Seventeen

Sitting in Bobby's kitchen cradling Breya in my arms, I listened to Bobby argue with Dylan. Bobby was less than thrilled to see we had brought home five tiny mouths to feed.

"There is no dang way you are keeping those flea-bitten scraps of fur here!" he argued.

"But Dad!" she moaned, "they're just babies and they have no other place to go! How could you put Lady Fluffypants out in the cold!?" she pouted.

"Seriously? Dylan darlin' that is the most ridiculous name for a cat I have ever heard!"

"But it suits her!" she stamped her foot and I had to repress the giggles that threatened to overwhelm me. Dean leaned over to me across the table.

"You do know he's not going to let them stay?" he whispered sadly. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh Dean," I sighed, "just wait, Dylan will win, she always does." I smirked knowingly. Dean shot me a look of disbelief but said nothing.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeease Daddy!" Dylan pleaded, batting her eyelashes and Bobby groaned, rubbing his face.

"Alright fine, but the second one of them pees on my stuff, they're gone!"

"Oh Daddy thank you thank you!" she kissed his bearded cheek and bounded out of the room. Dean looked astonished and I laughed.

"Told you!" I shrugged, "Dylan always wins, she has him wrapped around her little finger, twice." I smiled at Bobby who looked rather shell shocked by the fact he know had five kittens running around his once quiet home.

"So where is this Thomas?" Bobby asked as he sat down at the table between Dean and I.

"He said he had some personal matters regarding Joshua to take care of. I offered to help but he said he would rather do it alone, I said I would meet him at that cafe in town sometime tomorrow afternoon. He said he'd give me a call" I told him as I scratched Breya between the ears making her purr.

"I don't trust him." Dean scowled folding his arms and Bobby looked at him in surprise.

"Why's that?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I... I dunno, just a feeling." Dean answered looking even more sullen.

"Jealous are we?" Bobby prodded him.

"No!" Dean snapped, glancing at me, "why would I be jealous of him?"

"Just checkin'" Bobby looked at me. All of a sudden there was a huge crash from upstairs.

"No Lady Fluffypants! No!" we heard Dylan yell and bobby groaned again.

"Balls!" he grumbled leaving the table, "what have I gotten myself into?"

Dean and I laughed before we turned away. Things had been awkward since Thomas had come into the picture. On the drive back to Bobby's he had asked if I had wanted to ride with him. I felt bad leaving him all alone after we had just burned his father so I agreed. Dean had not been happy about this at all, he had tried to persuade me to come in the impala with the others.

"You don't know him Rayne!" he implored me, holding my hand in his.

"Dean until a week ago I didn't know you!" I reminded him.

"Ok but what if he hurts you?" he pleaded. This made me mad and I wrenched my hand away.

"So you think I can't take care of myself?" I snapped sharply.

"Rayne..." Dean breathed stepping closer. I took a step back staring daggers at him.

"Dean, I'm going with him, end of story." I spun around and got into Thomas' car.

There was nothing particularly memorable about the drive back to Bobbys. Thomas and I talked about his father, his hometown, his mother, movies, the usual road trip conversation. We were about an hour away from Bobbys when the topic turned to the events in the barn.

"I saw what happened in the barn Rayne." he said slowly gauging my reaction.

"Ok," I paused unsure of where he was going with this, "and?"

"How did you do it?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the road. I huffed loudly.

"I really wish everyone would stop asking me that! I don't know! Sam seems to think it's something to do with demon blood but honestly I have no idea." I slumped down in my seat and put my hands over my face.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Thomas asked. I shrugged.

"What can I do?"

"You could experiment." he replied, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

"What?" I sat up straight, "experiment how?" I looked at Thomas puzzled.

"Well you could see if it really was the demon blood that did it." he replied very matter of fact, I shook my head, I was baffled, was he telling me what I thought he was telling me?

"Do you mean... Drink demon blood? Like on purpose?"

Thomas smiled slightly and nodded, he seemed almost mocking, like he was explaining things to a child.

"Yeah, why not?" he smiled again, "it would settle it once and for all."

I sat there completely baffled but considering what he had proposed, if I were to drink demon blood, I could test myself to see if what happened in the barn happened again, if nothing happened then it wasn't the blood. But what would it mean if it worked, if I was gaining psychic powers from the blood of demons, did that mean something about me? Would that make me less than human? Would that make me the same as one of the things I had spent my life hunting? The rest of the trip passed without either of us saying another word and when we got to the junk yard Thomas had taken off right away to deal with what he called family business. I decided it would be a bad idea to tell the others about our little conversation, Dean already had it out for him, the last thing we needed was another all out brawl.

Now sitting in the kitchen with Dean, I felt the weight of our tiff in the air. Dean opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but closed it quickly and shook his head.

"Dean..." I started but he put up his hand and cut me off.

"Look Rayne I'm sorry about before, I know you can take care of yourself, I do, I saw you rip through those black eyed pieces of trash back there. I saw how you handled yourself. You kicked ass. I'm sorry I went all Sleeping with the Enemy on you. I really have no right to tell you what I think you should do. I mean you were right, we only just met and we aren't really anything to one another, so yeah I'm sorry." he faltered before realising what he had said and trying to backtrack.

"Well thanks Dean!" I spat, "glad to know I mean nothing to you." I stood up holding Breya and stormed out of the kitchen. I heard him call my name a few times but I ignored it and went upstairs to my room, the one Bobby always kept for me. Once I got inside I slammed the door shut and curled up on the bed. Breya took the opportunity to poke around a little before jumping up and settling in the space behind my bent knees. I felt a tear run down my cheek and wiped it away hurriedly. The last few days had seen enough tears and I didn't feel like adding to it over a relationship that most likely had ended before it had started. I was exhausted and my body ached, right in that moment all I wanted was to stay in this bed and sleep for a few days, unfortunately I only had a few hours before I had to get up and help Dylan make dinner. The last few days swirled around in my head, I tried to make sense of it all. I shivered slightly, I only hoped things would get easier from here on out.