Hail, and well met, fair reader. This is an excerpt from a multi-chapter story I'm writing. I really really like it and I hope you do too. -LeaRush

Dean grabbed a book from the bed and set it on the single cabinet set against the wall of the van. Julia shoved shoes, jackets, and a scarf into a cubby under the bedframe, then shoved clothes into a large canvas bag to get laundered. Julia said, as she stripped bedding from the mattress, "Put that in the front seats, will you?" Dean took the blankets. Together the pair stripped the blue sheets off and replaced them with brown, tugging the corners into place. Dean handed blankets back to Julia as she requested them and when they were all in place she crawled back off the newly made bed.

She grabbed a large throw blanket to take with her into the motel room. As she did something fell out of the folds.

"Oh my god..." Julia looked at Dean as he picked up the item. It was a medium sized light pink teddy bear wearing a white ribbon around its neck and holding a white rose. He hadn't said it loudly but she heard the surprise in his voice. Dean saw her looking at him and asked "You still have this?" Julia replied "Of course I do. It cheered me up so much I actually carried it around in my purse for a couple weeks."

*flashback*

This bear had been from a claw machine. Dean had won it for her. She had gone to see the film A Walk To Remember and came out stifling tears. She met Dean at the coffee house a block from the theater. When he saw she had been crying he asked "That good, huh?". Julia chuckled and wiped a cheek. "Well, the guy realized he loved the girl but it turns out the girl had leukemia, so the guy takes her on all these great dates, crossing items off her bucket list and then he asks her to marry him and they do. In the end she dies but they had a whole happy couple of years and -" Here she stopped to catch her breath. She blew her nose. "Sorry. I really liked it, even though I don't think I could watch it second time." Dean smiled at her. He was surprised at the tug on his heart to offer her a hug. He kept his hands in pockets. "Well if you want to, we could rent a better movie and watch it at your place. The admission would be cheaper and the snacks would be better." He said grinning. Julia laughed. "That sounds fantastic."

Dean and Julia walked back to his Impala. They drove to the Video Rental and picked up Die Hard. Dean had been surprised to learn that Julia had never seen it. While Julia used her membership card for the tape, microwave popcorn, and Redvines, Dean saw the claw machine by the door and he decided he wanted to get Julia something else to cheer her up.

They got back in the car and started off for Julia's apartment. "I'm glad restocked my Pepsi stash." She said as she read the back of the video box. "So Die Hard is good, huh?" Dean scoffed at her teasingly. "Of course it is. Bruce Willis shooting up the bad guys on Christmas Eve. It even has a happy ending for the guy and his wife. Seemed like the perfect cure for the chick flick you went to see." Julia nodded, a small smile on her face. "Sure sounds like it." Dean fished something out of his left coat pocket and tossed it in her lap. "I also picked that up for ya. Thought it would help." Julia had fumbled to catch the fuzzy thing, bonking the cassette into her forehead in the process. Dean was worried she would be mad about that little move when she gasped and said "For me?" Dean took his eyes from the road just long enough to see Julia holding the item as if it was made of gold. "Sure. If you wanna keep it."

Julia stared at the pink stuffed bear that fit just right in between her hands. She looked at Dean, who had met her eyes for a split second before returning to the road to make a right. Dean had won this from the claw machine at the video store. For her. She'd seen this bear in that glass box every week for 2 months. Hadn't particularly longed for it. She could have won it for herself. But she did like how soft and gentle the bear's smiling face looked holding that white rose.

*flashback over*

"So you do remember me?" It was more of a statement than a question. Dean looked up from the pink bear, his memory yanked from the past. "I was gonna ask you the same. That weekend really mean that much to you?" "It did. I was supposed to have seen that chick flick with my friend but she bailed out on me. She told me she wasn't feeling well. Later I find out she was in the next theater neckin' with my ex. You were there for me Dean. And Die Hard is my favorite Christmas movie because of you. I gave that bear to Airynn the day she was born." Julia gazed at it before looking back to Dean. "Thank you for that."

They just looked at each other for a few moments. Questions evident that were not yet ready to be discussed. Julia broke away first. "We um... We'd probably best get some sleep. How long of a drive is it to your safehouse?" She busied her hands and attention on tidying the van, straightening the blanket on the bed. Dean placed the bear gently into the seat back pocket of the passenger seat. "About 3 hours. If we don't stop for gas."

Julia glanced at him. "That's not bad at all." She stepped down, out of the van. "You have everything you need from the room?" Dean moved to sit on the end of the bed to lace his boots in such a way that he could slip them off for now, but back on quickly if needed. "Sure do."

"Well... G'night Dean. Thanks for helping us out." Dean looked up from his boots at Julia's pretty, but tired face. Her hair loosely held back in a scrunchie. Falling loose at the edges. She wore her sleeping clothes, a green sweatshirt with Winnie the Pooh, black sweatpants, and her tennis shoes from earlier that day, untied. "No problem at all. Always glad to help an old friend." He offered a tiny tired smirk. She smiled back. "Sleep well." She turned back to the motel door, knocked twice, and disappeared inside.

Hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I did writing it. Thanks for stopping by. -LeaRush