Author's note:A lighter chapter after the last big one before more drama. Happy reading, all!
Three Days Earlier
In the Winchester household, the first room was an open den with lots of windows, overlooking the front porch. It was generally used as a recreation room. Behind that room, separated by a door was another room that Meredith and Dean had converted into an office space. There was a desk, a futon, and a computer and was probably the more isolated room of the house. It was rarely ever used unless someone needed to use a computer, but that was a rare occasion since the family had two laptops shared amongst each other and phones that did all that stuff anyways. Oh technology…
Meredith sat down on the futon, across from the bare wall. She took a sip from her coffee mug and admired the bulletin board hanging on the wall. She had thumb tacked pictures of past victims, other hunters, their killers, and potential enemies for other hunters that she knew were still alive. For those that she knew were facing the same demon problem, they were up there too along with ways to contact them. She had a map right next to the bulletin board with all the places marked that people were being attacked.
After John's birthday and what Jude had told her on the phone the other day, she was determined to figure out who was behind all of this. There was no chance in hell that she'd let a demon tear her family apart.
Not again. Not the way that they took Dean from her when Jude hadn't even been born. Now they had a full family. More people to lose…
"Stop it, Meredith! That's about the most morbid thing you've ever thought," she thought to herself, pushing her thoughts of losing her family away.
Just then, there was a knock on the door before it opened and her cheery, blonde best friend was coming into the room.
"Wow, if I didn't know you better, I'd think you were a serial killer," Molly said, taking a seat next to Meredith and cocking her head to the side while examining the bulletin board.
"Yeah," Meredith chuckled. "Sometimes, I just need a way to organize it all."
"I see," Molly replied. Meredith raised the coffee mug to her lips but Molly stopped her, taking the coffee mug out of her hands. "Uh uh. Dean told me to cut you off at three."
"What?" I exclaimed.
"And knowing you, missy, you're on your fourth," Molly replied.
"Fifth," I admitted. Molly frowned. "Since when are you and Dean ganging up on me?"
"Since he told me you haven't slept in days," she replied.
"That's a lie!" I protested. "I sleep… just not that much." Ever since Tuesday, she had been obsessed with her project of putting together all of their information. She had called Sam and taken the files and had practically locked herself in the room to work on it. It was a cycle. She got up, she went to school, came home, planned lessons for her classes, and then worked on the information. Dean was beginning to worry especially because she'd come to bed at late hours of the night and he knew she wasn't sleeping well. She'd then insist on getting up early and the cycle would repeat itself.
"Yeah, I bet that coffee isn't helping," Molly pointed out. Meredith reached for her mug but Molly swatted her hand away. "Uh uh. There's no way I'm caving. Actually, I came here to ask you for some advice. I know that sounds crazy, but in my defense, I didn't know you were going all serial killer on me."
Meredith chuckled at her remark, "Okay, what's up?"
"You know how my newest summer line is targeting the younger generation?" Molly asked.
"Mhm," Meredith nodded.
"I talked to my team and we've agreed on using models in the right age group but I don't like any of them! We've seen tons of them and half of them don't look healthy and… they just don't have that thing. Sure, they're all pretty but we need girls with personalities to really sell this line," Molly ranted.
Meredith thought it over, "Okay, so use real girls. Is that… bad?"
Molly gasped, her eyes lighting up, "Oh my God, you're a genius!"
"What? What'd I say?" Meredith asked, confused.
"Use real girls. You're a genius, Mer! Our daughters are perfect for it!" Molly exclaimed.
"Woah, woah, woah. How did we jump from real girls to our daughters?" I asked.
"Oh come on. Renee, Iz, Victoria, and Haley are perfect for it. My kids would love to, Sawyer and Sam will be fine with it, and… you're okay with it, right?" Molly asked.
Meredith snickered, "You'll have a lot of convincing Dean to do."
"What?" Molly asked, shooting her a funny look.
Meredith shook her head, "I don't know. He'll say something about Victoria being in an ad campaign and horny high school boys and, well, you know the rest."
Molly laughed, "Oh, we're buds now. I took this coffee away from you. He owes me now."
Meredith laughed, "Good luck trying to use that as an argument."
"It's a valid one!" she defended.
"Well, I'm glad you have an idea now," Meredith replied, changing the subject.
"Yes! I know! And problem solved. Once I pitch it to the team, I think they'll love it. What're the girls doing Saturday? I can have a shoot ready for this weekend," Molly said, all giddy and excited.
"Alright, girls, that's great. Hm… alright, let's take five and then we'll do your shots, Victoria," Molly said, ordering everyone around. Meredith chuckled. Whenever she went anywhere that Molly was in charge, she always found it amusing.
"Hey," Molly greeted, seeing her friend.
"It is your world and the rest of us simply live in it," Meredith replied, chuckling.
"Well, it's nice to see you out in the daylight, my little serial killer," Molly teased.
Meredith chuckled, "Dean made me come. I keep getting texts every two seconds about updates on the photo shoot. I think he just wants me to spy for him – make sure you're not putting Victoria in anything too short, sexy, revealing, provocative… well, you get the picture."
"Oh, don't worry. I'm putting her in lingerie, sprawled across a pool table," Molly joked.
"She's wearing lingerie and is sprawled across a pool table," Meredith said aloud as she texted Dean. There was a response in less than 30 seconds that read: WHAT? Meredith showed the phone to Molly and the two of them laughed over it. Meredith quickly texted her husband back to tell him it was a joke, and to relieve him of his worry.
Meredith changed the subject, "The clothes look amazing. Your/my idea seems to be brilliant!"
"It really is. And the girls looks great in them," Molly replied.
Over by the computer where the photographs were instantly being uploaded from the photographer's camera, the girls stood crowded around it.
"Wow, Renee looks great," Victoria said.
"Yeah, I really like that one," Haley said, pointing to one of the pictures where Renee was dressed in a black body con dress with white geometric print.
"I really like that one," Iz chimed in, pointing to another photograph.
"Hey, what're you guys talking about? Oh no. Not my photos. Can we please just go back to Haley's? You looked so chic in them," Renee begged.
"Oh stop. You look amazing in all of these," Victoria said.
"Well, thanks," Renee blushed. She never knew how to take compliments. They always made her feel uncomfortable but that was mainly because she wasn't a huge fan of being the center of attention… ever, really.
"That was five! Victoria, let's put you in your first outfit. Can you go get dressed in the tank of those black high waist shorts? We'll style it once you get out here," Molly asked.
"Sure," Victoria replied.
"Thanks, sweetie," Molly smiled, chipper, as she went along, ordering everyone around and moving the photo shoot along.
After Victoria and then Iz's shoot, Molly decided to get some pictures of the girls all together with each individual style. Renee wore the bright, colorful clothes, while Haley's were softer and chic. Iz portrayed the more rocker chic while Victoria's was the casual, trendy, and slightly bohemian. At the end of the day, Molly knew it was exactly what she had been looking for.
John scrolled the pictures on Renee's laptop. Her mom had given her a flash drive to take home, just in case and Renee had made the mistake of telling John that they pictures from today's photo shoot were on there before she ran out to pick up dinner for the two of them.
"What're you doing right now?" Renee asked, on the phone with John. She was nearing her house and was just about to pull into her driveway.
"Nothing," John replied, innocently.
"You're looking at the pictures, aren't you?" Renee asked, calling him out on it.
"How'd you know?" John exclaimed.
"I can hear it in your voice," Renee said back.
"In my defense, they were already up. You had the flash drive in the computer long before I decided to look. All I did was 'accidentally' bump into your laptop and well it woke up… the pictures were already pulled up. See, this is not my fault. I stumbled upon them," John explained, crafting his elaborate tale.
Renee laughed, "I'm sure."
"Can I just say that I think it's incredibly hot that my girlfriend is going to be in a national ad campaign?" John asked, leaning against the counter and biting his lip as he scrolled over another gorgeous picture of his girlfriend. She was wearing a black romper with super high heels that made her legs go on for miles. John couldn't help but think about reaching up that dress and-.
"Uh… thank you?" Renee replied, interrupting his fantasy.
"What? My girl's a model. That's totally hot!" John defended himself.
She giggled, "Hey, I'm in the driveway. I have dinner."
"Ooh, what'd you get?" John asked.
Just then, John heard a key turning in the side door that led right into the kitchen and the door opened. Renee stood there with her large brown paper bag.
"I thought we could have a little dim sum… and then some," she replied, a playful look in her eye.
John smirked, "That sounds like the perfect kind of dinner to me."
"I thought you'd like the idea," Renee smiled, before leaning in and kissing John once. She was about to put the food down on the counter when John pulled her back to him for a real kiss.
"Oh, I more than like it, baby," he said, kissing her again. "And by the way, you're not getting away from me that easily."
She giggled, kissing him back.
"Your mom's still working at the photo shoot picking out what pictures to use or something?" John asked, in between kisses.
"Mhm, something like that, and my dad's in the middle of some big, long surgery at the hospital. Besides, he has the late shift," Renee mumbled back, her mouth constantly being assaulted by John's, in the best way possible, that is. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her as the kiss deepened. The two of them both knew where this was going.
John smirked, "Good, because I thought we could start with "and then some" and work our way back to the dim sum."
"Sounds great. Bedroom," Renee ordered.
"Yes ma'am," he said, before pulling away and taking her hand in his as they raced up to Renee's bedroom.
After a good hour or so spent doing "and then some", Renee went back to the kitchen, dressed only in John's light blue button down, and got plates, their food, and plastic ware, before bringing it back up to the bedroom.
"Oh man, I forgot drinks!" she exclaimed, setting everything down on the floor.
"Don't worry, I'll get them," John shrugged, before putting on some boxers and getting up. "Water?"
"That'd be great," Renee answered. John went downstairs to get two glasses of water before returning with the water and a picnic blanket.
"Where'd that come from?" Renee asked.
"I don't know. It was in your kitchen cabinets," John answered. "I thought we could have a picnic in here. Since it's just you and I tonight for a while…"
"Wow, for a guy that claims he doesn't like sappy, romantic gestures, this is a bit of a shocker," Renee said, raising an eyebrow.
John shrugged, "We can't get the food on the carpet, right? Besides, that's kind of my dad's thing – the whole no chick flick moment thing – but we all know that's a lie."
Renee laughed, "You're right. I've seen him and your mom have several chick flick moments."
"No shit. Sometimes, I'd prefer if they weren't right in front of us. Just a little bit," John added sarcastically.
"At least you've never walked in on your parents-, oh wait. You did, didn't you?" Renee teased.
"Ah, no! Why'd you have to bring that up?" John exclaimed, instinctually covering his eyes.
Renee laughed, "John, why are you covering your eyes!"
"I don't know!" he yelled. "It's burned into my brain! This doesn't even help!"
Renee, continually laughing at John's reaction, just shook her head and said, "Come sit down here and eat, you. I'm starving and you're going to need some energy for a round two."
John wiggled his eyebrows once, suggestively, "Round two, huh?"
"If you're lucky," Renee answered, as she began to unpack the food.
John chuckled, "Wow, I'm starving. I hadn't realized until now." It had just hit him but it made sense. John was always starving after sex.
"Good thing we had the dim sum for after 'and then some', huh?" Renee asked.
"Yeah…" John trailed off, in a happy haze. He honestly couldn't think of anyone better than Renee. He couldn't believe that what he was looking for had been standing beside him his entire life, growing up with him, being there for him, loving him and being in love together. He knew he'd always love her, no matter what happened. And no demon would take that away from them. "Hey, are we okay?"
"What?" Renee asked, confused.
"You know… about my birthday and stuff. I kind of freaked out at you at the hospital…" John trailed off.
"Oh. That," Renee answered. She had pretended that none of that had ever happened. She didn't even want to think about ending things with John. She knew she was too far in to even think about that. She was so in love with him and it scared her how much she was in love with him, but losing him was an even scarier thought.
Now it was John's turn to be confused. What was that supposed to mean?
"Yeah. I think we're okay. Do you?"
"Yeah," John said back.
Renee nodded slowly. Why'd he have to go and make things awkward?
"Can we just not talk about it now?" Renee asked, uncomfortably.
"Sure, yeah," John answered, not knowing what to say.
"Okay, good," Renee sighed with relief. "I can't lose you John. I just can't." This was the only way to sum up how she had been feeling without totally losing it. So she said those words and hoped he'd understand that that's all she had to say on the matter.
John nodded, "I don't want you to. It just freaked me out, you know?"
"Yeah," Renee nodded in understanding.
Good. Now they were on the same page.
Jude knocked on Anna's apartment door and the door practically swung open before he was being pulled into her arms.
"I'm only five minutes late!" Jude defended, innocently.
"You scared me! I mean, last time you were late you showed up bloody and… cut… and… don't scare me like that again, okay Jude?" Anna asked.
Jude frowned, "I'm sorry about that. Look, I probably shouldn't have come to your place that night. I didn't want to worry you but I thought seeing me after everything that happened would put you at ease. Turns out it didn't…."
Anna shook her head, "No, I needed to see you that night. I don't think a phone call would've done the job at putting my mind at ease."
"Anna, I'm sorry. I don't want to drag you into any of this," Jude started.
"You're not!" she protested.
"I don't plan to make that kind of thing a habit, you know?" Jude asked.
"Yeah, of course. I just got worried, okay?" Anna asked back, on edge. Jude eyed her suspiciously. What was up with her today? "It's just, when you didn't show up and then I got that text, I got worried. And it made me realize-." Anna's eyes widened and she shut her mouth, going over to the kitchen area in her apartment. "I made dinner. Why don't we sit down and eat before we start studying for that anatomy quiz?"
"Realize what?" Jude asked.
"Nothing," Anna shrugged, trying to distract him. "Milk, orange juice, beer, or water?"
"Beer," Jude replied.
Anna chuckled, "Should've known." There was an awkward silence between them as Anna got a beer from the fridge.
"You realized what, Anna?" Jude asked again, causing her to stop. She set the beer down on the counter, taking a deep breath. It was now or-, no. No, no, no. She wasn't going to say it.
"Nothing!" she snapped, rolling her eyes. She pulled open the kitchen drawer and got out her bottle opener.
"No, tell me," Jude demanded, a smile forming on his face. If this was what he thought it was, he wanted to hear it.
"It was nothing, Jude. Would you just give it a rest?" she exclaimed, opening the bottle with force.
"No," Jude asserted. "I want to know."
Anna slammed the bottle opener down on the counter, causing a loud clanging noise before turning around and snapping, "That, I love you, Jude. Jesus! Don't make a big deal about it, okay?"
"Okay," Jude smirked, smugly.
Anna turned around, sighing. She could barely believe she had just said that but she was overcome with irritation that she was too busy to even worry about being nervous. She put the bottle opener back in the drawer and then got out a glass of water for herself.
"Hey, Anna?" Jude asked.
"What?" she asked, not bothering to turn around this time.
"I love you back," Jude said, a smile on his face.
A smile spread across Anna's face as she turned around, seeing the look on Jude's face. She shook her head, rolling her eyes playfully. She crossed her arms over her chest before saying, "You are one smug bastard, you know that?"
"Yeah," Jude shrugged. "But you love me."
"Shut up! I thought I told you not to make a big deal about it!" she huffed. Jude just chuckled before walking towards and pulling her into his arms before kissing her.
He teased in a sing-song voice, "You looooove me."
"Do you always have to have the last word?" she groaned.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Ugh. Just kiss me. I don't know why, but I love you and- and just kiss me," Anna ordered.
"I love you too," Jude replied, before leaning down and kissing her again.
Meredith sat in the office room, on the floor, as she held the phone to her ear.
"Yes, that'd be great. Please send the medical records over to this number," she said as she gave the man her fax number after skillfully conning him into believing she was a doctor. As soon as the fax machine lit up and starting printing she thanked the man and hung up the phone.
"Meredith, come to bed," she heard a voice demand as Dean came into the room.
"Yeah, one second. I just want to print the medical records and police report. I don't know how this'll help me track the demon and find this 'first' guy. I mean, how is it even possible for this guy to be the first? Lillith was the first so-," Meredith rambled.
"Meredith, stop it!" Dean exclaimed.
Meredith stopped to look over at Dean, "What?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Meredith, this needs to stop," Dean said, forcefully. Meredith ignored his comment and returned her attention to the fax machine. "Mer, I'm scared too. You don't think this scares the hell out of me? Well, it does, but you've become obsessed, baby! I barely see you anymore. You're locked up in this room day and night working on this… this board. I-." Dean realized that his wife was trying to ignore him so he marched right over to her and grabbed her arm, turning her to face him. "Look at me!"
"Dean, it's almost printed," she said softly, avoiding eye contact.
"No!" Dean said.
"Dean, I have to read this," Meredith said, raising her voice.
"No!" Dean demanded.
"Dean!" she exclaimed, finally looking him in the eye. And right then, she saw how scared and how hurt he was too. She also saw how worried he was for her.
"I want you back, Mer. I- I feel like I'm losing you… Come back to me. We'll figure this out together. There's no need for you to shut me out, alright?" Dean comforted, softly.
"I'm so scared, Dean," she said, her voice breaking.
"Shh, I know. Me too," Dean said, as she fell apart and he held her in his arms.
"I'm scared," she whispered against him. He stroked her hair before placing a kiss on top of her head.
"We're going to fight it together, Mer. This thing is not going to tear our family apart," Dean assured.
"How can you promise that?" she asked.
"Because we've made it through hell, the apocalypse, leviathan… we even managed to maintain a semi-normal life," Dean listed. Meredith chuckled.
"What're a few croats and demons really going to do to us?" Dean asked, lightly.
Meredith sighed, "We have made it through a lot…"
"Exactly. And I know for a fact that we're going to be alright," Dean said.
"How?" Meredith asked, hopeful.
"Because we're Winchesters," Dean answered, determined.
Author's note:
To see Molly's lookbook, go here:
: / / s1224 . photobucket albums/ee375/Winchestergirl5/Next%20Generation%20-%20Lookbook/
Just remove the spaces. This chapter was a little bit scattered, I know, but I wanted to feature a couple of moments between different couples. I hope that's okay!
Up next: Some more couple-y stuff. I'm definitely updating my new story "The One That Got Away" when I get back. I'm honestly really excited about this story and it seems to be going well so far (so far as in my one chapter… hah). Check it out if you haven't so far. I'm going a short trip tomorrow and won't be back till Tuesday so I won't be able to update until Wednesday-ish. Don't fret. I'll be loaded with ideas and ready to write when I come back.