A/N: I was gonna update sooner, but I had a work christmas party to attend to two days ago. I know, January is a little late for a Christmas party, but I'm a server at a country club and we're too busy to have a Christmas party during the actual Christmas season. Oh well. Anyways, thanks so much to sjwmaw for reviewing! You're amazing :)

Chapter 36: My Child

"You're so dead," Lainey badgered through her teeth as she strode right up to Morgan. First of all, Morgan was not in the mood. It was lunchtime, like most of her negative encounters with Lainey, and she was in the middle of talking to Liam. He was telling her about the camp he's a counselor at. Last summer he was a junior counselor and this year he's gonna go back and do that again. She just loved listening to him talk about all the fun stuff he did with the kids and the other counselors. She was having such a nice day that she was even wearing a dress. A billowy, bohemian looking sundress that was loosely fitted with long sleeves. It was a very pale blue with white lace trim and she wore it with her white slip-on vans. Even her makeup was lighter, no foundation, just a light pink sort of smokey eye, a thin line of cat-eyeliner and some mascara. She didn't even wear lipstick, just clear chapstick. She didn't even try to do anything with her hair, she just brushed it out and let it do it's own thing. Morgan felt like pure sunshine, like nothing could ruin her pure happiness today, but the storm clouds were rolling on the horizon as Lainey approached.

"What are you going on about this time?" Morgan asked as the petite blonde marched right up to her and stopped just inches from her face. She could feel Lainey's heavy, angered breaths on her skin and she just took a deep breath of her own in an effort to keep herself calm. She promised herself no more fights this school year. Next year was going to be a whole new can of worms.

"You think you can rise up from being a freak and be something special, huh?" Lainey took another step forward, getting all up in Morgan's business. She wanted to ball her fists and maybe knock out the girl with a punch or two, but just flattened her palms and pressed them to her sides.

"Woah, woah, hold on," Liam stepped between them, trying to be the bigger person for them, but Morgan knew it wasn't going to stop Lainey. It was like trying to take a rawhide bone away from a dog. Every time you touch it you get growled at to warn you that if you come any closer, you'll get bit. "Do you need something, Lainey? Because if not, I'm going to have to ask you to walk away," Liam pressed. He was probably a lot calmer than she was. Morgan was trying so hard to be switzerland, but she couldn't not say something.

"No, it's fine Liam. Let her say what she has to say and be done with it." She looked up at him, and he sidestepped, but not far enough away that he wasn't in arms reach. He looked like he was ready to pull Lainey off of her if the need had arisen, but Morgan knew if anything like that happened, she would be the one needing to get pulled off of the spiteful blonde. "Lainey, you were saying I was a freak? Would you like to continue?" Morgan chided the blonde, trying to hard to bite her tongue that she was talking through her teeth. Better than biting her tongue, she was biting back her rage.

"Just because you go to an upperclassmen party and impress everyone there with your keg stands and flaming shots-" Morgan didn't remember the flaming shots but she didn't say anything, "-doesn't mean you can usurp my status as the most popular girl in the freshman class-"

"Wait, wait, wait." Morgan didn't even let Lainey finish her incessant ranting. "You think… that I did it to spite you and what you think you are?" Lainey still had the same pissed off look on her face, and that made Morgan laugh. She just could not stop laughing. Liam looked, confused, not knowing what to do other than watch and make sure nothing happened.

"Why the hell are you laughing?" Lainey barked, raising her voice slightly like she thought Morgan couldn't hear her over her side hurting amount and laughter. Morgan took a breath and calmed herself, but her amused smile was still plastered across her lips.

"Lainey… When are you going to get it through your thick skull that I don't do what I do to mess you you?" She informed, her head cocked to the side with fake concern, as if she was sympathetic the the little blonde's conceded delusions. "Sweetheart, I did what I did at that party to have fun. Not to impress anyone, and I'm going to keep having fun. Maybe you should try it sometime?" Morgan told her, but that did it. She must've pushed Lainey a little too far because the girl shoved her into the lockers she had been leaning against just moments ago when she was talking to Liam.

"Is that fun enough for you?!" Lainey roared. Liam moved to intervene, trying to protect Morgan, but she put her hand up and shot him a look. He backed off as Morgan stepped wide, glad she was wearing spandex under her dress. What she was about to do would've been a bit awkward if she wasn't.

"Oh, so fun, Lainey. But you'd be having a lot more fun if you took that stick out of your ass," Morgan taunted. She wanted Lainey to try to hit her. It was all a part of her plan to show that she wasn't going to fight her anymore. She was right, Lainey screamed out, swinging her fist to punch Morgan in the face. Instead of doing her little signature fight started where she would catch Lainey's little fist, she dipped back, dodging the blow like it was nothing. The whole hallway had gathered to watch. As terrible as it sounded, Morgan was going to give them a show, though not the kind they were expecting.

"Why do you always take things away from me?!" Lainey screamed out as she swung again, this time putting all of her weight into it. Morgan stepped to the side, Lainey missing the shot and falling on the floor.

"What have I ever taken away from you?" Morgan inquired, still doing her best to remain calm. The look in Lainey's eyes turned from sour to infuriated.

"You took Jonah!" She went to tackle Morgan, but Lainey fell to the ground once again as Morgan just leaped right over her into a summersault before standing right back up, turning to face the angry blonde. "And before I had any chance to get him back you got him killed!" Lainey roared as she tried to kick Morgan in the stomach. She just jumped back, the foot missing her by maybe an inch or two.

"Lainey…" This time there was real sympathy in Morgan's voice. She had no idea that Lainey still felt like that, and it made her feel terrible. All of the terrorizing after Jonah's death made even more sense.

"Don't Lainey me! You made a fool out of me! You made my father think I was turning into a problem kid the first time we got into a fight!" She screamed at her, throwing another punch. Morgan spun out of the way, but that only cause the blonde to punch the lockers. She cried out in pain. "You broke my nose!" Lainey swung again with her hurt fist, aiming right for Morgan's own nose. Like it was an eye for an eye moment. Morgan dipped back again and side stepped wide to be away from the lockers again. "And now you're stealing my popularity and it's the only thing I have left!" She swung again. Morgan ducked and stepped back. Now she was on the other side of the hallway and it forced the kids surrounding them to move out of the way.

"If popularity is what you want, if that's what you crave, maybe try not being popular and instead of doing things to make yourself better than everyone else, why don't you be nice to people? Make some real friends that care instead of surrounding yourself with people that are only friends with you because they're afraid of you if they tell you know?" Morgan tried to convince her. Lainey froze for a moment, like she was actually listening to what Morgan was trying to say.

"Friends like you?" Lainey asked, and for a split second Morgan believed the reaction. But then rage took hold of her once again and she swung, catching Morgan off-guard. Her fist collided with Morgan's cheek, making her head whip around as Morgan stumbled. "Fight back!" Lainey demanded, the anger welling up inside her as Morgan touched her cheek, feeling blood. Lainey's ring must've cut her. Morgan had a feeling that it wasn't just anger the blonde was feeling from the look in her eyes. There was so much more to it than her being mad about Morgan's newfound social life.

"I won't fight you," Morgan told her, and before Lainey could try to hit her again, someone had arrived, parting the students like the red sea.

"Miss Winchester! Miss Lisowski!" It was Principal Jeurgens. She was standing there with her head held high, her hands on her hips, and her food tapping aggressively against the linoleum floor.

"Yes, ma'am?" Morgan piped up, her hand dropping from her cheek, ignoring the stinging where she already knew the skin was turning red. Lainey hit her hard enough that it was gonna leave a bruise.

"Lisowski, my office, now," she ordered.

"What about her?" Lainey asked, but Mrs. Jeurgens shook her head.

"Now." The principal stared her down. Lainey groaned, stomping her foot into the ground like the drama queen she is before walking off. "Mr. James, why don't you take Mrs. Winchester down to the nurse to get that looked at," the woman told him and Morgan nearly choked on her own spit.

"I'm not in trouble?" Morgan questioned, raising an eyebrow at the principal. The woman shook her head.

"You held up your end of the bargain. That's all I could ask for. Plus, detention for evading a fight would be pointless. Now, Mr. James, off you go," Mrs. Jeurgens shooed them away with her hands and Liam put a hand on Morgan's back, walking her away from the scene. Once they were around the corner and no one else was around but herself and Liam, Morgan let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding in.

"You okay? I know Jonah is a tough subject for you after what happened last year," Liam pointed out as they walked. He was right. It was a touchy subject, but Morgan wasn't feeling anything related to that right now. She just felt stupid for letting Lainey suck her into her high school drama. She could've walked away, but the blonde couldn't keep well enough alone. She always had to start a fight and act like she was the one getting attacked, like she was the victim of the situation that she created.

"I'm okay. But you had the right idea wanting Lainey to walk away. I should have walked away," she admitted. Rubbing the back of her head shamefully. Though now that she was touching it, the back of her head was kind of tender from hitting the lockers.

"Maybe, but maybe you got some closure from all of that. You may not have fought back and she may have hit you, but you got what she needed to say out there. And you do know what? She probably got some things out there too that might help her," Liam suggested as they approached the nurse's office. Morgan sighed.

"How do you always find the silver lining in the negative situations?" She wondered, lightly elbowing him in the side as they walked into the office.

"Oh, honey," the nurse gasped as she saw the cut on Morgan's face bleeding over the darkening bruise. "Here, take this ice pack, hold it to your cheek, maybe take a seat on the recovery couch? And I'll get some things to help with that cut," the nurse advised as she shook an icepack and handed it to her. Morgan placed it on her face and sat on what the nurse called the recovery couch, swinging her legs off the edge. Liam couldn't stop himself from chuckling.

"What?" Morgan asked, eyebrows knitting in confusion. Of all the times to be laughing he chose this one. He shook his head.

"Badass one minute, the next minute you've got your feet dangling off a couch because you're too short for them to touch the ground," He told her through his laughter. His smile was contagious, because before long she couldn't contain her own smile.

"Hey, careful there. This pipsqueak could knock you on your ass any day," Morgan joked, her face twinging with slight pain from her laughter. The way her face was from her smile, it was bothering the cut and bruise on her cheek, but she ignored it, enjoying the little moment.

"I don't doubt that," Liam admitted as the nurse walked past him and bent down slightly in front of Morgan.

"I'll take that," the nurse said as she gently palmed the ice pack and removed it from Morgan's face. The teenager winced as the nurse gently pressed her fingers into the bruised skin. "Sorry, hun. I just gotta check it," she apologized. Morgan didn't wince any more, now expecting the bothered feelings as the Nurse did her job. She cleaned out Morgan's cut with rubbing alcohol and a little cotton ball before drying it out with a little towel while also wiping away the condensation from the ice pack off her face. She put some antiseptic cream on the cut and placed a small white bandaid over her cut.

"Thank you," Morgan said as the nurse grabbed all the used stuff to throw in the trash.

"No problem, hun. Just make sure you don't pick at it when it scabs over, it'll scar if you do," the Nurse told her. Morgan nodded. "Why don't the two of you get to class. What teacher do you guys have right now?"

"We both have Mrs. Druger," Liam told her. She nodded.

"Good, well class just started so when she asked why your a little late, tell her you were here, and I'll send her an email so you guys don't get a tardy," the nurse told them as they started to leave.

"Thank you," Liam replied as they left.

"What the hell happened to you?" Dean asked with an eyebrow raised as Morgan walked up to the Impala, still sweaty from soccer practice. She rolled her eyes before looking back to Liam, who was walking over to his dad's car. She waved, he waved back, and she turned to face her dad again.

"Lainey punched me," Morgan stated as she threw her backpack into the backseat of the Impala. She slid into the driver's seat and looked at her dad, who was tapping his fingers against the passenger door to the beat of the quiet Metallica song coming from the radio.

"What do you mean that bi- girl punched you? Didn't you make that deal with the principal? No more fighting?" He recalled. Morgan nodded while adjusting the driver's seat since she was obviously much shorter than her father. She reached up and adjusted the rear view mirror and gave up on adjusting the side mirrors because she's become accustomed to using them as is and looking over her shoulder to check the road with her own two eyes when necessary.

"I didn't fight. Lainey was yelling and I was saying things to put her in her place… she kept trying to hit me, I kept dodging and lowkey making a fool of her, then she said calmed down for a second, but it was just a ploy to catch me off guard. I just stood there and she screamed at me to fight back, then the principal came. I think Lainey got suspended? I didn't see her in history so if I don't see her at school tomorrow, then she probably got suspended," Morgan informed him. In all honesty, she secretly hoped that Lainey was suspended because after what she did, the spiteful blonde would be out for blood and Morgan wasn't really in the mood to get more than a black eye. She wasn't even really in the mood to dish out more than Lainey's previous broken nose. Every since she started getting down and dirty being a goalkeeper on the girl's soccer team, Morgan's anger issues had been slightly more controllable. She revved the Impala's engine, feeling the smooth purr beneath her as she pressed down on the break and took off the parking brake, shifting the car into reverse. She only paused to turn on the headlights. It was getting dark out.

"Well, good on you for not fighting, but maybe next time just walk away? I know you don't like Lainey, but making a scene might be what she wants from you," her father reasoned. Morgan nodded her head in a reluctant agreement before turning her whole body to look out the back windshield of the car. She let off the brake and ever so gently touched the gas to back out of the parking spot.

"I know, I know, she's just trying to get a reaction out of me. That's what mom used to tell me about the bullies at my old school. Well… except back then I wasn't a fighter. Before I learned how to fight and before I discovered my deep rooted anger issues that I obviously inherited from you…" she laughed at her father and he did a quick tilt of the head with a smirk in agreement with her statement, "... I had been a bit of a crier. One day, mom just told me to buck up and walk away from them because they were insecure about themselves and wanted to get a reaction out of me," Morgan explained. She was no stranger to getting bullied. This whole feud with Lainey was something new for her and getting caught up in the drama was hard not to do. But she was trying, as she demonstrated today that she didn't have to hit Lainey to make a point.

"Sorry to hear that, but good, I'm glad you know what to do. As long as you're working on not getting in trouble, maybe you'll be less like me in highschool and a bit more like Sammy," Dean told her slowly. He was slightly wary as she drove out of the parking lot. Morgan's eyebrow went back to that familiar knit position.

"It's not a bad thing to be like you. Dad, if I turned out half as cool and badass as you, I'll be fine," she told him. He was caught off guard by her reaction to his own minor self deprecation.

"Well, I just mean if you get out highschool with a spotless record and you keep your grades up, you could be like Sammy and have a real shot at College and being normal," he elaborated. She smirked as she rounded the corner from the school's street to the main road.

"Oh, you mean normal when I'm not moonlighting as a psychic monster hunter?" She snorted, trying to be funny about the all too true reality of her impending future.

"Well, only if you want to be a hunter," Dean commented, remaining quiet aside from that statement as his he white-knuckled the bar on the side of the passenger door. Morgan knew he didn't like his baby driving his baby, but it was still funny to see him scream as she came to a smooth and rather improved stop at the red light.

"I do want to be a hunter. Both you and mom were hunters. I can't not be a hunter considering a psychic working as a hunter is a pretty fun gig. I don't even need a shovel when we have to dig up a grave," she commented. Dead shrugged.

"Yeah, but you don't have to be one if down the road you decide to stop," He told her. She understood that idea considering one day, all hunters have to stop. Either they die fighting or grow to old to do the dirty work themselves since it was a rather demanding self proclaimed occupation.

"So like if I wanted to take a break and settle down with someone without the drama of having to be on the road a lot?" She said, offering the example. Dean chuckled quietly, his next choice of words being ones that were probably going to make her uncomfortable. She could just feel it coming.

"Speaking of settling down with someone, what's the deal with that Liam kid?" He asked and she almost forgot to press on the gas when the light turned green.

"Um… we're just friends?" She intonated without even realizing it. Dean frowned in the realization that she probably didn't even know what they were.

"So friends… but you want to be more than that? Or is it that he wants to be more than that?" he interrogated as the color drained from his daughters freckled face.

"I don't know?" There it was again. She was intonating. Morgan was about as unsure about the whole thing as Dean was about the idea of Liam even being her friend.

"Well, if the two of you are going to be spending more time with each other, friends or otherwise? I think it might be best if we invite him and his dad out to dinner. You know, get to know eachother better." Morgan nearly slammed on the breaks, but instead she settled for speeding up slightly as she resisted the spasm in her leg like it had decided all on its own that she was going to hit the breaks.

"Yo-you want to meet him?" She asked in an uneasy tone. Dean nodded.

"Yeah, I can already tell that this gonna be fun." The grin Morgan saw plastered across her father's face was unforgettable. Her hands tightened around the wheel. The tables had turned as she was now the one with white-knuckles.

"And by fun, do you mean embarrassing? What are you even going to tell his dad you do for a living? Hm? Hunting monsters isn't exactly your typical, sane job," She pointed out, trying to find a way of holding him off of trying to scare off her newfound best friend before she even had a chance to prepare him.

"Well, everyone knows us as the ex marines, so we'll tell him something believable that's related to that. Something like… FBI or Private Security…" He got the ball rolling, really thinking this through. Morgan was beginning to realize that there was no getting out of this, so she was going to make sure there were no holes in her dad's story. Holes would get a smart family like the James into trouble with monsters if they went looking for answers.

"No, you want to say something boring or has classified information. Therefore they either don't want to ask questions or they believe they can't ask questions. Plus if they did, you can give vague answers so as not to break code or something," she informed him. Dean was surprised by her newfound initiative. She noticed him taking a moment to think. They were nearing the bunker, so she slowed down to make a turn away from the main road.

"That's a good idea. So what ideas for fake jobs do you have?" He inquired, still curious about what else she would come up with. Morgan thought for a moment before figuring it out.

"Boring jobs would include: Intelligence Analyst if you wanna say you work from home, Management Consultant if you wanna say you were a somewhat high ranking officer, Logistics Analyst, or a Training and Development Specialist. Classified kind of jobs would include: FBI so you drive down to the Wichita field office a couple days a week unless you have a big case you're on. That'd explain the being gone for long periods of time, but it's classified because you're in the intelligence branch or the national security branch, take your pick, but you're home a lot right now because you're on sabbatical until I get my license and can leave me home alone since Sammy has to travel too. Other jobs would be: Military Contractor, If you're gonna be private anything don't be private security. No one hires private security in Kansas. You could say you work on the Air force base, shit's classified, you drive down for a couple days a week, explains why you're gone," she stopped. She had said all of that in just two breaths and Dean just raised an eyebrow at the cleverness of his own progeny. "Boom," She took one hand off the wheel and mimicked dropping-the-mic before putting her hand back on the wheel of the car.

"Duly noted," He smirked, mulling things over in his head as she made another turn. They were almost home.

"So, you and Sammy need to pick jobs and stick to them," she advised. "The easy part is avoiding the topic of my childhood because everyone already knows that mom's dead and that's why I moved here. It's a lot easier that way. If they ask, 'where were you while she was raising me,' kind of questions, tell the truth. You didn't know about me and when you found out it changed your life for the better, yada, yada, yada," she told him. Dean chuckled as they finally made it to the garage entrance to the bunker. She slowed the car and pulled in.

"You think very highly of yourself," Dean mused. "Though I will admit, as crazy as the experience of having a teenage daughter has been, I wouldn't have it any other way," he told her as she drove up the tunneled driveway and found the parking spot.

"I love you, dad," she told him as she turned the car off, not realizing that she'd never said that to him before. Maybe once when she was drunk, and he must've realized it too because they had both frozen upon that thought. But he was the first to unfreeze. Before she knew it, her father's arms were around her in a warm and gently hug.

"I love you too, kiddo."