more nights over at his place than her own.

Perhaps the most satisfying part about their relationship is that it really is nothing special. They are like any other couple. They go on dates, they laugh together, they kiss while they're washing dishes, and they're comfortable with each other. It's not uncomplicated because no relationship is and it's not always easy, but neither of them are willing to walk away. Dean has never had that before. He's always found a reason to run. There is no reason to run with Ruby. Most of the time, he thinks he might be falling in love with her. Other times, he knows he is falling in love with her.

Like, what even can you say about Ruby? Sam thinks she's awesome. Ben thinks she's the most perfect human being to ever walk the planet. And she is so far out of Dean's league that it's not even funny.

She's incredibly intellectual, even though she doesn't think she's all that smart. She loves art. She knows everything about art. Her goal is to open up her own art gallery with her back up plan being high school history teacher. She knows almost as many languages as her mother. She's amazing with kids - she's probably better with kids than she is with adults. She's well read, she's a music lover, she loves Copper to bits, she's a beach girl at heart, she's a dancer, she's a former gymnast, she can bake like no one else, and she has spent her entire life in numerous kinds of self defense classes to the point where if they sparred together, he's pretty sure he would barely last a minute with her.

And she pushes him. She challenges him. He has come to learn that this is an important thing in life. She is an avid jogger (one of the things on her Things To Do Before I Die list is to run the LA marathon) because she says it helps her think and within the first two weeks of their relationship, she has him waking up way too early to jog with her and she makes him keep going - even after he collapses on stranger's lawns and tells her to go on without him and to just let him die there - until he only feels like he's going to die a little bit. She attempts to get him to branch out in the music department, she tries to teach him how to bake and how to speak French, refusing to give up until he knows how to make an apple pie and how to at least clumsily navigate France.

She is beautiful and she is stand offish and sometimes rude and blunt, but secretly sweet as sugar. She is wise and has enough strength to take down a grown man. She's got a tongue made from razor blades and a steely determination. She likes to keep a clean house and she sings while she cleans. She wears a locket around her neck that used to belong to her father's mother (also named Ruby) that she never takes off because she says it gives her strength when she needs it. She still likes Ben more than she likes Dean.

And she is the strongest person he has ever met. He meant it when he said she was a survivor.

Honestly.

He's not entirely sure who wouldn't fall in love with her.

Sure, you know, sometimes the nights are bad. She does have her fair share of issues. She has triggers, nightmares that leave her waking up screaming or crying, she does have certain repetitive behaviors that he hadn't been expecting, and she does occasionally have what she calls ''a really bad day,'' which basically means a kind of scary depressive episode that he doesn't necessarily know how to handle in the best way. She's awfully embarrassed by these things, but honestly, Dean isn't hugely bothered by these things?

He's not sure if that's the best thing to say and okay - yes, sometimes it is a little bit distressing to wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of her in hysterics but he meant what he said when he wanted all of her, including her ghosts. He's perfectly willing to take the bad with the good. He is perfectly willing to give her whatever she needs. To help her if he can. That's what people do when they're in relationships.

All in all, he can't complain about his life. He has a good life. A great girlfriend, an amazing son and brother, a wonderfully weird support system, a decent job and a mostly sound roof over his head that only leaks a little bit when it rains. The road ahead of him has considerably less potholes than it did a few years ago.

The summer moves along smoothly, with him spending most of his time with Ben, Sam and Ruby. And then in early August, during a Sunday night dinner at the Daniels residence...

Shit gets real.

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One of the things Dean has learned about the Daniels family since becoming a part of their lives is that once a month they all load into Joey's ancient truck with the squeaky doors and the sputtering engine and head off on the two hour drive to Rockford to have dinner with Victoria's family. Dean knows next to nothing about Victoria's side of the family. Just that there are a lot of them and Victoria is a little closed off when it comes to the subject of her mother, but she'll tell you handfuls of amusing anecdotes about her beloved late father. Since getting involved with Ruby, he's learned a little more (little being important to the structure of this story).

He knows that Caterina Marquez, Victoria's mother, is extremely old fashioned and apparently quite judgmental of her children and grandchildren (and even her great grandchildren - who are mostly toddlers). He knows that including spouses, grandkids and great grandkids, there are exactly twenty seven members of the Marquez brood. He knows that - in addition to her cousin and wife who live in LA - she is incredibly close to her Aunt Theresa and Theresa's daughters Aggie and Glory. He also knows that talking about her grandmother makes Ruby extraordinarily uncomfortable and extraordinarily tired. Whenever Caterina is brought up at the dinner table, Ruby always winds up extending her two glass limit to three or four.

To put it gently, Caterina sounds like someone he'd have to jump through a lot of hoops for before he earned any sort of tentative respect from and so he'd rather not meet her. If Ruby isn't close with her grandmother, Dean doesn't see any reason why he would need to be.

Victoria, however, has different ideas.

The subject of her family back in Rockford comes up somewhere in between passing the mashed potatoes and refilling wine glasses. Dean and Ruby aren't exactly involved in the conversation, hovering around somewhere on the outskirts, trying to juggle eating, conversing and Ben, who has been refusing naptime the past few days and is currently acting - to put it bluntly - like a little shit. (What? Sometimes kids can be little shits. It's something you learn as a parent.) Ruby has him in her lap and Dean is attempting to feed him. But when Victoria suggests that Dean and Ben join them at Victoria's mother's the following weekend, they stop what they're doing and snap to attention. As a matter of fact, everyone stops what they're doing to stare at her like she has suddenly developed another head.

She remains unmoved by the reaction. ''What?''

Eventually, Beth is the one to say it. Because she's Beth. ''Um, Mom,'' she looks around, eyebrows furrowed. ''Do we hate Dean?''

Victoria pouts a little and tips her wine glass to her lips. ''There's no need to be dramatic.''

''I'm not,'' Beth insists. ''Like, I don't want to make our family sound like the mafia, but once you're in, you don't get out.''

Sam blinks at her. ''How does that not make it sound like the mafia?''

''I think you're being a little unreasonable,'' Victoria says.

''Ria, do you really think this is necessary?'' Joey cuts in before Beth has a chance to respond. ''The kids haven't been dating for that long. Don't you think it's a little early to be subjecting him to that?''

''Otherwise known as throwing him to the wolves,'' Rufus chimes in.

''Yeah,'' Beth snorts. ''I mean, geez, Mom. Peter will tear him to pieces.''

''Peter?'' Dean echoes questioningly.

''Our Uncle,'' Ruby says quietly. She's been strangely quiet during the discussion, focusing on Ben and only Ben. Her fingers keep twitching towards her locket. She is far from comfortable right now. That much is extremely obvious. ''He's a dick,'' she tacks on matter-of-factly.

''Ruby!'' Victoria admonishes.

''He really is,'' Joey grumbles.

''Joe!''

This is the part where Dean must have some sort of small stroke or something to that affect, because that's really the only explanation for what he does next: ''I'll do it.''

Once again, the table is plunged into stunned and awkward silence and all eyes go to Dean. Victoria looks quite pleased and triumphant, Joey, Beth and Rufus look incredulous, Sam looks amused, Ruby looks nervous, and Ben just looks bored. And pissy. And tired. There is a too long beat of silence as everyone looks at each other, unsure of how to react to this. It's Rufus who winds up unceremoniously breaking the silence with a yelp of, ''Are you insane, boy?! Don't do it!''

All at once, there are mumbles of agreement coming from Joey and Beth, and Victoria is trying to get them to ''stop scaring him.''

''Woman, your mother is out of her mind,'' Rufus points out.

''She's just old fashioned,'' Victoria counters, squirming.

Rufus snorts. ''Please, Vick. She's like Mother Theresa. Except evil.''

''Oh, like your mother is any better.''

Rufus points at her. ''Don't you talk about my mama.''

''Don't talk about mine!''

The table erupts into a full on war, with Rufus and Beth teaming up against Victoria, and Sam and Joey trying to break it up before it escalates into a food fight, something that is incredibly likely with Rufus and Beth here. Dean slumps back in his chair and flicks his eyes to the ceiling. He glances over at Ruby, opens his mouth to say something to her, and then immediately clamps his mouth shut when he sees the expression on her face. She has this thing that she does when she is supremely uncomfortable. She puts every ounce of her focus on one person or one thing and completely shuts out everyone and everything else. It's like she has put up an imaginary sound proof wall. Right now, she is concentrating entirely on Ben, apparently oblivious to the battle zone she is in the middle of. Ben seems to like it. He purrs like a friggin' cat when he gets Miss Ruby all to himself.

Dean sighs, licks his lip and scoots his chair closer to her, putting a hand on her knee. ''Ruby.''

Startled, she jumps and lets out a gasp, head snapping around to face him.

''Sorry,'' he apologizes quickly, drawing his hand back. ''You really don't want me to meet your grandmother, do you?''

She shrugs her shoulders and looks away from him. ''Whatever.'' When Ben flops against her, burying his face in her shirt and muttering under his breath, she rubs his back and won't even look at Dean. ''Hey, it's up to you,'' she adds on. After a moment of stony silence, she casts him a two second look and frowns curiously. ''I guess I just never pegged you as a meet-the-grandmother kind of guy.''

''Well,'' he ponders that thought for a second. ''I'm not,'' he admits. ''Or - I wasn't. I could be. If you wanted me too.''

A small smile briefly dances across her lips, but it is quickly replaced by a serious expression, marked with worry and trepidation. ''You don't know what you're getting yourself into,'' she warns, with a shake of her head.

''Then tell me,'' he prods.

''Gran isn't a nice person,'' she says tersely, reaching for her water glass. ''She's just not, okay? I don't want her to scare you away from me.''

Dean remains stubborn and unafraid. ''She won't,'' he fires back confidently. ''I told you I don't scare easily.''

She gives an un-ladylike snort. ''Whatever you say, babe.''

By the end of the dinner, Victoria has talked everyone into her plan and it's official: Next Friday night, Dean will be meeting Caterina Marquez.

He feels like he should be making a will or something.

Still feeling dangerously uninformed about Mrs. Marquez and her methods of torture, he goes to the one person who is always unapologetically, painfully honest. He corners Beth in the hallway outside of her room before she leaves to go do whatever it is she can do on a Sunday night dressed like an extra from the seedier plot points of All My Children. She laughs in his face when he tells her he wants to know all about her grandmother. Which is rude. ''Trust me,'' she says. ''You don't want to know her.''

''Beth, seriously,'' he grinds out impatiently, throwing a look over his shoulder. ''Just tell me.''

''How much time you got?''

''Just give me the basics.''

''The basics,'' she repeats. ''All right...'' She crosses her arms and bounces, tongue poking into her cheek. ''The woman is an evil witch,'' she finally says with a nod. ''Those are the basics. Like, completely evil. She's a bigoted old woman. In her words, she'll just say that she doesn't agree with some of the choices her family makes. That's pretty much just code for she's a judgmental old bat. One of my cousins - Jackson. He's a great guy with a great family, and he's in med school. He's going to be a surgeon. But he got his girlfriend pregnant when they were seventeen - they're happily engaged and nauseatingly adorable now - and Caterina said a prayer, cut him out of the will, took down all his pictures and refuses to speak his name, or let anyone else speak it, in her house. She's never quite forgiven my Aunt Lola - Jack's mother - for not doing the same.''

Suddenly, Dean is feeling quite nauseous. ''So, basically, what you're saying is I'm in deep shit.''

''She's going to destroy you,'' Beth nods. ''And I haven't even gotten to the judgment she passes on us. She doesn't agree with any of Mom's choices. She doesn't agree with her choice in men because she hates my dad, she doesn't agree with Dad owning a bar because she says that it's sinful, she doesn't agree with Mom and Dad's refusal to move to Rockford - even though who the hell wants to move to Rockford? It's so fucking boring there.'' She pauses, lips pinching together as her eyes darken and take on an almost homicidal gleam. ''She doesn't agree with the fact that Ruby and I even exist.''

''What does that even mean?''

''We're not blood related to her,'' she says, bringing a hand up to rub the back of her neck. ''Which means we're less in her eyes. We're not worthy.''

Dean releases a breath. ''That's - '' some fucked up shit I've gotten myself into.

''And she's constantly putting blame on Mom and Dad,'' Beth rants. ''She blames them for me being all...Beth-like, and she blames them for Ruby's - ''

''Beth!'' Appearing as if from nowhere, Ruby latches onto Dean's arm and sends a withering warning glare in her sister's direction. ''Stop it,'' she hisses.

Eyes narrowed, Beth ceases her tirade against her grandmother and heaves a long suffering sigh. ''I didn't tell him anything that isn't true,'' she remarks flippantly. ''He deserves to know what he's getting himself into, Ruby.'' She flicks her hair over her shoulder with a scoff. She shoots her sister what looks to be an extremely pointed gaze, offers Dean a cheeky ''good luck'' and then flounces away.

When Dean turns to look at Ruby, all of the color has drained out of her face, she's kind of hurting his arm, and it has just become abundantly clear that there is something more going on here. ''You know, sweetheart,'' he runs his hand up and down her arm gently. ''I don't have to do this.''

She smirks at him, but it's kind of hollow and empty looking. ''Oh, yes, you do. You already agreed. My mother just made the phone call. You're locked in. You're our very own sacrificial goat.''

Dean frowns. He has seen a lot of Rubies over the past month and a half. He's seen a lot of versions of her, from terrified to hysterical to let's have shower sex, but he has never seen this before. She is nervous and pale and clammy and it all started when Victoria brought up Caterina Marquez. There is something more going on here. Something that goes far beyond judgmental old hags. ''Ruby, this thing with your grandmother...'' He settles a hand on her waist and takes a step closer to her. She doesn't flinch or move away from him, merely sighing and looking down. ''There's a little more to the story, isn't there?''

''I told you. I come with ghosts.'' She remains silent for a moment and doesn't react at all when he curls his finger through the belt loop of her jeans. But when her hand lightly brushes across the back of his, she startles and draws away from him abruptly, as if the touch has singed her. ''Um,'' she clears her throat and steps back. ''Listen, I want to explain.'' She steals a glance over her shoulder. ''But not here, all right? Not in my parents' house.'' She offers him a small, unconvincing smile and then she leans in to peck his lips quickly.

Before she disappears down the hall to go find her parents, she slips her hand into his and squeezes. It's an incredibly simple gesture, something most couples share, but it means more than you could ever realize because she has never done anything like that before. Dean - as he is learning - is a handsy guy, because it reminds him that he's not dreaming. He'll drape an arm around her shoulders, put a hand on her knee, kiss her forehead, and she'll let him most of the time. It's just a natural thing for him to do. It's his personal instinct. She's different. Aside from the occasional not-as-casual-and-effortless as it looks peck on the lips, she has avoided gestures such as hand holding or any kind of casual touching. There is just something about the level of intimacy that these things entail that makes her uncomfortable.

Until now, it would seem.

This is a bigger step than either of them realize.

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Later that night, much later, long after Ben has been tucked in for the night and shortly after Sam has been left to his own devices downstairs, eyes glued to the midnight Creature Feature, Ruby crawls into bed next to Dean wearing one of his shirts. She hadn't originally planned on staying the night but sometime in the midst of the great Caterina war, an unspoken invitation to spend the night was issued.

Dean is not expecting what happens next.

It's a blindingly normal night. She is smoothing lotion over her legs and he is reading a book (no, really - a book). They're doing their best ''married for twenty years'' impression. He's expecting a kiss on the cheek and a good night. He's not expecting to gain a brand new arch nemesis in the form of an eighty something year old woman.

But shit happens.

After the lights have been clicked off and both have burrowed under the covers, she lets out a sigh and rolls onto her back. He cracks one eye open and watches her. She is staring up at the ceiling, wringing her hands nervously, lips turned down. Instinctively, his hand moves to rub her leg comfortingly under the covers. Usually, she'll roll over to face him when he does this. She barely reacts tonight. ''Somethin' on your mind?''

''Yes,'' she nods, and then clamps her mouth shut.

He waits. Gets nothing. Then says, ''Care to elaborate?''

She keeps quiet, chewing on her lips. Her hand begins to inch slowly toward her locket. Halfway there, she stops, squeezes her eyes shut and breathes in sharply through her nose, letting it out through her mouth. ''You wanted to know about my grandmother.''

He props himself up on his elbow. ''I did.''

''You still want to know?'' Her fingers twitch, she curls her hand into a fist, and then she can't help it anymore, hand reaching up to practically claw at her locket. She is squirming in the bed and there are goosebumps rising on her skin. Her voice is defensive and breathless, like she's on the verge of a panic attack.

''Ruby,'' he brings his hand up to her wrist, smoothing his fingers over the pulse point gently. ''You don't need to explain yourself to me if you don't want to.''

''That's sweet,'' she deadpans, ''but you actually do need to know this. You're the one meeting her for the first time.'' She sits up, slowly running her tongue over her teeth and pushing a hand through her hair. There are no tears on her cheeks and she isn't shaking, but she looks ghastly pale in the moonlight. ''My grandmother and my uncle...'' She trails off, cringing. ''Nobody in my extended family was supposed to know about what happened to me, but somehow it got out and the news made it's way around my family. Everyone was sorry for me. Sympathetic. But my grandmother and uncle,'' she blows out a breath. ''They think that I was the one in the wrong.''

He blanches. ''What?''

''They don't believe I was raped,'' she says plainly. ''They think that because he was my boyfriend, it was my job to satisfy him and he was allowed to have sex with me whenever he wanted. My uncle thinks that because I've spent my whole life in self defense class, I should have been able to fight him off if I really didn't want it. They're just not good people.''

He is silent for a long time. Not because he's rethinking anything, but because he doesn't understand how someone could ever treat their family like that. He has never wanted to punch an old lady in the face before but there it is.

Listen, he is acutely aware of his shortcomings - of all the things he doesn't know and doesn't have. But one of the things he knows like the back of his hand is family. You protect your family. You take their side. Always. How can her grandmother blame her? How can Joey and Victoria justify repeatedly taking Ruby back to a place where she is badgered and belittled like she means nothing? Suddenly, he is deeply regretting agreeing to this dinner. Fear is one thing, but he's not sure if he'll be able to quell his own anger and judgment in front of these obviously damaged people.

Say what you want about Winchesters. They stick up for their own.

''My mom and dad,'' she adds on. ''They don't know anything about my grandmother and my uncle's opinions, and I don't want them to know. Family is so important to my mother and I don't want her to lose hers.''

Ah, see, that makes sense. Victoria Daniels would do anything for her children. It didn't seem right that she would choose anyone over one of her daughters.

Dean hesitates, but ultimately agrees. ''Scout's honor,'' he promises her.

He expects an eye roll or a half hearted laugh, possibly even an interrogation (''Were you really a scout? I don't think you were. What troop were you in?'') but it never comes. Instead, she releases a heavy breath and then she throws herself at him, lifting herself up and climbing right into his lap, winding her arms around his neck. There are no real visible signs of distress on her face, but her breathing is not quite even and her body has all but wilted into his. ''You can't punch my grandmother in the face,'' she whispers. ''My mother would not appreciate that.''

He thinks about it. Thinks about the look on Ruby's face when she told him about her rape, the obvious signs of trauma, how this is something she is going to have to deal with for her entire life, and how her grandmother and uncle make things so much fucking worse with their fuckery. ''No promises,'' he says.

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The week goes by too fast. The next thing he knows, it's Friday and he's about to be forced to throw himself onto a fire.

Not forced, he has to remind himself. There is no force. You said yes, a little voice says. You agreed to this. This is all consensual torture.

To be quite honest, he's terrified. He's still not as nervous as Ruby. His girlfriend has been on edge all week, covering up her fear and anxiety with crankiness and anger. They've both been so freaked out that they've been snapping at each other (and other innocent bystanders) all week long. It sucks. Meeting the grandmother sucks.

Ruby was not keen on the idea of subjecting Ben to her grandmother and, after learning about what an old bag the woman apparently is, Dean would prefer to keep his son far, far away from her, so on Friday, at around four o'clock in the afternoon, Dean reluctantly leaves Sam and Ben home alone with a Victoria provided dinner waiting to be heated up in the fridge and starts the journey to Rockford.

The drive there is almost two hours long and silent. Dean is trying to focus on following Joey's truck so he doesn't get lost (while simultaneously considering purposefully taking a wrong turn in order to get out of this) and Ruby is lost in her own world, humming under her breath and doing a crossword puzzle. You'd think they were off to war or something. They arrive at about ten to five, pulling up outside a massive house in a surprisingly ritzy looking suburb.

''Well,'' Beth says on the doorstep, checking her make up in her compact mirror. She grins and claps him on the shoulder. ''Nice knowing you, buddy.''

Dean sighs.

Ruby leans over to pinch her sister on the arm.

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'And now,' cried Max, 'let the wild rumpus start.'

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end chapter four