Chapter 6

December 16, 2000

I was in the bathroom waiting for Sam and John to finish yelling at each other. They had started while I was in the shower and I was all ready finished getting dressed and putting on my make-up. I even had time to mess with my hair and maybe find something different then putting it up in a pony tail, but I ended up with two simple braids.

They had been fighting a lot recently and they usually ended with one of the two leaving for a few hours and then coming back and ignoring the other until they started bickering. Then the bickering would escalate into a disagreement which would start an argument and then they'd be back to yelling at each other about how Sam wanted out.

He wanted to go to college and have a normal life. I kind of had the same hopes for a little while, but now I knew that no matter where I went the hunt would always find me. There would always be something wrong and there weren't a lot of people who could fix it. We could fix it though. We knew how to do it and we were damn good at it.

I sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror. I just finished brushing my teeth for the third time. They were looking sparkly and white. It impressed me since we'd never had any dental things like braces or retainers and we didn't need them. We all had pretty straight teeth. Although we did have to have our wisdom teeth out and that sucked a lot of nuts. Especially since we had them done between hunts and we were drugged up on pain killers and driving across the country. Needless to say we didn't all get them done at once.

I wondered where Dean had gone to. Maybe he had gone somewhere. Now that we were older John sent us on hunts in pairs. He only ever let us do research if we weren't with him. Usually him and Dean would pair together since I was really the only one Sam got along with anymore. Sometimes though I'd go with John or Dean but it was very rare that that ever happened. John now had a truck and the Impala was technically Deans, except when we split off from each other.

I jumped when I heard the door slam and I wondered who walked out this time. Last time it had been Sam. I sighed and rinsed off my toothbrush and gathered my dirty clothes from before and finally came out of the bathroom. Sam jumped and turned when he heard me come out but then ignored me and started flipping through channels on the television. The two of them had probably forgotten that I had been in the bathroom the whole time.

"You wanna talk?" I asked him, gently. He shook his head and kept going through all the channels. Not like there were many to go through. He just kept going around and around. I pulled out my homework, thankful that I had such a light load. Sam and I were finally seniors and we had done a few sessions of summer school so that we could have the lightest class schedule our last year of school.

My cell phone started vibrating and I pulled it out of my sweatshirt. Dean was calling.

"What's up?" I asked, quickly solving my math problems. This stuff was seriously what I was doing in sophomore year. I'm glad I learned so much with the little time I had with my mom. It made me push myself harder with the Winchester's.

"Are the two ladies done fighting?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Who left this time?"

"Your dad did. Are you coming back soon?" I pulled my calculator that I used to check my answers and plugged the problem in.

"I was just stopping to get something to eat. You or Sam hungry?" I turned to look at Sam but he had turned off the T.V. and was reading a book.

"You hungry Sam?" I asked. He shook his head and turned the page. I sighed and looked back at my homework.

"I'll have some chicken tenders or something." I said, not all that hungry. I knew that John was making Sam and I watch this lady's house all night to make sure the demon we were hunting didn't attack. I'd end up hungry later and we wouldn't be able to leave if I didn't eat something now. "With ranch to dip please."

"All right Rosie, no problem. I'll be there in a little bit. If Dad gets back before I do just go hide in the bathroom again. I don't want you in the middle of their fight." I agreed and then hung up, setting down the phone so that I could finish my calculus.

"Don't you want something different?" Sam asked suddenly. I turned to look at him. He was watching me now since he had set his book on the stand next to the bed.

"Then chicken tenders? Not really." I muttered, finishing the last problem and then checking it on my calculator.

"I meant a different life." He said, sitting up and leaning forward. "You are so smart and talented. You could do anything you wanted to, but you still follow his orders. You don't have to anymore. He's not your dad and you're 18."

I sighed and went to sit next to him, bumping my shoulder playfully into his arm. He had grown a foot since we were freshmen but I had barely grown an inch. I felt like a midget next to him.

"I did," I told him, honestly. "For a really long time. Now though… it just doesn't seem right to do anything other than hunting. I feel like I owe it to my mom and to your dad. They both sacrificed so much to take care of me and to teach me."

"You don't owe them anything," Sam told me. "You are still a kid. We both are. I mean, if Dad didn't want to give us a choice, why would he have made us go to school and graduate high school?"

"To babysit us?" I said. He sighed and shook his head.

"There's so much more to life than hunting. Why can't anyone see it but me?" He turned to look at me and I looked into his eyes. He really didn't want to be here anymore. It kind of stung that my best friend wasn't happy with what he had. It made me feel like I kind of failed him in a way, like I could have made it better for him. He definitely made this all better for me.

"I think it's because there isn't more for us." He stood up and turned away from me. "But I believe you that there is more for you."

He turned back to me and I saw his hands clenched into fists.

"Come with me." He said. I slowly stood and shook my head.

"Where?" I asked. "We don't have anywhere to go."

"It doesn't matter. We know how to scam credit cards, we'll get a place. Together. We'll find jobs so we won't have to steal money anymore. We'll go to school." He was determined. He moved right in front of me and grabbed my hands tightly in his. "We don't need Dad and we definitely don't need Dean. We'll show them that we can do this, that they were wrong and that we can have a life other than hunting. We can be happy."

"Sam," I whispered. I shook my head, tears pooling in my eyes. "I… I can't."

"We can Rose. Together, we can." He cupped the side of my face with his hand and I leaned into the touch. Could we?

Maybe he was right. We were definitely capable enough and smart enough. I gazed into his eyes. He was certainly determined to do this with or without me.

"Sam," I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do.

He leaned down and I had flashbacks from Andrew in 9th grade at one of the schools we attended. My heart fluttered and I rose up on my toes slowly to give me a little more height just as our lips met. I tilted my head to the side a little as our lips began to move and I felt his tongue across my lips.

I was kissing Sam. I was kissing my best friend. Now it was more than just kissing. Where was his hand going? Where the hell did Sam learn to do this?

I felt his hand brush down against my side as both his hands wrapped around my waist and brought me closer. When I pressed my hands to his chest I suddenly seemed to realize where we were and what we were doing. I stepped back, out of his hold.

He grabbed my hand to stop me from moving back.

"Wait," he sighed. "We probably shouldn't have done that."

I felt… relieved?

"But just," he stepped closer again and I noticed how fast and loud my heart was beating. "We'll think about it, okay? We'll finish high school and then we'll decide."

He still looked upset and I wondered if it was partially because of the kiss. What did he really think about that?

"You're still going to do it though, aren't you?" I asked as I finally heard the Impala's engine in the parking lot outside. He was back on the bed, reading his book and I wondered how nonchalant he was going to be about all this. He looked up at me and I saw the determination and anger in his eyes still.

"Yes." He said. "With or without you, after we graduate I'm going to college. We all ready sent in our applications."

"Right," I sighed.

Dean opened the door and came inside. He narrowed his eyes as he looked from me to Sam.

"What happened?" He asked, looking at me. I rubbed my face and felt how wet it was, realizing that I must have been crying.

"Nothing," Sam said, not looking up from his book. Dean raised an eyebrow but didn't question it as he set my food on the table. Tonight was going to be awkward.

"All right then."

...

...
I didn't get a lot of reviews for the last chapter :(. I know that this one is short, and kinda late. I'll usually try to update on Sunday's, but I've just had a lot of other stuff to do. Blah, blah, blah. Anyway, please leave me some more reviews for this ridiculously short chapter. If I get enough then I'll update the next chapter before my regular Sunday posting. Happy St. Patrick's day!