John got home, after school, his heart racing. He wouldn't have come home this early today. In fact, if he had had it his way, he would've stayed out as long as he could, but his family had made such a big deal out of it that he had a feeling that they'd open the letters before him. Yes, letters. College acceptance letters – to be specific.
"Alright, I'm home. Drop the letters," John said, shutting the front door behind him. He walked into the living room to find his parents and the twins holding up the envelopes to lamps and trying to read through the envelope. "Seriously, guys?"
"We couldn't wait!" Flynn shrugged.
"Here. Go ahead, kiddo," Dean said, handing John the letter he had. The rest of the family threw the letters down on the coffee table.
"Okay, you guys are making me nervous! Go in the kitchen and I'll open all of them. I'll tell you the results," John ordered.
"Sweetheart-," his mom protested.
"Please, Mom," John said.
She sighed, "Whatever happens, just know that we love you-."
"Alright, alright, I get it, but you guys have now made me nervous so just let me do this, okay?" John chuckled.
"Alright," Meredith replied. "Come on, guys." The rest of the Winchesters went into the kitchen and waited patiently for John to begin opening his college letters while Victoria remained in the living room. John turned around to look at her.
"As much as I love you, Vi, you've got to go too," John said.
"I know. I just wanted to give you this one in person," Victoria said, attempting to hide her smile. She pulled out the big, navy blue envelope from Drexel University and handed it to John, causing his jaw to drop to the floor.
"It's a big envelope," he said, holding it in his hands.
"I'm just going to be in here if you need me," Victoria said, grinning as she walked away from John.
"Okay, this one last. Just open all the rest first and-, oh who are you kidding?" John asked himself, tearing through the envelope. He pulled the whole stack of papers out, letting the brochures fall to the floor. He read the words over and over again, making sure this was all real.
He took a deep breath before putting it down and opening the others. He went into the kitchen, holding the Drexel letter and nothing else.
"Well?" Meredith asked, practically jumping out of her seat when she saw her son.
"It's a yes from Sioux Falls, Notre Dame, and USC, but it's a no from Berkley. But none of that matters because I got into Drexel!" John exclaimed.
"Oh my God!" Victoria jumped up practically attacking John and smothering him in her hug. "Congratulations!" Once she pulled away, Meredith was next.
"Wh-, congratulations, sweetie, but I didn't even know you applied to Drexel," Meredith congratulated, chuckling a little and pulling her son into her arms.
"Yeah, it was a last minute thing," John said, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't think I'd get in so I felt like there was no purpose in getting anyone's hopes up. Well, except for Victoria's."
"You told her?" Flynn exclaimed. "Dude!"
"Sorry. I was having a chick flick moment and needed a chick," John replied.
"Hey!" Victoria exclaimed, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Fair enough," Flynn nodded. Victoria rolled her eyes at both of her brothers.
"Congratulations, son. That's a lot of acceptances right there. I'm proud of you," Dean said.
"Yeah, congrats, man," Flynn said, patting him on the back.
"And that's not all," John began.
"What?" Dean asked.
"I knew you guys would worry about money, seeing as you've got one kid going to med school and two going off to college, so I applied for some scholarships… and I got money. I got a lot of money," John said, grinning proudly from ear to ear.
"Let me see that!" Meredith exclaimed, grabbing the letter from John. She read over the congratulations words but then moved down to scholarships. "Oh my God."
"What?" Flynn asked. Dean peeked over his wife's shoulder, his eyes widening as he read the words.
"We'd pay as much to send you there as sending you to University of Sioux Falls. John, this is incredible!" Dean exclaimed.
"Well, some of it was need based, and some of it was SAT scores because you guys know my GPA sucks and there's no way that I'd get money for-," John started.
"Oh, please," Victoria reasoned.
"And apparently they even have a little bit of money the award to out of staters," John said.
"So… do you want to go to Drexel?" Meredith asked.
"Hell, and pay this kind of money? I'm all for it," Dean answered.
John nodded, "Yeah, I think I do. I really do…"
Victoria looked over at John and the two shared a smile.
"You did it," she mouthed.
"Thank you," he mouthed back.
~Flashback~
Victoria sat on her bedroom floor and she reorganized her binder. School was out on winter break and she had a lot sort out before school started again. Suddenly, she heard a knock on her half open bedroom door and looked up.
"Hey," she said, smiling as she saw her big brother, John, standing in the doorway to her room.
"I think I just did something stupid," John said.
"Okay, who'd you knock up this time?" Victoria teased.
"This time? I've never-, never mind. I have to tell someone, okay? So… don't tell anyone. And don't even tell anyone we had this conversation because it's stupid. Promise?" John asked, pacing around the room.
"Pinky swear," Victoria said, holding up her pinky for John. He stopped pacing and grabbed it with his pinky before letting go. He walked over to the door, shutting it and then letting out a big, dramatic sigh.
"I applied to Drexel," John said.
"And this is stupid… how?" Victoria asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh come on. It's not like I'm going to get in!" John exclaimed.
"You don't know that," Victoria reasoned.
"My SAT scores were good but my GPA sucks," John pointed out.
"College acceptances are based on a lot of things, not just the GPA," Victoria countered.
John sighed, "I don't know. I wish I hadn't done it because now I'm going to think about it and get my hopes up, only to be rejected."
"Well, would you go if you got in?" Victoria questioned.
"Yes, I would. Renee's top school is Swarthmore which is only thirty minutes away from Drexel, but now I'm just getting my hopes up. Thank you for that, hope getter upper!" John said crossly.
"Awww, that's so sweet. You are such a chick flick. I'd so pay twelve dollars to go see you in theatres," Victoria smiled.
"What? I am not a-, wait, really?" John asked, flattered.
"Yeah," Victoria replied.
"But you hate paying twelve dollars for one stupid movie," John pointed out.
"I know, and that's why I always use dad's old trick. When we see one movie, we always accidentally find ourselves in another theatre after the first movie is over. Please, I've never paid real money to go see those stupid chick flicks. I will admit that they're just good dumb fun but twelve dollars? I don't think so," Victoria explained.
"Well… that means a lot to me. I think," John said.
Victoria laughed, "Look, when you get in, we'll celebrate-."
"Uh uh. Nope. I'm leaving now. You're just getting my hopes up," John said, starting to leave.
"Chick flick!" Victoria called after him.
"Hope getter upper!" John yelled back.
~End Flashback~
]"Oh my God," Jude smiled, as he got the picture that his mom sent to his cell phone of John holding up the Drexel acceptance letter. "Nice. Way to go, little brother."
Jude pushed the already rolled up sleeves of his button down up to his elbows as he made his way to the car that he had worked freshmen, sophomore, and junior year to be able to buy. Jude got in the car, adjusting the rear view mirror, and then drove out of the parking deck to the restaurant. The restaurant they were meeting at, Barclay Prime, was only about six minutes away so he figured there was no way he would be late.
He was wrong.
Jude drove down the street and realized that a policeman was following him. The siren lights were on.
"Shit," Jude swore to himself. So much for being on time. Jude made a right turn at the green light and slowly pulled over into the alleyway that the street led to. He had a feeling about this so he made sure he was prepared before rolling down the window. "Is there a problem, Officer?"
"Could you step out of the car for a second?" the policeman asked, dryly.
"Sure," Jude said, getting out of the car. He shut the door and stood up straight, his hand reaching into his pocket for the holy water in his flask.
"Did you know that you license plate is expired?" the officer asked.
"Really? Are you sure there's nothing else? Like… Cristo," Jude said. The policeman froze, turning around to look at Jude, his eyes black.
"I thought I smelled a Winchester," the policeman smirked.
"Damn straight," Jude said, opening the flask of holy water and splashing it onto the policeman's face. The demon screamed in agony, writhing in pain as Jude took the moment of weakness to shove the man into his car.
The demon began to recover and laughed wickedly, "The last place I'd think you'd want me would be anywhere close to you. You know that slut you're going to see? She doesn't love you. Never did. She thinks you're a sorry, excuse for a man who'll never be normal. Freak."
"You know, the funny thing about you demons is that you always think you've got the last laugh," Jude said, ignoring the demon. He then nodded upwards to the roof of his car, where he had painted on a devil's trap, just in case. The devil's laugh turned into a snarl as he attempted to move, but couldn't.
Jude loudly spoke the exorcism over the demon's yells and protest, and soon enough, it had been exorcised from the policeman's body. Jude waited, holding his breath for the man to wake up, accusing him of doing something to him, but he didn't. The man just lay there. Jude's heart pounded in his chest. He got out of the car and went around the side, opening the door, and checking for a pulse.
He let out a sigh of relief when he found the faintest pulse. Jude quickly pulled his phone out and dialed 911 when almost instantly, he felt a hand grabbing his shoulder, causing him to drop the cell phone. He turned around to see either a demon or croat ripping him backwards, causing Jude to struggle for his balance and footing. The demon threw a punch to Jude's face, causing him to stagger backwards, running into the wall. The demon came towards him, but instead, he ducked, immediately going into offensive mode.
"Hello? Hello? We'll send a car over," the voice on the cell phone finally announced when there was no response.
"Didn't you think we'd bring back up?" the man asked. "After you've easily polished us off when the first sent one, it was only sensible to bring more this time."
Jude had the demon in a headlock, but somehow, the demon grabbed Jude's arm and wriggled out of the hold. Jude took a few steps forward, swinging a punch and causing the man to fall to the ground. Jude glanced back at the car praying that the policeman would hold on for longer, but it was just long enough for the demon or croat to have the upper hand. He grabbed Jude, slamming him against the wall of the building and began to punch him the hell out of him.
Suddenly, a gun shot rang out, causing Jude to freeze, and the man to fall to the ground.
"Fucking croat," Jude swore under his breath.
"You okay, sir?" the real policeman asked.
"Yeah," Jude managed to get out, rubbing his jaw. He reached up to touch his forehead where he felt blood trickling down.
"What happened?" he asked, just as the ambulance pulled up to the scene.
"This uh, I got pulled over for an expired license plate and all of a sudden this guy came up to the both of us. He started beating the policeman so I fought him off. Thought he was out. Tried to get the policeman in the car to take him to the hospital but turns out this guy wasn't out yet. I tried to fight again and called 911 but this guy definitely put a good fight," Jude made up, coming up with a story close enough to what happened.
"A good fight? If we hadn't gotten here in time, he would've pummeled you to death," the policeman said, looking at Jude's bruises. "Come on. Why don't you let the paramedics take a look?"
"No. Not me. Take a look at the officer. I think he's a lot worse off than me," Jude said, trying to catch his breath.
"Okay. Him first, then you," the policeman said.
"I can't. I've got to be somewhere," Jude protested.
"Sit down, boy!" the policeman ordered.
Jude cursed himself for being late to dinner with Anna's parents but what exactly what he supposed to do?
"Alright, what is this big surprise you have?" Renee asked, as John led her out to the Falls Park, a brown bag in his hand and Renee's hand in his other hand.
"Did you bring that picnic blanket I asked you to bring?" John asked back.
"Yeah, okay, I figured that much but you made it sound like a really big deal," Renee replied.
"That's because tonight is a really big deal," John replied.
Renee shot him a funny look as the two of them stopped. Renee laid out the picnic blanket while John emptied out the little take-out boxes onto the picnic blanket along with plastic ware.
"I went to the little hole-in-the-wall Indonesian place that you love so much and got take out," John said.
"Man, you think of everything," Renee said.
"I thought we could celebrate," John shrugged.
"And what might we be celebrating, Winchester?" Renee asked, curiously raising an eyebrow.
"Well, as you know, today was the whole college acceptance day thing," John said, casually. His heart ached to tell her but he wanted to make this last. He wanted it to be a really big deal when he told her he was going to Pennsylvania with her and he thought dragging it out would only make it better.
"Yeah, you never told me where you got in," Renee said back.
Renee was honestly dreading this whole college thing. She had gotten into Swarthmore, and knew she was going, but she knew that John hadn't applied anywhere in Pennsylvania. Her stomach was tied up in knots just thinking about them being in different places. They had grown up together! She couldn't imagine not being with him… but she also couldn't see them doing the whole long distance shebang.
"No, you first," John said.
"I got in, John. I'm going to Swarthmore," Renee said, biting her lip.
"Babe, that's amazing!" John exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. He pulled her in for a congratulatory kiss, but didn't let it linger for long because he couldn't wait to tell her about his news. "I'm glad we have something to celebrate tonight."
"So what about you?" Renee asked, nervously.
"Yeah… well, I got into a few good places: Sioux Falls, USC, Notre Dame-," John listed.
"John, that's great! Who cares about Berkeley anyways? Berkeley's for hippies. Honestly, I couldn't see you going there anywhere and you could still be in California at USC, you know? But that's great that we get to celebrate your acceptances. It's so exciting. It's-," Renee rambled, trying to keep her mind off of worrying about the future.
"You didn't let me finish," John replied, amused. He could tell Renee was nervous. She looked up at him, almost forgetting to breathe. What was he about to tell her?
"I didn't tell anyone but Victoria because I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I applied to Drexel… and I got in. They're giving me a lot of money and I talked to my parents about. I want to come to Pennsylvania with you, Renee."
"Really?" Renee asked, in shock.
"Yeah," John replied.
"Oh my God. Oh my God. John, you scared the hell out of me!" Renee exclaimed, smacking him.
"Ow!"
"Sorry," she said, leaning down to kiss his well-toned shoulder. "I've just been worrying about this for months. I mean, I know we didn't really apply anywhere near each other so I thought about how I didn't know what the hell we were going to do next year. You could've given a poor girl some peace of mind!"
"I didn't think I'd get in and if I did, I didn't think I'd be able to afford it," John explained.
Renee was grinning from ear to ear as she said this: "Of course I want you to come to Pennsylvania with me, baby! Oh my God. We're really doing this!"
"Yeah, we are," John replied.
It really didn't get better than this. He loved her reaction when he told her the news and he loved the smile it brought to her face. By that, and those reactions only, John knew that she truly loved him. Damn. He never thought he'd be feeling like this…
"Here you are," the hostess said, leading Jude to the table where Anna and her parents were all sitting, already halfway through dinner.
"Thank you," Jude said, standing in front of Anna, who had a pitying yet angry look on her face, and the disapproving judgmental looks on her parents face.
"I'm so sorry I'm late. I got pulled over because of an expired license plate and then out of nowhere, this guy mugged us. I mean, what kind of guy mugs a police officer?" Jude asked, attempted to make light of the situation.
"Expired license plate. Hmp. That's… unfortunate. You know, you're supposed to have that checked when you get your car taken in," Mrs. Peters, Anna's mother said.
Jude shot Anna a look that said, 'did she really just ask about the license plate over the mugger', but she brushed it off.
"Mom, Dad, I know you've met Jude before, but I wanted to formally introduce you to him as my boyfriend," she said, grabbing Jude's hand under the table for strength. She was angry, upset, and scared all at once and she just needed to hold his hand. She felt him wince a little, but he pushed through the pain and held her hand.
Anna felt him wince and it killed her that he was in pain. She couldn't watch him do this any longer. Jude was killing himself over these demons but then again, she couldn't blame him. It wasn't like he went out looking for trouble. A lot of the time, the demons found him. It wasn't fair and she wasn't quite sure how long she could watch him slave over this? Not to mention it was really affecting their relationship. The other things she didn't mind and only made her question a little, but now she felt like it was time to take action.
"Jude. Jude Winchester, right? You worked in the clinic in Peru," Mr. Peters said.
"Yes, Don. This is the boy she transferred schools for," Mrs. Peters added, disapprovingly.
"Mom, I didn't transfer for Jude. Duke wasn't a great fit for me," Anna said.
"And you waited for senior year to do that?" Mrs. Peters asked.
"Oh, Ellen," Don sighed.
"What, Don? Duke is one of the finest pre-med programs. Med school programs at Harvard and Stanford notice schools like Duke on a student's resume," Mrs. Peters defended herself.
"Actually, you should probably blame me for that. I was the one that encouraged her to go elsewhere if she wasn't happy," Jude spoke up. Anna was grateful that Jude was willing to throw himself in harm's way for her, but hated that her parents were about to chew him up for it.
"And now she's going to U Penn for medical school. You got into Harvard, Anna," Mrs. Peters reasoned.
"U Penn was ranked second with Johns Hopkins, Mom," Anna said, bitterly.
"Yes, and Harvard's ranked first," her mother replied, shortly.
"And Jude, where are you going next year for med school?" Mr. Peters asked.
"U Penn as well," Jude replied.
"Hm," Mrs. Peters sounded, irked.
After another hour of this, Jude and Anna went back to Anna's apartment.
"I am so sorry. The policeman was possessed and when I took care of that a croat jumped me out of nowhere and when the police and ambulance finally came to take care of the policeman-," Jude rambled, trying to explain to his best abilities about what happened that night.
"It's okay," Anna said, flatly.
"Is everything okay?" Jude asked, realizing that she wasn't making much eye contact.
"I love you, Jude," she replied.
He was silent. He let the silence resonate in the room for the moment before saying, "I feel like there's a 'but' coming along."
"But… but you and I are in different places. I need to keep moving and with this whole demon thing, I feel like we're not going anywhere. I love you, I do, but I feel like you need to focus on yourself before we can continue… being an 'us'. It's just, I don't feel like you're here most of the time and you and I both know this demon thing has started affecting us. I mean, earlier tonight when you didn't show up, you don't know how much I worried over you! And how angry I was! Jude, I didn't even know how to feel. And you just left me there with my parents… I, I feel like I'm holding you back sometimes. I think we need to spend some time apart," Anna said, choosing her words wisely but letting him know exactly how she felt, and exactly how she had been feeling for a while now.
"Are you breaking up with me?" Jude asked, shocked by all of this.
"Yeah. Yeah, I am," Anna replied.
Jude nodded slowly, accepting it. She was right. It wasn't fair for him to do this to her. He couldn't show up at her apartment at two in the morning bruised and cut up. He couldn't ask her to take care of him the way she was now. Hell, that had practically become a full time job and he wasn't willing to do that to her, "Okay. I'm sorry, Anna. For everything."
"No. No, don't be sorry for anything. Jude, you're amazing to me. I just don't feel like we're going to be good for each other anymore if we keep doing this," Anna tried to explain.
"No, I get it. We're both asking each other for things we can't give at the moment," Jude agreed, melancholy. He pulled her into his arms, his eyes examining her delicate features.
"I don't want to say goodbye forever. Just… for now," Anna said.
"We don't know how long this demon thing will take and it's not fair for me to ask you to watch on the sidelines and just accept it when I come home screwed up," Jude said back.
"But if you need anything-," Anna said.
Jude shook his head, "It's okay. So… I guess this is goodbye for now…"
"Yeah…" Anna trailed off as well.
The two locked eyes and he pulled her in for a long, slow, romantic kiss. Anna kissed back but knew if she didn't stop it, they'd never separate. She slowly and reluctantly pulled away from him.
"Do you want me to walk you out?" Anna asked.
"No, thanks," Jude replied.
Anna nodded slowly, "So I… guess this is goodbye for now."
"Yeah, it is. Goodbye for now," he answered. He smiled weakly, before leaving her apartment.
And although his heart was breaking, he knew it was for the best. He walked down to his car and sped off, heading towards his apartment.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to Record 7, Deangirl93, and Angeles for reviewing the previous chapter. I really can't express how much I appreciate it. You guys keep me updating faster. And for that, a chapter only two days later than the previous one. :).