Chapter 22

Christmas 2014

Smoke filled Dean's lungs as he took his third drag from his lit cigarette. He blew the smoke out in the cool early morning air as he tapped the ash off the cigarette with his fingers. He was out on the balcony of Emilia's bedroom. Below him, he saw the snow-covered swimming pool and Daisy's perfect tulip flower beds.

He shook his head out of disbelief. Everything looked so normal and he felt so out of place. If he decides to become a supportive father for his son and a devoted husband to Emilia, surely their home would be as nice as this, or perhaps even nicer because he wants everything to be perfect as Emilia and their son. But Dean didn't know if a sick man like him could change and be redeemed.

Dean was about to take another drag from his cigarette when he felt his cellphone vibrating in the right back pocket of his blue jeans. He took the gadget out of his pocket and looked at the screen to see who was calling. He grimaced when he saw Renee's name and picture. He resisted the urge to throw his phone over the balcony and answered Renee's call.

"What?"

He said harshly. It was silent on the other line for a few seconds. Instead of hanging up, Dean waited for Renee to speak.

"Where are you? You didn't come to my hotel room last night."

Renee replied. She sounded hurt.

"I was on my way to somewhere. Is that why you called?"

He said, trying to end their conversation as fast as possible. He didn't want to talk to her, since he was with the love of his life. He also didn't want Emilia to catch him talking on the phone. She'd ask who he was talking to and he'd lie and then he'd feel guilty about it.

"Well… yeah. Come to me, Dean. I need you to make me cum."

Renee requested seductively. Dean didn't want any of it from her.

"Do it yourself."

Dean said coldly. He heard Renee screaming something as he was hanging up. He shoved his phone back in his jeans and started smoking again.

"What have you done?"

Dean asked her. Emilia didn't know what he was talking about. She wanted to speak, but for some reason she couldn't. Dean asked her the question again, but this time his voice was louder and he was shaking her. When Emilia looked down, she saw that her hands were covered in blood. It couldn't have been hers or Dean's since she didn't have any cuts on her and Dean didn't have any either. And it was way too much blood if it was from a small cut.

Emilia stared blankly at Dean as he pulled back and started pacing back and forth. When he stopped, he was standing beside a bloody body. Emilia looked at it and when she realized that the dead man on the floor was her father, she screamed as she fell to her knees.

Emilia's eyes went wide open and she quickly rose from the bed. She was sweating profusely and gasping for air. The horrible dream made her feel terrified and disoriented.

When Emilia didn't see Dean on the bed with her, she felt disappointed. However, her disappointment disappeared in an instant when Dean emerged in the room coming from the balcony. She could smell smoke coming from him. It used to bother her that he smelled like smoke all the time, but it doesn't anymore. She almost found it comforting now. He noticed how pale she looked so he rushed towards her then sat beside her on the bed. He cupped her face with both hands and looked into her bloodshot but still beautiful blue eyes.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

Emilia shook her head slowly and looked down.

"No, I'm not. I had a disturbingly realistic dream."

Dean let her go and placed his hands on top of his denim-covered thighs.

"Tell me about it."

Emilia looked up. For a second, she wasn't sure if she should tell Dean about the dream she just had because she didn't want him to think that she was weird. But she wanted to and she did.

"I was in it. You were in it too and my dad as well. He was dead and it seemed like I killed him and you asked me twice what I've done. There was so much blood."

Emilia explained. Dean saw her shake. He was spooked by the dream and he felt goosebumps on every part of his body. But for Emilia's sake, he pretended to look nonchalant and wrapped his left arm around her, bringing her close to him.

"It's just a dream, forget about it. And besides, it's Christmas morning."

Emilia grinned.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Merry Christmas, Dean!"

Dean smiled.

"Merry Christmas, Emilia."

Emilia leaned in towards Dean and kissed him. She brought her left hand up to touch his right cheek. He kissed her back and she smiled into the kiss as she felt the roughness of his stubble against the tips of her fingers. When she pulled back, Dean placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She stood up and stared at him. She pulled down the skirt of her dress and untied her messy bun, letting her brown hair fall on her shoulders. Dean didn't know how she manages to still look good even if she was dressing down.

"You stay here. I'm just going to take a shower."

Dean nodded without saying a word and watched Emilia walk towards the bathroom. When she was inside, he brought his phone out and checked his inbox for any new messages and then his call log to see if he missed any calls. Most of them were from Renee and he just deleted most of her text messages without reading them and didn't bother listening to her voice messages. He put his phone back where it was and lay his head on one of the pillows. He then closed his tired eyes.

Dean could hear the shower water running in the bathroom and it was distracting. He tried not to think about Emilia in there, all wet and naked and warm. If he didn't fucked things up with her, he would be in the shower with her right now, making love to her.

A knock on the door made Dean get up from the bed. Before he could do anything else, Sebastian was in the room, holding two mugs with steam coming out from it. The two men stared at each other for a few seconds before Sebastian put down the mugs on Emilia's nightstand and stood in front of Dean. Dean got up and they sized each other up.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Sebastian asked through gritted teeth.

"I wanted to see Emilia. It's not like she has a restraining order on me."

Dean shrugged.

"She should, because you're a fucking psycho."

Dean clenched both of his hands into a fist.

"Say that again."

"What? That's you're a-"

"Bas!"

Both men turned to look at Emilia, who was wearing a red Christmas sweater with a snowman on it and a pair of black denim jeans. Her face was bare and her hair was a little damp. Sebastian stood away from Dean while Dean walked towards her and held her hand. She looked at their intertwined hands before looking at her older brother, who looked appalled.

"What's going on here?"

Emilia raised an eyebrow at Sebastian. Sebastian crossed his arms.

"Dean and I were just talking."

Sebastian answered. Emilia looked at Dean and he nodded.

"Yeah, we were."

"Oh, okay then. Is breakfast ready, Bas? I hope Dean can join us."

Emilia told Sebastian as she squeezed Dean's hand. Sebastian wanted to say no, but it was Christmas and it was all about giving. So he nodded.

"It's going to be ready soon. And sure he can. There's eggnog on the nightstand if you want some. I guess I'll see you two downstairs in a few minutes."

For a second, Emilia saw Sebastian narrowing his eyes at Dean.

"Thanks, Bas. Merry Christmas."

Sebastian smirked at his younger sister. He patted her on the head.

"Merry Christmas, Em."

When Sebastian was out of the room, Emilia pulled Dean towards the nightstand and took one mug. Dean let Emilia's hand go and took the other one. They sat on the bed and talked while drinking the eggnog. Dean finally felt like he was home.

Seeing everyone she loved in one room on Christmas morning made Emilia feel blessed. Despite how awkward it was, she enjoyed breakfast. After putting Levi back to sleep when they were done opening his presents, Emilia and Dean decided to go out for a walk.

"I'm sorry if I didn't get you anything."

Dean said as he took her hand, leading the way as she descended on the stoop of the house. When Emilia was off it, she squeezed Dean's hand.

"You showing up here in Dayton unexpectedly is enough. I'm sorry too for the same reason."

It was Dean's turn to squeeze Emilia's hand.

"You letting me know about Levi is enough."

Dean smiled and kissed the top of Emilia's hand and Emilia smiled back at him.

The two walked around and talked for hours and ended up staying at Walnut Hills park. They were lying on the snow-covered grass even though they'd probably get sick later, but it didn't matter. They had each other and it's like everything was all right in the world. Dean has his hands in Emilia's hair while she had her head on his chest, staring into his blue eyes as he stared at hers.

"What are you thinking?"

Dean asked Emilia. She blinked once.

"I thought about you a lot but I now I can't even think of anything else because you're here with me."

"Oh darling, you're making me blush."

Dean joked while Emilia giggled.

Both of them wanted things between them to always be like this - easy and perfect. But they both knew that nothing worth having comes easy and nothing is perfect.

Author's note: This chapter is short and shitty and I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me! I promise I'll try and make the next chapters longer than this. I may be suffering from writer's block again, ughhh. Anyway, thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! I really appreciate it. You're all awesome! - C x