A/N: First off, BIG thanks to BunnyGirl1520 and sjwmaw for your reviews! You two are rockstars and I always look forward to what you guys have to say. BunnyGirl1520, they're often cliffhangers because what fun would it be if every chapter resolved itself? **maniacal laughter** Quick updates, I do make because honestly I love writing and I literally can't stop. Sjwmaw, I know, hun. Stuff's taking a dark turn but she's a Winchester and it's in her blood to fight like hell to win the day, even if there's a chance she might lose. Don't worry, Sam and Dean are on the case!

Now for a chapter you may all have been waiting for…

-redwoodoriginal

Chapter 40: Perfect

She was dressed in the outfit that Crowley had helped her pick out the night before… Before she opened a can of worms that she never wanted to open. It had been a mistake to get involved with the demon, but there she stood, despite her instincts telling her to run and hide. She stood there, wearing the slightly fitted white camisole and her pair of light wash mom jeans (or at least that's what the website called that particular fit of high waisted, baggy jeans.) She had taken a note out of Liam's book and had the ankles of her pants rolled up slightly to go with her black slip-on vans. He opened the door for her and awkwardly let in.

"Uh, hi," Liam smiled. He was just wearing a navy crew neck and jeans. His blonde hair was a little messed but he ran a hand through it before she could look at it for too long.

"Hey," she greeted him, a small smile curling onto her lips as he closed the door behind her. They were both silent as she slipped off her shoes by the mat, remembering the rules from last time. He just walked away and she willingly followed him, wondering what they were going to do today. She knew he was going to make her sing at some point, but she was hoping that he would forget and maybe they could get away with not sharing that part of themselves today. He led her up to his room and grabbed a game controller, handing it to her.

"I figured video games would be fun to start with," He offered, still holding out the controller. She took it into her hands, glad it was playstation. It was what she knew how to used.

"So what game are we playing?" Morgan asked as she sat on one of the bean bags that had been pulled up in front of the television. Liam smiled and plopped down onto the other bean bag and queued up a gaim.

"Injustice: Gods Among Us," He stated and she laughed. Picking her character. She decided on Aquaman. Even through Aquaman was normally an oddly useless hero in the old comics, he wasn't useless in this game. She'd played it before with Tyler when she went with Madison to his house when he was having a barbecue. It was sometime after Jonah died and Morgan figured he wanted her there to either make her feel better or to give himself some semblance of his lost friend.

"Good to know you like Superheroes," Morgan commented. Liam raised an eyebrow.

"You've played this before?" Liam asked, the corner of his mouth curling into a smirk. She bobbed her head side to side.

"Played before? Yes. Kicked Tyler's ass before playing it? Oh, absolutely," Morgan taunted. He bit his lip but then gained a look of confidence, picking Solomon Grundy to battle her with. In the DC universe, Solomon Grundy is unkillable. Half the time they stop him by putting the undead creature into the Earth's Orbit, but all laws of comics are null and void in this game. All bets were off.

"Wanna bet?" Liam challenged. Before Morgan could respond, the female automated voice of the game monotonously stated, begin. She smirked, immediately button mashing. Liam laughed, but what he didn't know what that she was methodically button mashing in combinations to whip out all kinds of moves. Not just kicking and punching, but she made Aquaman whip out his trident. She decided to be petty and repeatedly stab Solomon Grundy, over and over again. He just kept taking the damage. But then the tables turned when Liam did combinations of his own. Grundy grabbing her Aquaman and throwing him around the screen and beating him. Morgan sighed, finally getting her chance to make her Aquaman jump over Liam's Grundy and do her grab move, stabbing him with the trident and electrocuting him. The match kept going on like that until they were nearing the end. Liam laughed maniacally as he pressed L2 + R2, triggering the super move. Morgan knew she didn't have enough health to survive it so she in turn jumped backwards so Grundy wouldn't be able to touch Aquaman, unable to enact the super move. Instead, Morgan activated her own super move, releasing her own maniacal laughter as the screen filled with water, the trident stabbing Grundy as a shark swam up and bit the undead creature, swimming away with him. The screen reset and Liam's health bar had one little shred left so she simply did the grab move and finished him.

"You're now no longer allowed to doubt my abilities in Injustice," Morgan declared. Liam ran a hand through his hair with raised eyebrows and a half-cocked smile.

"Alright, alright. But that was only the first match." Liam grinned mischievously as they went back to the character select screen. They kept on like that for maybe an hour, battling in mash-ups of characters like Lobo and Green Arrow, Zod and Superman, Catwoman and Nightwing, Harley Quinn and the Joker. They even made a heavy contrast when she chose Killer Frost to battle his Scorpion. Fire versus ice. But then for a while they switched to two player Call of Duty, playing in an online lobby together. She wasn't that great but she also wasn't terrible. That played that for maybe another hour, laughing about stupid deaths and dumb kills. They only played Need For Speed for maybe a couple minutes because Liam got frustrated that she kicked his ass. Driving games were something she excelled at. Maybe because that need for speed in fast and loud cars was in her blood. Probably was considering her father's and uncle's taste in cars.

They were going to watch a show, but as they started scrolling through netflix, the two teenagers ended up just talking, the netflix queue dimming in the background from not being used. The two of them were no longer in the bean bags, but strewn across the floor, just laying there and talking together. Liam was even playing with a strand of hair again. They talked about a lot things. Soccer, Lacrosse, School, teachers, movies, and even Lainey. She had been recently telling people that Morgan was giving people head under the bleachers. Morgan didn't really mind, that there was another rumor out there about her, but what bothered her about this one was that skeevy highschool boys were approaching her now, trying to get her to solicit special services to them. Liam hated it too, the two of them ranting about it for a little while.

"How do you braid?" Liam suddenly asked out of nowhere, suddenly ending their ranting session about Lainey and horny teenage boys. Morgan realized he asked her because she was braiding a tendril of her hair. She didn't even realize she was doing it. Sometimes her hands wandered and fidgeted with things when she was preoccupied with something that didn't require her to move much. Sort of like conversations.

"Want me to teach you?" Morgan asked and he nodded with a curious smile.

"Would probably be good to know if I have any daughters in a future. It would be kinda cool to be the fun dad that can do their kid's hair on the fly when their mom's not around," he explained, a small smile tugging at Morgan's lips. She sat up and turned her back to him. She could braid without looking, so she figured it would help if he could see what her fingers were doing.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on," He stopped her mid braid, sitting up from the floor and grabbing his own piece of hair. She went step by step, letting his fingers mimic hers. It was maybe five or six minutes of her showing him how to braid before she showed him how to french braid. It was maybe another six or seven minutes before he was doing it all on his own, full on playing with her hair and messing around with experimental braids. Morgan loved it, his fingers trailing across her scalp in various patterns to make all kinds of little braids and such.

"You have really long hair," Liam commented as he braided. He was right. She hadn't gotten a haircut in a while and it was now long enough to graze just past the tops of her hips. It was safe to say that with how thick it was, Morgan had a lot of hair.

"Haha, yeah. That reminds me, I need to get it trimmed before I start accidentally sitting on it," she joked, letting her eyes flutter closed as her whole body relaxed to the feeling of her hair being played with.

"My mom used to have long hair like this, kinda made her look like a princess or something," Liam told her. Morgan raised an eyebrow.

"Did she cut it?" Morgan asked, knowing his mom was alive, unlike hers. So she was getting curious about his mother.

"Yeah, she did," he sighed. "She cut it the day after she told my dad she wanted a divorce because her new boyfriend liked short hair. Now it just goes to her shoulders," Liam explained. Morgan was beginning to feel guilty for asking. He sounded like he was still hurt over what happened with his parents. She knew that it had happened somewhat recently, he and his dad had moved here recently after everything was finalized, trying to get away from their family drama.

"I'm sorry that it didn't work out for your parents, but at least you have memories of them together. I never even saw mine in the same room together," Morgan muttered, taking a deep breath as she ran a hand over her face for a moment before sitting up a little straighter. Liam was still playing with her hair. It kept her calm and from reacting to her stress.

"You know, you don't talk about that stuff a lot," Liam pointed out, suddenly stopping what he was doing. Her hair had been moved out of the way from her back. He must've noticed some of the faint scars she got on her shoulder blades and at the nape of her neck that she got from the car accident. No one had ever noticed them on her before, but he was in such close proximity and her upper back was bare on account of her wearing a tank top with spaghetti straps.

"You see them, don't you?" She whispered, his fingers lightly tracing the deepest, most prominent one just a few centimeters away from her spine. It was still light and hit in the crease from her shoulder blades, but it was still there.

"What happened?" He questioned, still lightly tracing some of the scars with his fingers. It sent chills down her spine from the delicate touches.

"Same thing as the faint scars on my hands, arms, and knees. Just an unfortunate encounter with broken glass," Morgan commented, rubbing her hands slightly, looking at the scars that his beneath her light freckles and faint arm hair. "It was, uh, from the car accident where my mom died," She admitted. Liam rested a warm hand on her shoulder, but she didn't look at him, not at first anyway. She just laid back as as she did so, he shifted so he could lean his back up against the side of his bed as Morgan rested her head in his lap. His blue eyes looked down at her sympathetically.

"What happened?" He asked, triggering the whole scene to flash before her eyes for a moment. She met his gaze before staring up at his ceiling.

"It was mother's day last year. We had been out shopping and were on our way home, driving on the interstate. I don't really know what happened exactly, I hit my head in the accident," she quietly tilted her head to the side, showing Liam the scar on her check that usually hid behind her freckles, "But I remember these guys. I don't know how or why, but they ran us off the road on purpose. My mom swerved trying to avoid them but when they hit, the car spun out before flipping a couple times. It landed upside down so the scars are from me trying to climb out of the car. A lot of them are on my back from falling from the chair to the roof of the car. I had to crawl out and the big scar by my spine is from scraping against a piece of glass still attached to the windshield. I was for the most part fine, but my mom wasn't," Morgan stopped, taking a breath. She didn't want to cry in front of the boy she had a crush on… A crush? Yeah, okay whatever. She was admitting that to herself now. "I guess she got loose from her seat belt while the car was flipping and she got thrown around. By the time I got out of the car, she was half strewn out of the driver side window. I just sat with her, waiting for help to come. When we got to the hospital, they didn't tell me this but the people who ran us off the road came back and killed her in the Emergency room… snapped her neck," she admitted. She'd never told anyone that and here she was telling him. There was something about him that just made her feel so safe and like she could tell him anything.

"Your mom was murdered?" Liam asked. Morgan thought it would be more like a shock or a confused statement, but his voice was more sympathetic and apologetic than anything else.

"Please don't tell anyone. It's bad enough that one person got murdered because of me. But if people knew my mom was murdered too? They would blame me for her too and that is something I can't deal with," Morgan admitted, desperation and sadness filling her voice, but she didn't cry. All she felt was safe and trust because he was with her. Liam could tell how she was feeling and simply responded with something that reassured her more than anything else. He began stroking her hair, his gentle fingers running along her scalp.

"I think you should meet my mom sometime. I know sometimes I sound like I'm at odds with her but she's still my mother and I think you'd really like her. She's really nice and would really like you," Liam told her. Morgan looked up at him, her eyebrows knitting.

"Doesn't your mom live in California? That's kinda far," Morgan figured, but Liam just chuckled slightly with his stupid little grin that put butterflies in her stomach.

"You may not meet her today or tomorrow, but someday I think you should," He told her. Morgan sat up from Liam's lap and looked at him. She knew what she was about to say was going to be something she had been dreading all day, but she knew he was waiting for it and he was going to get it anyway, may as well rip off the bandaid.

"Hey, you said you would play the guitar for me," Morgan mentioned. Liam's grin turned mischievous as he tilted his head back slightly, looking right at her with just barely narrowed eyes.

"And you said you would sing for me," Liam reminded her. There was a pang of nervousness in her chest.

"Yeah… I did… and I will! So like I'll go first but I've never really sang… in front of anyone… well I've sang in front of my dad but usually I'm just singing in my room or in the shower…" She would've kept rambling but Liam grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Breathe. Morgan, you can trust me. I'm not going to judge you if you're bad and I'm not going to tell anyone you let me hear you sing. I just… I want to hear it. Especially since you've convinced me to let you hear me," Liam tried to convince her, to make her relax. Unfortunately for Morgan, it was working. She thought for a moment, about what song to sing. Liam must've noticed that she was thinking because he put a hand up.

"Not here," he decided, standing up and offering her his hand. "Come with me," he told her and she nodded, taking his hand. He pulled her up from the floor and he led her somewhere. She was glad that she was kind off trailing behind him because she couldn't keep herself from blushing at him holding her hand. She got herself to stop blushing just in time for him to lead her into a room filled with music equipment. There was a set of drums, some microphones, amps up the wazoo, and all kinds of guitars. There was a few ukeleles in different colors, a couple electric guitars, and some acoustic guitars. Liam quickly left her by the doorway and grabbed a burgundy acoustic guitar by the neck and carried it back over to her, taking her hand once again and leading her to the back yard.

"We don't have shoes," Morgan said as he stepped out the back door. He just chuckled.

"We don't need shoes. Now come on," he insisted with a smirk. Morgan walked out and closed the sliding door behind her. The Jameses had a really cool backyard. It was rather large with a trampoline, a pool with a diving board, a hot tub, and a treehouse in the far corner that looked insulated and wired for electricity. She made a mental note to want to go in, but Liam led her to an untouched, grassy part of the yard and sat down. She followed suit, crossing her legs in the grass. Morgan was glad she wore jeans because she was allergic to grass and it made her skin itch like crazy, but she wasn't going to tell him that, not at that moment anyway.

"You want me to sing out here?" She asked him and he nodded.

"It sounds natural and there isn't any wind today so it's a good spot," Liam told her and she nodded. She knew what song to sing, but she was so nervous. It wasn't helping either that it was him she had to sing to. She opened her mouth to start but hesitated before bursting out laughing.

"Sorry, I'm a little uncomfortable. I don't usually do this," Morgan told him. Liam nodded in understanding.

"Would it make you more comfortable if I closed my eyes? Like if I wasn't looking at you? Just listening?" He tried to help. Morgan nodded and he immediately shut his eyes. There was a moment of silence where she was trying to muster up enough courage to sing. For a second she though Liam was going to open his eyes because he thought she wasn't going to sing, but then it happened.

"Now I've heard there was a secret chord / That David played, and it pleased the Lord / But you don't really care for music do you?" Morgan began. Liam's eyes that were clenched shut softened at the sound of her soft voice. She was shaking, but growing calmer. "It goes like this the fourth the fifth / The minor fall and the major lift / The baffled king composing Hallelujah!" Her voice had built up until it went from soft to strong. Her eyes closed as she got into it.

Liam's eyes shot open, breaking his offer with her to not look, but he couldn't help it. The way she was singing, the alluring tone with each and every note. He couldn't not look at her. He got lucky though. Her eyes had closed as she focused on her singing. She was rolling through the chorus and he was honestly entranced with her voice. He knew exactly what song she was singing and Liam did not expect it whatsoever. He didn't know what to expect, but he certainly didn't expect such an underrated song.

"You say I took the name in vain / I don't even know the name / But if I did, well really, what's it to you? / There's a blaze of light in every word / It doesn't matter what you heard / The holy or the broken Hallelujah!" Liam couldn't stop watching this small girl overtaken by such a strong voice. As she went on he realized it was a different version of the song but he loved the way it sounded nonetheless. Liam couldn't take his eyes off of her so he was lucky that she still had her eyes closed. "I did my best, it wasn't much / I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch / I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you / And even though it all went wrong / I'll stand before the Lord of Song / With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah!" Liam was chilled to the bone. Morgan opened her eyes as she softly rolled through the chorus one more time. He was so scared that she could cut off and get mad at him for opening his eyes, that she wouldn't sing in front of him ever again because Liam desperately wanted to hear her sing again and again. She finished the last, quietly strung out note before ceasing. The silence almost unpleasant now that her voice wasn't filling it. Her wide, impatient eyes were waiting for his response.

"That was incredible," was all he could muster, still in shock. Especially after having heard her jamming out in her car with her dad where her voice was slightly bad on purpose, he didn't expect her to be able to sing like this. Morgan had him hanging on every note. But she looked like she didn't believe him.

"Liar. You're just saying that to be nice," She insisted but Liam shook his head.

"Morgan, you can sing. Now don't argue with me because I have the stubbornness of a five year old and I will keep it up all damn day," Liam pressed, wanting desperately for her to believe him. If she believed him, he would get to hear her sing more and that was something he felt like he needed in his life. She looked like his words had shook her through to her core. Her cheeks burned a deep crimson. He didn't know what she had to be embarrassed about, but he made sure not to say anything. If she was embarrassed, Liam didn't want to add to it but making it clear that he had noticed.

"I… uh… Why don't you do your thing? Help me forget about what I just did for a moment," She asked. Liam smirked, stringing the guitar strap around his neck and over his shoulder. He put his fingers on the right chords, ready to begin playing the song that he'd been planning on singing to her ever since they made the deal to share musical talents. He wasn't great with words, especially when trying to speak to a pretty, no… beautiful, girl. So this carefully chosen song would have to say everything for him. Liam was counting on the fact that Morgan had no idea he was going to sing. She just sat there waiting for him to play. His fingers began strumming the chords and dancing along the neck to from different notes before her eyes went wide at the side of him opening his mouth.

"I found a love for me

Darling just dive right in

And follow my lead

Well I found a girl beautiful and sweet

I never knew you were the someone waiting for me

'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love"

The whole time he was singing, he looked the girl before him right in those forrest green eyes that he looked forward to seeing every damn day, and was sad when he didn't see them. She just sat there, eyes wide and face flushed white as a sheet beneath her freckles. He often saw her fidgeting, maybe wiggling her feet or looking around without focusing on anything in particular, but in this moment he had her undivided attention. Morgan was sitting perfectly still.

"Not knowing What it was

I will not give you up this time

But darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own

And in your eyes you're holding mine

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms

Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song

When you said you looked like a mess, I whispered underneath my breath

But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight"

Liam saw her lower lip quivering and her eyes becoming ever so slightly red like she couldn't decide whether she wanted to cry or not. He was hoping that would be a good thing. His heart was pounding in his chest but he didn't take his eyes off of her and he didn't skip a beat. Honestly, this was the longest he'd ever seen her sit still when she wasn't drunk or falling asleep.

"Well I found a women, stronger than anyone I know

She shared my dreams, I hope that someday I'll share her home

I found a love, to carry more than just my secrets

To carry love, to carry children of our own

We are still kids, but we're so in love

Fighting against all odds

I know we'll be alright this time

Darling, just hold my hand

Be my girl, I'll be your man

I see my future in your eyes"

Her eyes were no longer on the verge of tears and her lip had stopped quivering. Morgan had sat up a little straighter and a smile curled upon her lips, the lips he dreamed about but didn't dare steal because he wanted her to be just as in it as he was when he finally got acquainted with them. Liam realized that it was working, she was hearing all the words he had wanted to say from the beginning, even if he hadn't realized it right away himself. That feeling had been there in the pit of his chest since that morning that she had been assigned to be his buddy to show him the ropes at Oak Hills.

"Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms

Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song

When you said you looked like a mess, I whispered underneath my breath

But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms

Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song

I have faith in what I see

Now I know I have met an angel in person

And she looks perfect

I don't deserve this

You look perfect tonight"

He strummed the last note on his guitar, the silence nearly deafening him as he waited for her reaction. Morgan opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but nothing came out. She closed her mouth again and Liam feared that she was going to run away and stop talking to him. It might've just been his worst fear. But then she gently bit her lip, contemplating something. Before Liam could even think about it, she clambered over to him, quickly bringing her face just centimeters from his before stopping. She looked right into his blue eyes before glancing down to his lips, her eyes drifting closed as she inched forward, gracing his lips with hers. It was slow and gentle as Liam's own eyes fell closed. His lips carefully worked their way over hers. It was one of those kisses that was tender and considerate but had your heart melting as it yearned for more. But then Morgan pulled away, freckled cheeks blushing.

"I… uh…" Liam was at a loss for words, his own cheeks growing hot.

"The song… you said I should kiss you slow," she stated with wide eyes. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly before moving to leave in shame, but Liam clambered to his knees just fast enough to grab her wrist and pull her back down into a much more passionate kiss than she had given him. It was deep and mind numbing. He could feel her melting in his arms, her lips feverishly working over his. Liam's hand was resting on the small of her back as the other worked its way up into her hair. This time he pulled away. Neither of them were blushing. Morgan seemed to be in a daze, struggling to hold onto what was happening. Liam tucked her hair behind her ear and pressed his forehead to hers as he tried to catch his breath that he didn't realize had escaped him until he pulled his lips from hers.

"Don't ever apologize for doing that," Liam whispered. "I promise, I have been wanting… waiting to do that for what seems like forever."

"Bye, Liam," Morgan said quietly as she let go of their hug. Her dad was here to pick her up and she knew he didn't necessarily like to be kept waiting. Just as she went to open the front door of his house, Liam grabbed her hand.

"Wait, one more," he smiled, pulling her into one last kiss before letting her go. She laughed into his lips before pulling away.

"Are you going to do that a lot?" Morgan asked, not even trying to escape his arms that were ensnared around her waist. He just laughed.

"I'm going to do it again and again and again, so get used to it," Liam promised. He kissed her on the forehead and let her go.

"Bye, Morgan," He smiled, watching her as she opened the door to let her leave.

"Bye, Liam," She replied, flashing him one more smile before walking down the stone path to the circle driveway that was in front of his house. When Morgan got to the car, her dad talking to someone on the phone, she looked back and saw Liam standing in the doorway, watching her leave. She waved to him and climbed into the car. She saw him wave back before closing the door and disappearing into his house. Morgan couldn't stop smiling, and she was glad that her dad was a little too preoccupied to notice just yet.

Later that night, Morgan took her shower, but this time instead of listening to heavy metal, had found the song he had sang to her. She couldn't get it out of her head and she wanted to hear it over and over again. Even if it wasn't coming from Liam's lips. She had listened to it so much while getting showered before bed that Morgan had almost learned all of the words. When they say people had a song in their heart, they weren't kidding, and Morgan's was Liam's. But as happy as she was, when she crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep, the nightmare still came.

Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker was ringing in her ears as Morgan was running through the woods. Her feet were bare and covered in mud as her feet pounded into the forest floor. The rain was pouring down from the black sky as it soaked her through to her skin, the loose white nightgown clinging to her small frame. Her hands kept fumbling with the hem to try and keep holding it up to run as fast as she could. Her eyes were bloodshot as her sight was getting clearer as her tears faded away. Morgan couldn't stop running, no matter how much her lungs were screaming for air.

"You can't run forever!" Someone bellowed in a loud threatening voice. Morgan had the fear of god coursing through her veins as she pushed herself to go faster, as fast as her legs could carry her. "I will always find you!" They roared. The song wouldn't leave her head. The chilling notes of the Nutcracker echoing in her ears.

"Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back," Morgan kept whispering to herself. She knew that if she looked back, it would distract her from her footing and it would result in her falling into the mud and the person chasing her would catch her. She just kept running, keeping her eyes on the path before her.

"I will find you!" They called after her. Morgan's heart was pounding, but it was filling with hope as she saw a light in front of her, the forest floor no longer illuminated by just the moonlight from above. When she found herself in a clearing in the trees. She came to a stop and turned as a pair of headlights illuminated her. But this time, she saw past the headlights. This time, she saw Sam and Dean in the front seats. This time there was something new. Sitting in the middle of the back seat was an unmistakable set of electric blue eyes. Liam's eyes were wide at the sight of her in the middle of the road as her father slammed on the breaks.

Her dream was changing.

Hallelujah - Tori Kelly

Perfect - Ed Sheeran