Notes: A new chapter many years after this story was started since I finally felt like trying to finish it basically 10+ years later. Have moved all of the stories over to a03 with some editing and a slight title change. This one is now called "Fate Wove The Ties That Bind Us" over there. Still using the same user name over there too, so you can find all the stories, as well as all new chapters to the unfinished ones over there first, and if you wish to or prefer using that site. If anyone would like me to keep updating here as well, please let me know. This chapter has also had some swearing removed from it for the sake of this site - adult version over on a03. Thanks for reading!
Coming up from the basement stairs first, Dean poked his head out of the doorway to have a quick look. The coast currently seemed clear when he didn't see or hear Sam or Bobby. Not that he cared much about what either would have to say. It wasn't like both hadn't known he and Manda would end up spending the night together.
Heading straight for the bathroom first, and then making his way to the kitchen hoping there was at least coffee ready, Dean didn't quite catch sight of Sam sitting behind Bobby's desk as he walked in.
Sam cleared his throat, looked at his brother curiously for a moment.
"What?" He stopped, shrugged casually, and then continued towards the coffee he could now smell. "You knew how it was going to go once you left us alone."
Sam shook his head, slightly amused and finding it typical. Dean was wearing a look he had seen enough over the years from what his brother deemed great sex, but he also saw it held a rarity to it this morning. The cocky and deeply satisfied grin on Dean's face genuinely reached his eyes right now. Sam knew it had everything to do with how his older brother still felt about the female hunter he'd spent the night with. The tension in him was all also now less present and his mood was lighter too, so it was obvious whatever else might have gone on between them had done him some good.
He scoffed. "Yeah, it was obvious once you came back in. So, are we heading out today?"
Glad to see the pot was full and still hot, Dean set about grabbing two mugs knowing Manda would also need the caffeine jolt once she put in her appearance in just a few minutes. He started making them both cup since he still remembered how she took hers.
Dean slightly chuckled, and kind of scratched at his scalp. "Um, yeah, about that. I need to work on the car, do some gun maintenance, and we're running low on rock salt and silver rounds. Should take care of all that crap before we head out, so tomorrow?"
"Figured as much," Sam kind of groaned while trying not to laugh at his brother's excuses. "So is Manda staying again too?"
Turning around, Dean just shrugged and grinned.
Bobby wheeled in then, eyeing Dean. He hid a laugh with a piercing glare since he could see what was written all over the boy, opting just to bust his balls a little. "You leave that girl to clean everything up by herself?"
"No," Dean groaned harshly, flashing a look of annoyance before sipping his coffee and leaning back against the counter.
"He helped, Bobby," Manda sighed, entering the kitchen.
"More like couldn't help himself from the looks of it." Bobby rolled his eyes at Dean who was giving him a told-you-so look as he wheeled more into the kitchen and spun around.
Manda ignored Bobby, mouthed "thanks" as she took the mug Dean was holding out to her then. She turned around, sipping the coffee, leaning back in the spot beside him. Then she saw the looks she got from the other two hunters she was now facing. "What? It was my birthday and I was drunk enough by the end of it."
"Sober," Dean coughed, pointing at her for the sake of his brother and Bobby just before she backhanded him lightly in the arm. "Well, you were, Manda."
Sam couldn't hold in the small laugh when the female hunter had faced them. He'd thought Dean had been bad at hiding it, but Manda was worse. The slightly dreamy grin and look she was trying to conceal matched the extremely content look in her eyes. She was also rocking what Sam knew was clearly sex hair for the mess it was that morning. There was no way she could downplay what kind of birthday present Dean had given her.
Bobby rubbed his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing when it was no secret from the look on Manda that Dean had given her some kind of night. It was obvious those two kids loved each other more than he'd thought they did, and a part of him hoped somehow they get a chance to still end up together some day. They both deserved it if that's what they wanted, but right then how could he not help but give them a little hell for using his panic room to hook up? "So, the two of you get it out of your systems?"
"Not entirely, but you can tell we certainly tried to." Manda met Bobby's hard look with her own to let him know she wasn't standing for his commentary.
Dean laughed at her comment, nodding in agreement. It was true, they had tried, but maybe they never would get it out of their systems. Somehow they kept winding up together even when they weren't actually together. Then Bobby looked at him like he was the one at fault here. "Quit looking at me like that, Bobby. We're both adults, and you're the one who was telling me to hit on her last night. Or don't you remember your heart-to-heart attempt?"
Bobby did remember. He'd said a little too much at the time. "That wasn't a heart-to-heart, or the part you were supposed to listen to, Dean."
Clearing her throat, Manda raised a curious brow, shooting a serious glare between both men. "Hello, right here. Bobby did what now last night?"
"Nothing," both Dean and Bobby muttered quickly as they looked from her to each other, both not wanting to step in that one.
Watching in amusement, Sam saw Dean now pushed himself away from the counter and hid behind his mug while Bobby had started wheeling himself into the library now like both knew they'd be in trouble with her.
"Uh-huh… if that's the story, Bobby." She gave him her best no nonsense look. "Guess now's a good time to tell you I need to do laundry here since I was out of clean clothes yesterday. You could probably use a solid meal tonight, and I brought that book of my granddad's you wanted and need to pick your brain on some of what I noticed in it, too."
Trying hard to stifle his chuckle, Dean saw the way she looked at the older hunter. He knew that look well; it said she wasn't having any bullshit with it.
Bobby scoffed. "Quit strummin' a tune, Mandolin Chambers. I ain't slow. Figured you and lover boy here were sticking around again today."
"Mandolin?" Both Sam and Dean asked out loud, looking from Bobby to the female hunter.
"Like the instrument?" Sam inquired.
Dean peered at her. "One of you wanna explain?"
Manda groaned. "Goddamn you, Singer. How the hell did you remember that? Knew I should have let that werewolf have you for a chew toy when I was fourteen and you were helping us take out that pack."
"Didn't you idjits ever wonder why her name is Manda, not something like Mandy or Amanda? She was sort of named for the cursed mandolin her parents met over. So that's what they'd call her and say when she was being a smartass or working an angle of some sort. And you lucked out with that shot, girl. I had that cub in my sights, was just giving him a second to think he was making it out alive."
"Think you know most things about a girl…" Dean pressed his lips together, thought about it, was about to say something and caught her look. He just smirked then, the teasing could happen later.
Sam looked at Bobby a little funny. He knew the two hunters had their own history when Bobby had known her family a little longer than his but it wasn't like any stories were ever shared. It had him interested now. "So Manda saved you from a werewolf, Bobby? At fourteen?"
"It was a lucky shot," Bobby grumbled. "Okay, you kids can play house here for one more day, but this damned Apocalypse won't stop itself. Don't use my panic room to hook up again. Do your damn laundry, work on your car or whatever sorry excuse you had, and goddamn it, get rid of those stupid grins you're both wearing."
"Lucky shot? You know the only shots I miss are the ones I'm trying to. So, Sam, ask him to tell you that story since he's dredging up the past to give me hell." Manda headed over to Dean, pecked his cheek just to rile Bobby now. "Dibs on the shower, Dean. Thanks for the stupid grin." She stalked off with her coffee.
"Don't mention it... Mandolin." Dean teased her.
Chuckling, Bobby tossed an expressive look at Dean. "Should have let me hitch you and that pain in the behind last night."
Groaning, Dean shook his head. "So, tell us this story about how Manda saved your ass, Bobby."
"Yeah, tell us. It wasn't a lucky shot, was it?" Sam sort of knowingly looked at the older hunter.
"I could tell you a few about that girl... And she didn't save my ass that night, well, she did, so no, it wasn't just a lucky shot. But don't either of you damned well tell her I said that..."
[ - ]
Spending some time apart that day much to the amusement of Sam and Bobby, it seemed that a little luck, or at least a little happenstance seemed to be working in their favour when nothing seemed to be going wrong aside from abandoning their pleasurable tryst that morning.
By the mid-afternoon Manda headed into town with her laundry wanting to get it all done at once before picking up more beer and the things she needed to make them all a decent meal later.
Dean had gotten a few stories about Manda out of Bobby over breakfast. Then he spent a little time going over the next possible case with Sam before getting to work on the car before starting on the task of making salt and silver rounds.
It was once Manda was finished shopping, and she was just a few steps out of the door that something finally gave. An older woman bumped into her, grabbing a hard hold of her by the arm.
"You were brought back to him for a reason the night you died," the woman uttered, staring at her with wide, feral eyes.
What the… Pulling back her arm and making sure she now had a hold of this stranger's arm instead, Manda made sure her mother's iron ring with the symbols on it was touching the woman's skin just to rule out a few possibilities. She watched, waiting for a reaction, ready to just drop the few bags in her hand. "Excuse me?"
The woman smiled a little strangely, tipping her head. "You passed the test. Your path was set. It's all in motion now."
Huh? Is she just a friggin' wacky human? "Who are you?" Manda asked, a hard tone taking over. She tightened her grip on the woman now. "And what the hell does that mean?"
The woman shrugged out of her hold, and started walking away. "Your choice. But know when you choose one, you have to lose one."
Wanting so badly to draw her gun from the inside pocket of her jacket, Manda held off since she couldn't exactly do that in public without causing a problem. While she wanted to chase after whoever this strange woman was, she just felt frozen on the spot as the thoughts spun in her mind. Him? That night? A reason? What in motion? Choose and lose what?
"Crazy old bat's been here on and off all week making customers uncomfortable. Keeps spewing some sort of holy talk or riddles at people, scaring them away." A man's voice said as he approached her out of the corner of her eye. "Ma'am, are you alright? Should I call the Sheriff?"
"Yeah… no, it's okay." Shaking out of her daze, Manda looked to see who was now talking to her. He had a name tag on his shirt, and she'd just seen him in the store behind the cash register. "She's been here all week doing the same thing to random people? Nothing else?"
"Yeah, just keeps rattling off weird stuff at people. I've had the Sheriff come out a few times to deal with her, but she keeps coming back. So if you're sure you're okay, I kind of need to head back in…"
"Oh, yeah, it's all right. Thank you, though." Manda nodded at him with a convincing smile. She continued heading to her car then, wondering what had just happened and feeling a little disturbed by what was said in the encounter. Some of it made no sense, but she knew without any doubt who the mentioned him was and what night that had been. It was the night the demon had briefly killed her, and she had died in Dean's arms. Poker face when you get back, Chambers. It's nothing, get it together...
[ - ]
It was early evening, and everyone had finished eating the dinner Manda had made. Bobby was on the phone in the library talking to another hunter he knew. Sam was helping Manda clean up, and Dean was just sitting there watching while nursing a beer, wondering what had changed.
Manda had kept herself busy upon her return, and something seemed off about her. Dean wasn't sure what had happened in the few hours she'd been gone, but something obviously had. The grin from that morning was gone, and while she seemed like herself, he saw through the act some of it now was. He thought maybe she was just tired, but he'd caught her absently rubbing at her mom's ring a few times which was the usual tell that something was troubling her. Sam was also trying to talk to her as they cleaned up the kitchen and she seemed a little distracted.
"Thanks again, Manda" Sam said, putting away the last of the clean plates. "Been awhile since we've had a proper home cooked meal. It was great."
"It was," Dean threw in, patting his stomach with appreciation. "I'm stuffed."
Sam looked at his brother a little funny. "You did have seconds and then pie, Dean."
"So what? It was good." Dean smirked, giving his brother a look that told him to get lost for a minute as he stood up.
Manda nodded as she stood at the sink washing out a pot. "Glad you guys enjoyed it."
Taking the hint, Sam just walked away, deciding he'd busy himself with a book or see if Bobby was done his phone call.
Heading over to her, Dean leaned back against the counter beside her. "It was delicious, Manda, and I know you got the pie just for me. Thanks." A wide grin spread across his face.
She gave him a small smile, put the pot aside, and dried off her hands. "Of course."
"So you've been a little quiet since you got back." He searched her face, noting she avoided meeting his eyes. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Manda uttered, walking towards the fridge for a beer now.
Dean grabbed her gently by the wrist as she went to walk past him. "Try again. I haven't stopped being able to read you either."
"I know you haven't. But it's nothing, really." She pulled herself free, continued on her way, and got a beer. She twisted off the top, took a sip before turning around. "Some woman bumped into me when I came out of the store. Said some weird things. Kind of threw me for a loop. That's all."
Dean stood up straight, cocked a brow, looking at her curiously. "What kind of weird? Our kind of weird or just the usual falls under normal random variety?"
"I'm not sure." Manda sighed, heading back towards the table to sit.
He stopped her by holding out his arm so she couldn't just walk past him. "Chambers, just for once don't do that thing where you keep it to yourself. It's clearly bugging you, so talk to me."
She stopped, rolled her eyes at him. "I think it was just the normal kind of weird, but some of what she said, Dean… look, it's silly. I'm just paying it too much mind. It's probably nothing." She turned around then and headed out of the kitchen.
Following her, Dean caught up quickly. "I'm not buying that. It's got you bothered. So what exactly did she say to you?"
Manda stopped where she was, took a healthy sip of her beer. "Nonsense mostly, except the first part." She turned around and faced him. She let her eyes meet his now. "She said I was brought back to him for a reason that night I died," she paused, giving him an obvious look. "But then it was like the normal bag of crazy… said that I passed some test, my path was set, it's all in motion. It's my choice, but if I choose one, I have to lose one. Whatever that stuff means."
Dean stared at her oddly for a moment, thinking it over. It was possible this was their kind of weird. Alarm bells were sounding off in his head as his mind had already connected the first bit, and that he was the one she'd been brought back to that night. One night he'd never forget, the one where Manda had died in his arms thanks to the demon that had killed her parents, had also left the scars on her back, possessed her, and been linked to her by the scars she still had. She should have been dead that night, and she had been for a few minutes. He had been the one to find her pulse after the paramedics had tried to revive her and one of them had called it. Yet somehow she had survived, and he had never been sure how, but now hearing this had him wondering if it had been luck, fate, or something else. It also had him worried, because if it was the case, then what reason had she been brought back for? "Did you..."
"I touched her skin with my mom's ring, Dean… nothing. Between the iron and the symbols on it, something should have reacted. Holy water was in the car. Couldn't exactly fire a round of salt or silver at her in the middle of the day in the parking lot either."
His look said she was right. "No, guess not." He paused, thinking about it for a second. "Think she might have been the winged type... an angel?"
Manda shook her head, sighed deeply. It had crossed her mind but it seemed unlikely. "How would I know? And why would one bother with me?"
Because, you stubborn woman, I still love you. You must know that, and those bastards probably do too and won't hesitate to use it... All of it just wasn't sitting right with Dean now as things kept swirling around in his head. "You know why. Because of me. Goddamn it, I should call Cass."
"No need," her voice got a little louder. "The manager told me she'd been around all week scaring people off with all sorts of holy talk and riddles. He had the sheriff come out a few times even, so she's probably just the normal kind of weird and usual kind of crazy, Winchester. We're not the only ones seeing signs of the Apocalypse, you know. Preachers of all sorts, even the not-so-sane ones are going on about it these days."
Dean got a step closer to her. "Manda… half of it makes sense. I'm obviously the him she mentioned, and that night..." he sighed roughly. "Unless you died some other night with someone else, damn it, I was the one holding you when it happened. You were dead, probably should have stayed that way too because even the doctors couldn't explain how you pulled through after that kind of beating and the way half your back had been ripped open."
"You think I don't know that? They told me more about what was and wasn't surprising than they told you. How I was lucky I didn't even end up with any nerve damage. But it's not like they exactly get medical training for dealing with the way a demon can fillet you from across a room with a flick of the hand and some demonic link it has to you from that, do they?" She quipped, trying to take the seriousness out of it.
He shot her a hard look. While all that was true, it still had him worried. "I'm calling Cass. He's got to know something since he's an angel, or did you forget?"
"No. But you don't need to call him over this." Manda's tone was now harsh, her voice even louder.
"Don't argue with me, Manda. Not on this. If you're being followed or watched or whatever the hell that was because of me..." Dean raised his voice at her in return.
Manda scoffed harshly. "Dean, you don't know…"
"I know you're not going to be my cannon fodder, sweetheart." Dean was just about yelling now as he cut her off. "You want to freakin' get killed on your own out there by doing the job, fine. But if something thinks it'll use you to get to me, it's not happening. And Cass might know what this reason is, or about this path or whatever's in motion. I'm calling him, end of story."
Sam came up behind them to see what was going on. His brother was clearly getting angry. "Dean, what's going on?"
"What the hell's all this racket this about?" Bobby asked, coming up in his wheelchair alongside Sam.
Dean stormed past them as he pulled out his phone. "Ask her."
"He's overreacting," Manda said with a hard tone, looking at Sam and Bobby.
"Like hell I am," Dean shouted back.
Sam looked at Manda. "What's this about? Why's he calling Cass?"
Bobby gave her a look that said he was waiting for the explanation.
Sighing, Manda told both of them what had happened to her earlier and how Dean now wanted to call Castiel because of that and whatever other reason he seemed to think he needed to.
Bobby mulled it over. "Dean's kind of got a point, Manda… but look, I'm friendly with the sheriff. Let me call over there, find out what's been happening over at the store with this woman, and see if there's more to it." He began wheeling himself back to his library then.
Sam stood there thinking about it as he looked at her in wonder. "Maybe you should humour my brother? Not just for his sake, but yours too. I mean, it all sort of makes sense. At least the part about that night doesn't seem like a coincidence or a lucky guess. Could be something, and it could be nothing, but Dean's just trying to look out for you. You know how he gets."
Manda closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. "Yeah… just try to talk to some sense into him, Sam. Let Bobby find out what the sheriff thought first. Maybe that woman's just batshit crazy and slightly psychic, nothing more." She walked over to the front door. "But I'm going outside for some air now or I might kick your brother soon."
Sam smirked at her knowingly. "I know the feeling. I'll talk to him, but don't be surprised if Castiel shows up anyway."
"Awesome…" Manda muttered sarcastically, as she headed out the door, slamming it behind her.