Thank you again to JustWhisperingFantasies for beta'ing! Couldn't have done this without you ❤️
July 29th, 2006
Lorelai took care to breathe as she faced down the vampire in front of her, doing what she could to keep up her mask of neutrality and stop her heart from racing. In all fairness, it wasn't so much the vamp that had her bothered as it was the men to her left.
"That's big talk for a half-wit con that went down running an illegal monster-fighting ring," she quipped, putting up her normal bluster. "What happened, Wally? One of the monsters have enough of your shit and turn you? Or was this the punishment you got for snitching last year to get your ass outta the fire? Either way, I gotta say… it's quite the improvement."
Walter Vaughn was a piece of shit she had arrested at least twice in the last three years, the most recent of which had been Spring the previous year. As a repeat offender, especially one that had managed to jinx her in the midst of a raid, Lorelai had been eager to see him go away. Then he'd offered to squeal on a bunch of people above him running the ring, and MACUSA cut a deal. It had been a bitter pill to swallow. Her record was good, and the few that got away really pissed her off.
Walter having just outted her didn't do him any favors either. And that skeezy, smarmy look on his face only hacked her off more. He was, however, at a distinct disadvantage compared to the last time she'd seen him… one she suspected he hadn't realized yet.
"It has its advantages," Walter shot back coolly. "For example, I can hear how nervous you are right now – your heart's beating a mile a minute – and I can practically smell your fear from here. Undermines that cocky attitude you're so fond of hiding behind. You're all bluster."
Keeping her wand trained ahead, Lorelai felt her eyes narrow. Fucking asshole. This was not the kind of bullshit she needed right now.
"Keep pressing your luck and find out, Wally. Enough games. Cooperate and I'll think about making your death quick."
Lorelai could tell realization was starting to dawn, saw it flicker in Walter's eyes, but before he could say anything further, John's patience seemed to finally give out.
"What the hell is going on here?" he shouted, looking between all four of them. "And if you think I'm about to let –"
"Not now," she ground out without so much as sparing John a glance. "I got a job to do right now, you can deal with me later."
"Lor," Dean called over, softer but still clear, "maybe we should –"
"Not now, Dean," she snapped, probably a little harsher than she intended but mostly just trying to sound firm. She did not need Walter to think she lacked control of the situation, and the drama he had just unleashed with the Winchesters was something she'd do whatever she could to make sure unfolded elsewhere. Walter didn't need any extra leverage.
She made sure that her eyes didn't leave the vampire's smirking face.
"Here's how this is gonna go. I'm gonna ask you questions, and you're gonna give me answers. And if you try and lie to me, I'll know, and I'll make it hurt. I think you and I both know that won't be a challenge for me. Are we clear?"
The proverbial damage, however, had been done by the display with the Winchesters, and Walter's grin widened.
"Oh, I don't think you'll be getting anything out of me, sugar. Not when I've got so many other juicy details to bargain with." He jerked his chin towards John and Lorelai could have cursed. "I'm sensing some discord amongst the group. What do you think Daddy Hunter would be willing to do to find out all about the witch his boy's been screwing?"
Dean tensed beside her, his jaw twitching, but before he could speak, Sam was jumping in for them.
"Dad, ignore him. It's not what you think. Lorelai's one of the good guys."
Lorelai wasn't sure, but she thought that might have been the moment it fully dawned on John that it had been both of his boys keeping something from him, not just Dean. The anger and confusion on his face deepened as his attention swiveled to his youngest son.
"You knew about this too? Both of you have –"
"Look," Dean interjected, and Lorelai could hear his own restraint threatening to snap. "We can explain everything. Later. Right now, we need to focus on –"
"On what?" John demanded. "On letting some witch interrogate our only lead? Have you lost your –"
It was then that Lorelai's patience finally snapped. The personal drama playing out was undermining her, and she needed to regain control over the situation. She whirled to face John, her eyes flashing.
"Save it! This isn't helping. Let me do my job."
The tension in the room was palpable. John looked ready to explode, his hand twitching on the gun he was still holding at his side. Dean still stood between them, his body language screaming discomfort. Sam hovered, looking ready to spring into action himself. Walter's laugh cut through it all.
"Oh, this is rich. One of MACUSA's star Aurors, pleading with a no-maj hunter. What would Kirby say?" he taunted.
"Shut up," Dean growled, rounding on the vampire before Lorelai could say anything herself. "You don't get to talk."
Lorelai took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus. This was only getting further out of hand, and with some effort, she caught Dean's eye.
"I need you to go. All of you. Get your dad out of here."
That suggestion, however, might have set him off more than anything else that had happened so far that day.
"What?" he exclaimed. "No fucking way. Lorelai, I'm not leaving you alone with this –"
"I've got it," Sam spoke up. "Dad, c'mon, we'll talk outside. Dean, stay with Lorelai. We'll meet you guys outside."
John looked ready to explode, but to Sam's credit, he managed to corral his father back towards the door. Lorelai caught the appreciative look Dean sent his little brother, and even though she'd probably have rather all of them go, Lorelai found she could breathe a little easier once the door swung shut behind Sam and John, and it was just her and Dean left with Walter.
Walter seemed to realize he'd lost the only card he had to play, and gulped when she turned back around, the barest hint of fear flickering across his face as their eyes met again, his smirk faltering. Lorelai arched an eyebrow, tossing aside the machete and twirling the wand in her hand.
"Now then," she began, "where were we?"
Dean stifled a groan as he trudged into the motel room, following his dad and Sam with Lorelai on his heels. The events of the past few hours felt like a blur and more like they'd stretched over days. In all fairness, they'd all worked through the night, and he figured the running on no sleep thing wasn't helping anybody.
Driving back from dealing with the vamp – Wally, Lorelai had called him, though Dean had gathered that was her trying to piss the thing off – had been tense. His dad and Sam had been waiting for them out by the cars, and even as they approached Dean could tell his dad was on the knife's edge. Without a word he'd looked to Dean for confirmation that they'd taken care of things, and once he'd had it, he'd stormed to his truck, shouting out over his shoulder in no uncertain terms that he would see them back at the motel.
"He say anything?" Dean had asked as the three of them climbed into the Impala, this time with him behind the wheel and Sam sitting in the passenger seat. Lorelai had slipped into the back, looking uncharacteristically anxious. It was a stark contrast to the woman he'd just been backing up inside.
Lorelai had been cool as ever while she'd been interrogating, and she hadn't so much as flinched when the time had come to dispense with the monster, taking off his head with a simple slash of her wand through the air.
It was the first time he'd seen her use her magic as a weapon, as something dangerous – a realization Lorelai seemed to share if the way she'd eyed him warily afterwards was any indication. Dean had been relieved to find it didn't really bother him. After all, it wasn't like he hadn't seen her kill before, hadn't already known how absolutely dangerous she was with or without magic. He only hoped Lorelai got the right read. He still hadn't forgotten her accusation that he'd flinched the other night. Even though he was still sure he hadn't.
She hadn't spoken much during the drive, and any time Dean's eyes flickered back to observe her, he could practically see the gears turning in her head.
"Lor?" he'd tried around the halfway mark. She'd looked up, surprised, and blinked back. "You alright?"
"Yeah, fine," she grunted. Dean wasn't convinced, and neither, it seemed, was Sam.
"Are you worried about getting in trouble? I mean, I know you guys have the Statue of Secrecy thing, but I thought Aurors were allowed to tell hunters. That's why you were able to tell Dean, isn't it?"
Lorelai was quiet for a moment, chewing the inside of her mouth and picking at a nail bed. Dean saw through the eye roll and dismissive shrug easily. She was worked up about something.
"We are," she agreed. "But we're also supposed to modify memories if an… understanding can't be reached."
It clicked then, what she was worried about. He still didn't know why – it was on the ever-growing list of things he wanted to talk to her about – but he remembered Lorelai didn't believe in memory modification. He remembered what she'd said about his dad having a bit of a reputation. And he'd just witnessed, same as her and Sam, how badly the big reveal had just gone.
It would have been hard not to understand what was eating at her at that point, and neither he nor Sam prodded at her the rest of the drive. What could either of them say, really? They knew their dad. Dean certainly couldn't promise her that this was all gonna just be okay.
Inside the room, Dean could feel the tension radiating off his dad, John's face a mask of barely contained fury and confusion. Sam hovered nearby, his eyes darting between Lorelai, Dean, and their dad, clearly unsure how to proceed. It was uncharted territory for all of them.
Dean tossed the bag he'd grabbed out of his and Lorelai's room on the table, hoping but not expecting to get through the conversation without digging into the resources he'd saved from when he'd found out.
"Alright," John growled as the door clicked shut behind Lorelai. "I want answers. Now."
Lorelai was the person best equipped to give them, but John was looking directly at Dean, and he nodded. Suddenly Lorelai brushed past him, her shoulder bumping his as she went towards the little table. The brief contact sent a jolt through him, another reminder he didn't need of how… unresolved everything still was between them.
Now wasn't the time, though. There were bigger things to deal with.
"What do you wanna know?" Dean threw back, taking a deep breath and steeling himself for the conversation ahead.
"How long have you two known about this?" his dad demanded, eyes blazing with fury, and this time they shifted between Dean and Sam, even if they did land ultimately back on Dean.
"A while," Dean admitted with a shrug, allowing himself only a brief glance in Sam's direction. "Look, Dad, I know it's a lot to take in, but –"
"A lot to take in?" John cut over him, his voice rising. "You've been working with a witch, Dean! And God knows what else. After everything we've seen, everything we know about their kind –"
"Lorelai's not like that," Sam interjected, stepping forward. "She's different – born with her magic instead of bargaining for it. It's not –"
"Born with it?" their dad scoffed. "Do I look like I was born yesterday? C'mon, Sam! All witches get their power from demons, you know that."
Dean felt a flicker of irritation, despite the fact that he knew he'd thought the same thing less than a year ago. Things were different now, though. He knew better. And if he could get there, he had to hope his dad could too.
"No, Dad, we don't. It's not that simple. Look, I get it, it seems impossible. But it's real. There's a whole freaking world out there we didn't know about, and Lorelai's part of it. Her magic's different. And she's used it to save our asses more than once already."
John's eyes somehow managed to narrow even further, and for the first time since they'd all gotten into the room, he turned directly to Lorelai. She was sitting at the little table, between where he and Sam were each standing, in front of their dad. The nervousness was still there, but she was masking it – well enough that Dean suspected he was the only one that could tell. It was the subtle things that he caught – like the slight twitch of her jaw and the way she kept running the ridge of her thumbnail against the pad of her index finger.
"Is that true?"
Lorelai looked almost surprised to be being addressed directly, but she nodded, irritation coloring the gesture.
"Yes," she told him simply, almost as if he were an idiot for asking. "We like to keep to ourselves. We've got our own schools, laws, government – we're still people. We've just got a little… extra juice. Nothing evil, just different. Magic's just a part of our DNA."
Dean watched as his dad tried to make sense of the information, noting the way his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. He was clearly uncomfortable, but Dean was surprised he at least seemed to be trying to grasp what he was being told.
If he was being honest, it was more than he expected.
"How does it work?" John finally asked, his voice gruff but still betraying his curiosity. "Your… magic."
Lorelai hesitated, her eyes flickering to Dean. He gave her a small nod, encouraging her to continue and trying to look reassuring. He couldn't help but think back to when she'd laid all of this on him and how it had gone. He tried not to wonder if she was thinking about it too, though he was sure the thought had at least crossed her mind.
She took a deep breath before launching into an explanation of the wizarding world – the schools, MACUSA, the laws governing them, and the various magical creatures that existed alongside the ones John had spent most his adulthood hunting. Dean recognized a lot of it – some of the information she'd tried to tell him, and a lot of it was stuff he remembered reading after she'd taken off, leaving that big, Lorelai-shaped hole in his life. She took care to keep things simple – surface level, and digestible. Dean snuck glances at Sam, enough to know that none of it was news to his brother either. Like him, Sam seemed more interested in how their dad was going to ultimately react.
John's expression remained guarded, but Dean could see the wheels turning. It was clear he was trying to reconcile this new information with everything he thought he knew about the supernatural.
It made the guilt Dean had already been struggling with intensify.
There was an argument to be made as to why his dad was taking it so much better. He and Sam were standing there vouching for her, for one. She'd also just helped them out, killing a monster. And John didn't have the same personal connection to Lorelai that Dean'd had. He wasn't… involved with her. The shock, Dean reasoned, probably didn't hit at such a personal level.
But they were the same reasons he should have been able to take it better. By the time she'd told him, how many creepy, evil things had they taken on together? How many times had she had his back? And yeah, the sense of betrayal had been real – real in a way that still made his blood fucking boil – but being involved with her the way he'd been, he'd known her. She'd even pointed that out, not that he'd cared in the moment.
Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows – it never was. And eventually, John's eyes started to narrow again.
"And you just, what, stay hidden?" he pressed after Lorelai got through explaining the Statute of Secrecy. "Let people suffer from supernatural threats while you guys sit back and do nothing?"
Lorelai's eyes flashed dangerously.
"We do plenty," she snapped. "Why do you think you've never had to deal with a dark wizard? Or a nundu? Or any number of magical creatures that would tear through a town before you could even load your shotgun? There have been wars fought on your behalf that would make your skin crawl. And that's all knowing that if we didn't keep to ourselves, we'd likely be facing levels of persecution from your world surpassing the Salem Witch Trials. So don't go there. We do what we can."
The room fell silent at her outburst. Dean found himself holding his breath, waiting for his dad's reaction, and, almost more importantly, wondering what Lorelai would do with it. It was still a subject he'd learned about mostly from Bobby's books rather than from her.
John, however, seemed to take the warning for what it was, and instead turned his attention back on his own boys. "And you two," he began, the anger Dean was used to ramping back up. "You've known about all this for how long?"
Sam shifted uncomfortably, and Dean knew why. Hell, he'd been pissed at Sam when he'd found out how long his little brother had been keeping the big secret under wraps. Things were tense enough between him and their dad, this didn't need to make it worse.
"Lor told me everything last September," Dean admitted, swallowing hard, "right before I took care of that vengeful spirit with you in Iowa. I clued Sam in after we started hunting together again."
For the briefest of moments, Dean thought he saw hurt flash across his dad's face, mixing with the fury.
"And you didn't think to tell me? Either of you?"
Any tugging at his heartstrings the glimpse of vulnerability did was undone immediately by that question, and Dean looked back coldly, cocking an eyebrow.
"It's not like you've exactly been easy to get a hold of," he pointed out. It didn't matter that even if he had been available, Dean wouldn't have told him shit about Lorelai anyway. If he were going to, it would have been in Iowa.
His dad stuttered back into silence, his jaw twitching as if he wanted to argue but his brow furrowing in thought. Dean could see the conflict playing out on his face, and that made him soften just a bit.
All things considered, it was still better than how he'd handled it.
"Look," Dean continued, taking care to drop the edge his voice had held before. "I know it's a lot to take in. Hell, I had a hard time with it too. But Lorelai… she's one of the good guys, Dad. I mean it. You asked me last year if I trust her, and I still do. I trust her with my life. I trust her with Sammy's life. That's gotta count for something, here."
He'd meant for it to set his dad at ease, but there was something there that had the opposite effect. Dean watched the gears kick back into motion, just before he found himself on the receiving end of a suspicious look.
"So that's real, then, huh? You and her? Because I gotta tell you, Dean –"
"Dad, I'm beggin' you, not –" he tried, painfully aware of the eyes that were on him. But John bulldozed right ahead.
"No, we are gonna do this now. I mean, what the hell are you thinking? It was bad enough that you let yourself get attached to someone, but a witch, Dean? Really?"
The questions hung in the air, heavy with implication. Dean felt a surge of defensiveness, coupled with a twist of discomfort as they unwittingly pushed all the things left unsaid, all the unresolved bullshit between him and Lorelai back to the surface. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with this in front of a fucking audience. Before he could respond, though, Lorelai scoffed, a bitter sound that cut through the air like a knife.
"Don't worry," she bit out, "Dean's still your good little soldier. The witch thing was a pretty immediate deal breaker for him. I'm just on speed dial when they need help these days."
The words hit Dean like a physical blow. He whirled to Lorelai, shock and hurt warring for dominance. "C'mon, Lor, that's not fair –"
But Lorelai wasn't listening. She was already moving, brushing past him towards the door, and he just caught the roll of her eyes.
"Oh, the hell it's not. Don't mind me, though. I'll just be next door working on actually trying to finish this damn case while you three sit around and decide whether or not me and my kind are good enough to warrant lowering yourselves to associate with."
Without letting anyone else speak, she yanked the door open and stormed out.
Silence followed in which Dean could only hear his own heart pounding. He heard his dad talking half a beat later, but the words didn't register. The sound only served to startle him into action.
Reaching into the bag he fumbled through it almost blindly, and when his fingers closed around the folder Lorelai had left him all those months ago, he didn't think – he just pulled it out and shoved it at Sam.
"Wha –"
"Just – just you two talk. That'll help. I gotta –"
The words failed him, but they were unnecessary – Sam was already nodding as Dean made for the door. His dad tried to say something, but Dean didn't hear that either.
Outside, Lorelai hadn't gotten far – only halfway between the room she'd just left and theirs. Dean wasted no time.
"Lorelai, what the hell was that?" he called out before the door had even fully swung shut behind him. At the sound of his voice, she froze and spun back around, the anger still blazing in her eyes.
"What the hell was what? It was the truth, wasn't it?"
It felt like she'd slapped him, even though he should have expected them, and Dean felt his own temper flare.
"Oh, come on, Lor. It isn't that simple, and you know it!"
"No?" she fired back. "Because from where I'm sitting, it is."
Dean ground his teeth. He knew it was her own hurt feelings talking, that she thought she could protect herself by being angry instead of hurt, but he wasn't having it this time.
"I did not leave you because of what my dad was going to say. Hell, Lorelai, I didn't fucking leave you! You left!"
Lorelai scoffed, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"Are you fucking kidding me? You held a gun on me and told me I'm something you should be hunting, and you're gonna try and blame me for leaving? Fuck you, Dean!"
Something uncomfortable churned in his gut, but Dean ignored it.
"My girlfriend, of almost half a year, drops on me oh hey, by the way, I'm a freaking witch, after I ask her to basically come live with me – uh yeah, of course I had a reaction! I mean, how the hell did you think that was gonna go down? And I haven't exactly heard you apologize for lying to me the whole damn time we were together, so let's not pretend you're so fucking innocent in all this!"
"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you the whole truth!"
"You didn't – wha – didn't – are you fucking high, Lor? Didn't lie? You told me you were a journalist! You let me come meet your damn family, and had all of them lie to me too!"
"I didn't have a choice!"
The words hung before them for a moment, and Dean felt his eyes widen, if possible, even further in disbelief.
"Didn't have a choice? Are you actually trying to feed me that line right now? That is such a load of crap!"
"It's not a line! We have a Statute of -"
"Oh yes it fucking is a line! Don't try and talk to me about whatever bureaucratic bullshit you're gonna try and hide behind either. You're the one that dragged it out, you're the one that waited five goddamn months to tell me. God, Lor, y'know, I fucked up but at least I can admit it! I have tried to apologize, I have tried to be here since, and you have made it impossible at every fucking turn!"
"That's rich! You've tried to be here? Really? Is that why I missed all those phone calls between September and May? Or why I woke up to nothing more than a crappy one lined note after you blew town?"
He realized, then, that he still hadn't told her about Sam's visions, or why he'd left Kinston in such a hurry. He was also too amped up to give a shit. As far as he was concerned, he could have left because there was a sale on pie two towns over and she wouldn't have had the right to judge him.
They were both guilty, but he'd spent so much time pushing down his own anger towards her… now that the lid had been popped… there was just no pulling it back.
"Don't start, you know what I was dealing with, what Sam was dealing with. And yeah, finding my dad was more important than the bullshit drama –"
"Drama?" she shot back. "That's what we're calling it now?"
Dean glared.
"The hell does it matter? I men, what do you even want from me here, Lorelai?"
"I want you to be honest!"
Dean scoffed. He ran a hand down his mouth and looked back at her challengingly, but she didn't flinch.
"Honest? Really? You wanna talk to me about honest? Alright, let's be honest. I have done everything I can to make this work, and you haven't stopped trying to push me away since the beginning. I have been more honest with you than I've ever been with a woman, and I have done everything I can to show you what you mean to me. I saw a future with you – and you just strung me along and stomped all over it without a fucking care in the world! I mean, how the hell am I supposed to trust you again? And you really wanna stand there and accuse me of not being honest with you? Get the fuck out of here."
Dean thought it may have been the first time he'd seen her speechless, and it was certainly the first time she'd been rendered such by something he'd said. Still, she recovered quickly, masking the quick flash of pain he saw with white hot rage that matched his own.
"So I guess all that stuff you said in there was just a load of crap?"
Dean made a noise somewhere between a growl and a whine as they glared at each other.
"You know what I mean!"
"No, I don't, actually. So what is it, Dean? Am I some freak you can't trust that you'll lower yourself to hang around when the occasion calls for it? Or is there actually something here? And if you think I was fucking stringing you along then you're even dumber than you let on!"
"Oh, don't put words in my mouth. I never called you a freak! And don't act like you've been so forthcoming about how you feel! Fuck, Lor! Even before getting you to admit you so much as missed me or liked talking to me felt like it took a fucking act of god! How many times did you have to hide behind cases as reasons to even be willing to see me when we were together? And since then? You wanna talk about Chicago? Or how about the oh-so-warm reception you gave me in Kinston? You fought me tooth and fucking nail almost the whole time Sam and I were there!"
Lorelai's nostrils flared, her eyes flashing dangerously, but Dean didn't give a shit. She could hex him for all he fucking cared.
"Screw you, Winchester! I don't need this shit! Go crawl back to your dad and work the case with him, I'll be fine on my own!"
And before he could even think about saying anything else, Lorelai was spinning back around on her heel and storming down towards their room. The door slammed behind her with a resounding thud that shook the glass in the windows, and Dean ran a hand down his face, just barely resisting every urge he had to go screaming after her.
It had been a long time coming – even as heated as he was, he knew that – but that didn't make any of it feel any damn better. And whatever had just happened, he knew it wasn't over. Just like the mess he'd left in his dad and Sam's room still needed dealing with.
With a groan, Dean forced himself to turn back around. Best he could do was deal with one clusterfuck at a time, and right now, his dad was the lesser of two evils.
Fuck, he'd be happy when this day was over.
Sam blinked down at the folder, his brain slowly catching up to what had just happened as Dean disappeared through the door. As it clicked shut, Sam felt his dad's gaze turn back to him and he wearily looked up to meet it. Something about the intensity of Dean's departure seemed to have broken through on some level to John, and curiosity was taking control of his expression rather than the anger that had been running the show just seconds before.
They stared at each other for a minute, and then his dad finally exhaled, gesturing dimly to the door.
"You wanna tell me what's going on there? With your brother and Lorelai, I mean."
Sam scratched the back of his neck, his eyes drifting in that direction while he thought.
"Dean hasn't exactly given me the full run down. But, uh, I know they did split up, before Dean came and got me. But, obviously…" Sam trailed off, not wanting to betray Dean's confidence, but not sure what else to really say.
"He loves her," John finished for him, and Sam nodded. There was no point in lying. It was painfully obvious.
"Yeah. Not that he'll say it. She, uh, she got into some trouble on a case a few months back. Dean dropped everything and ran. We've kept in touch with her here and there since. She really has been a help; Dean wasn't making that up."
The sound of raised voices carried in from outside, muffled but still recognizable as Dean and Lorelai's. His dad nodded, more to himself than anything, and went to sit on the edge of the foot of the bed.
"What's that?" he asked, nodding to the folder Sam had almost forgotten about. Sam looked down, flipping it open and scanning over the contents. The pages were a little worn, just like the folder itself – evidence that Dean had read through it probably more times than he'd ever admit. They included printouts on MACUSA's letterhead, talking about things like the Statute of Secrecy and different magical forces, a brochure, a handwritten list of what appeared to be book titles and random names – Sam recognized enough to realize it was a list of hunters.
His eyes stuttered over the left panel of the folder, where a letter written in Lorelai's handwriting took up nearly all of the space, and he had to work not to show his surprise when he unearthed a film strip between one of the leaflets and the list of hunters. It showed his brother and Lorelai happier than he'd ever seen them in a mix of poses, and Sam realized it must have been from before.
Taking care to hold back the folder and the film strip, Sam gathered the rest of the contents and handed them over to their dad.
"Looks like information Lorelai gave Dean, probably when she told him about all of this. I'm guessing that list on top are other hunters MACUSA works with – that's not Lorelai's handwriting, but I recognize some of the names."
He accepted the papers and started to read them over. Sam found himself distracted by the folder still clutched in his hands and the yelling he could still hear from outside. They were getting louder, more heated, and he could make out some of what was being said with clarity.
You held a gun on me and told me I'm something you should be hunting, Sam heard Lorelai say, before shouting a, Fuck you, Dean!
To date, Sam still hadn't heard the whole story, though he'd pieced together enough. The revelation wasn't surprising, but he still cringed. A surreptitious glance in his dad's direction told Sam he was listening to them too.
Dean's voice followed, matching hers in intensity, the fury unmistakable even through the walls.
My girlfriend, of almost half a year, drops on me oh hey, by the way, I'm a freaking witch, after I ask her to basically come live with me – uh yeah, of course I had a reaction! I mean, how the hell did you think that was gonna go down? And I haven't exactly heard you apologize for lying to me the whole damn time we were together, so let's not pretend you're so fucking innocent in all this!
Even having known things had been "serious" and that Dean and Lorelai had "been in deep" before she'd told him, Sam hadn't realized they'd been that serious, and his eyes widened at the reveal. It was hard to imagine Dean asking anyone for that kind of commitment.
He found himself unwittingly, drawn in, wanting to strain to hear more, but as if sensing as much, his dad looked up from the papers and back to Sam.
"You know anything about that?" he asked, but Sam shook his head.
"No, sir… do you think we should…" Sam wasn't even entirely sure what he was suggesting, but his dad shook his head anyway, wearily eyeing the door before turning back to Sam.
"No, let them hash it out. Sounds like it might've been a long time coming."
Sam couldn't help but snort. "Yeah, probably."
They could still hear the voices outside, but they were muffled now, and Sam couldn't help but tense, noting the irony in his dad's words. Dean and Lorelai weren't the only two that had been avoiding an elephant in the room – something they both seemed aware of.
Unconsciously, Sam turned his attention back to the items still in his hand. He thumbed over the film strip, his eyes catching on the photos. The top two were silly – Dean wiping something off Lorelai's face, and then the other him pushing her away while he drank from a flask. In the third they were kissing, and in the bottom one they were actually smiling at the camera.
In all of them, they looked happy. Sam wasn't sure he'd ever seen pictures of his brother that looked so… normal. They looked like any ordinary couple that had been out on a date.
It was bizarre and Sam felt a wave of sympathy churning with an irrational flash of jealousy.
The way they looked at each other… the lighthearted, care-free camaraderie depicted… the easy intimacy… it reminded him sorely of what he'd had with Jess. It was an ache that hadn't gotten any easier, and not only was she not there for him to find his happy ending… most of the reminders he had from their time together had gone up in flames with their apartment and the bulk of his belongings.
"Sammy."
The sound of his dad's voice disrupted the train of thought driving through his mind, and Sam looked up, surprised and almost tense. His dad was still holding the papers but his eyes were solely focused on Sam.
"Yeah."
"I don't think I ever told you this, but… the day you were born, you know what I did?"
Sam wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it hadn't been a trip down memory lane. There was even something softer in John's expression that Sam wasn't used to seeing. His brow furrowed.
"No."
His dad gave him a nostalgic kind of smile. Sam closed the folder and placed it on top of Dean's bag.
"I put a hundred bucks into a savings account for you. I did the same thing for your brother… It was a college fund. And every month, I'd put in another hundred dollars, until…"
He didn't need to finish. They both knew what he meant.
Until the demon had paid a visit to Sam's nursery and burned his mom on the ceiling.
"Anyway, my point is, Sam, this is never the life that I wanted for you."
It was, admittedly, something Sam had never stopped to consider before. He'd never had the luxury Dean did of a memory of their lives from before, though he was sure Dean would argue his memory didn't count for much, it was so small. Sam disagreed. He was so hardwired into the way they'd grown up that it was hard to even think of their dad as anything but a hunter. And he had no actual memories of their mother.
On some level, what his dad was saying made sense. It definitely got the gears in his brain turning. But it didn't reconcile with the dad Sam knew and had grown up with. It didn't reconcile with the argument they'd had to end all arguments when he'd announced he was going to Stanford either.
And there was the crux of the issue. The elephant in the room that they had been avoiding.
"Then why'd you get so mad when I left?"
"You gotta understand something," his dad began, if possible, his features softening even more. "After your mother passed, all I saw was evil – everywhere. And all I cared about was keeping you boys alive. I wanted you… prepared. Ready. Except somewhere along the line, I, uh… I stopped being your father and I… I became your, your drill sergeant."
Sam let out a small puff of air, ruminating to himself that truer words may never have been spoken.
That part of the story was familiar, Sam had heard it before. Now, though, after Jess… it hit differently, and Sam found himself wandering closer as his dad kept talking… settling in to sit on the foot of the other bed.
"So when you said that you wanted to go away to school, all I could think about, my only thought was, that you were gonna be alone. Vulnerable. Sammy, it just… it never occurred to me what you wanted. I just couldn't accept the fact that you and me – we're just different."
At that, Sam couldn't hold back the laugh. It was short, soft, humorless, but his dad caught it immediately, asking what without missing a beat. Sam shook his head.
Once upon a time, he'd have been the first person to agree with the sentiment. He had never gotten along with John the way Dean had, had always felt like the freak of the family even.
But times changed. And the picture his dad had just painted was one that Sam no longer had any trouble picturing.
"We're not different," Sam explained. "Not anymore. With what happened to Mom and Jess…" he let out another one of those humorless laughs. "Well, we probably have a lot more in common than just about anyone."
Sam remembered his conversation with Lorelai in Fitchburg and thought she might be a close third, but he kept that thought to himself. His dad smiled, and Sam could see the realization dawning on him too.
"I guess you're right, son."
Sam smiled back, shaking his head.
"Hey Dad? Whatever happened to that college fund?"
His dad's smile turned wry.
"Spent it on ammo," John admitted. They shared a look, and for a moment the absurdity of the situation struck Sam in a way it usually didn't. He started to actually laugh, and his dad followed suit.
They were still chuckling when the door opened a few seconds later and Dean came striding through, alone and silently fuming. Sam and John both fell silent, and Sam blinked almost in surprise when Dean immediately looked to him.
"Did you –" he started to ask, but their dad interjected before Dean could finish the question.
"You alright, son?"
Dean turned, clearly caught off guard, but shook it off.
"I'm fine," he dismissed, his tone making it clear that it was a lie but it wasn't up for discussion either. "You two sort everything out? Or you got more questions?"
At that their dad nodded and held up the papers Sam had handed him earlier.
"I'm sure I'll have a few. Where'd your girl go?"
Dean stiffened, and though Sam had gotten distracted from their fight, it didn't take a genius to realize it hadn't ended well.
"She's not my – Lorelai's in our room. Why? Didn't think you wanted to work with her anyway."
There was quiet as John looked between the two of them and Sam waited, sharing a look with Dean that told him neither of them knew what their dad was thinking. Finally, his eyes landed on Sam and he nodded towards the shared wall.
"Yeah, well this is an all hands on deck situation, and we've come this far. Sammy, why don't you go see if you can talk to her. I wanna talk with your brother."
The silence that followed was tense, but it hadn't been left up for debate. Sam looked to Dean, wondering if he was going to argue. His brother looked tense, jaw twitching and body rigid, but he didn't speak up, and after a moment, he let out a defeated exhale, nodding in the same direction their dad had. A silent go. Sam took a breath and pushed to his feet.
"Yeah alright," he agreed.
On the way out he mumbled a quiet good luck to Dean. It was met with a snort Sam was pretty sure meant Dean thought he'd need the luck more, but Sam ignored him and continued on.
He was sure Lorelai wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but he didn't envy whatever conversation Dean was in for. He'd take his chances with the hacked off witch. At the very least, he figured he was likely her favorite Winchester in that moment, and hopefully that would count for something.
"So there's –"
"Eleven left, plus the one they turned, which I guess makes twelve," Lorelai repeated, looking up at Sam and John. "And you were right. They're planning to come for us at night. Walter only snuck away because he saw me Apparate. So if we go back in before sundown, we should still be able to manage the element of surprise. They've got someone looking out, but I can take care of it from a distance before we head in."
Dean watched from the side. He'd been with her when she'd been getting this information from the vampire that had followed them, but he was more than happy to leave her to do the talking. The tension had eased between her and his dad, but she and him were another story. Sam had managed to get her to come back, but she and Dean had barely grunted at each other, both of them only tolerating the other for the sake of what was going on.
"And you can do that without tipping them off?"
Lorelai nodded, casually twirling her wand between her fingers the way others might a knife.
"Not a problem," she assured him smoothly. "Then from what we saw and what Walter said, most of them all sleep in that big open space in the hammocks, but their leader and his mate are in that back room and that's where the Colt is."
"Even you can't be in two places at once," Sam pointed out. Lorelai nodded slowly, and for half a second, Dean noticed her eyes flickered in his direction. It didn't take long for him to understand why.
"No, I can't. So I think it's probably best that you and I go in through that window where we went through with Dean earlier – we'll be outnumbered, but it should be pretty manageable now that I can use my magic. And then if you and Dean go in through the back," she continued, turning her attention to his dad, "you guys can make sure they don't get away, and we should be able to get the gun."
It was a simple plan, and it made sense, but there was something about it all that just set Dean's teeth on edge. It wasn't that he particularly wanted to pair up with her right then and there either, but it still stung that she'd unilaterally decided she'd be partnering with Sam.
"And when we get it," his dad started, "you just want to, what? Study it?"
Lorelai shrugged. "More or less. Look, would I like to keep it? Sure. It would be helpful, but I don't have the same kind of need for it. I'm trying to recreate it, or create something like it, not use it."
His dad seemed to mull that over for a moment, but he nodded. It had already been discussed – it was one of the first questions John had for her when she'd come back – why she'd wanted to work this with them. Dean figured it had probably only helped her case if anything. After all, her goal was one all of them could get behind. No one was gonna argue against coming up with a way to kill demons.
The rest of their strategizing session went smoothly enough. With everything laid out on the table, Lorelai worked with his dad surprisingly well, and even Sam seemed less argumentative than he had the rest of the time they'd been in Manning.
Trouble didn't come until they'd agreed that with a solid plan in place, and with Lorelai being able to actually ward their rooms and hide them, a couple hours sleep before going after a bunch of vampires that had them outnumbered three to one was probably a good idea. He and Lorelai had still barely said two words to each other, but neither his dad nor his brother seemed inclined to offer up any alternatives to put them out of their misery. And so he found himself grinding his teeth and shouldering his bag as he followed Lorelai back to their room, neither of them saying a word and both of them still silently fuming.
In stark contrast to their first night there when they'd moved around each other with an easy familiarity, their interactions now were punctuated with grunts and passive aggressive jabs as they begrudgingly navigated the shared space. Neither of them were interested in going through the full routine they would to actually go to sleep for the night, but Lorelai did pull the flannel off she'd been wearing over her tank top, and that was when Dean spotted it.
The glaring red reminder on her arm that attempts at sleep were probably going to be futile for her. Even when she'd dozed off in the back seat of the Impala she'd started fidgeting, small whimpers and moans falling from her lips. They'd only stopped when Dean had pulled his jacket over her like a blanket, and he frowned at the realization.
Debate raged in his head for maybe fifteen seconds. Lorelai didn't notice him pause, but she did notice when he reached to pull back the covers of her bed, and gave him a skeptical look.
Debate raged in his head for maybe fifteen seconds. Lorelai didn't notice him pause, but she did notice when he reached to pull back the covers of her bed and gave him a skeptical look.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Dean rolled his eyes but continued moving as if he hadn't heard her.
"You need to sleep," he grunted, as if that answered the question. And when she still looked back at him incredulously, he motioned to her arm. "Last I checked, you've still got a problem."
Lorelai's nostrils flared.
"I'm fine."
Another time he might have entertained her typical brand of stubbornness, but today Dean wasn't fucking having it.
"No, you're not. And I need to sleep too. Look, it's not like I'm particularly thrilled about this either, but unless you wanna go try and curl up with Sam –"
"Excuse me?"
"Well since we're changing up partners and all –" he began to retort back, but Lorelai huffed.
"Please, like you want to work with me any more than I want to work with you right now."
"You're right, Lor, I don't. But I do want to sleep. So will you quit your bitching and just come to bed already?"
The seconds ticked by as they stared each other down, Dean from where he'd already slipped under the blankets and Lorelai from where she stood at the edge of the bed. She gave another huff but finally yanked back her side of the covers and climbed in after him.
"This doesn't change anything," she grumbled, and Dean rolled his eyes, even as he let her settle into him.
"Of course it fucking doesn't," he muttered.
And yet, despite the animosity, they both managed to get a decent two hours in before the alarm he'd set started going off.
There was a moment as they were waking up that it felt like both of them forgot that they'd been arguing, the sleep clouding their brains. She nestled into him, looking over her shoulder with that soft, sleepy smile that haunted his dreams, the arm he had around her waist tightened – but it passed as quickly as it came, and Lorelai was pulling away from him as soon as realization dawned, a scowl and narrowed eyes replacing the smile. Dean rolled off the other side of the bed, running a hand down his own face and grunting as he reached for his boots.
The actual handling of the vampire nest went as smoothly as Lorelai had told them it would. It wasn't that Dean had doubted her, but it was still somewhat of a surprise. Hunts never went completely according to plan. And although he'd seen her magic, had seen how useful it could be, he realized quickly it was a different kind of thing her being able to use it without fear of someone seeing or her needing to blend.
His dad seemed to notice it too.
"She always that efficient?" he muttered as they all trudged back to the cars. Lorelai and Sam were ahead. They were both spattered in blood, just like he and John were, but Lorelai's attention was already focused entirely on the antique gun in her hand. Dean shrugged. He wasn't about to admit he hadn't seen her at quite this speed.
"Told you she's good."
His dad hummed but didn't say anything else.
When they got back to the motel there was an awkward pause between the two rooms and Dean found himself cottoning on faster than the other two as Lorelai paused, looking uncomfortable.
"Let me guess," he started, remembering the way she'd wanted him out of her hair in Hibbing, "you need to focus."
Lorelai bit her lip, and he could see her warring with herself, torn between wanting to contradict him because she was still pissed and needing what he was offering. Finally one seemed to win out over the other and she exhaled, giving him a small nod and a pleading look to go with it.
"Yeah, for just a little while."
Next to him, his dad opened his mouth – probably to argue, but Dean cut him off.
"Fine. We'll be next door." And without waiting for her to respond, he ushered his dad and Sam towards their room, following behind them.
"You really think that was wise?" his dad asked as soon as Dean was inside. "What if she takes off with it?"
Pissed as he was, Dean rolled his eyes. Sam, at least, had a similar reaction, and they both pointed out how ridiculous that fear was.
"So while we wait, how about you fill us in?" Dean prompted, noticing the research his dad had spread out over the room. Sam's eyes widened in interest, and it took a moment but eventually their dad nodded.
"About this demon?"
"Yeah."
"You sure you two are ready for this?"
It wasn't a real question. He and Sam didn't even need to look at each other to answer in unison with a resounding yes. And so, carefully, their dad began to fill them in, glancing every so often towards the door as if to make sure no one was there to overhear, or more likely, that Lorelai hadn't come back.
He told them how he'd picked up the trail about a year ago, and Dean realized that was around the time he had started noticing his dad being flakey, something he'd initially attributed to his being more involved with Lorelai but had ended up going beyond that.
He told them about the new pattern that was forming, how it had started in Arizona, then New Jersey, and California – burning houses to the ground the way it had burned theirs. Going after families… specifically families with six-month old babies.
That hit Sam hard, and Dean tried to step in, but really what could he say? Sam wasn't stupid. It wasn't Sam's fault, but it wasn't hard to put himself in Sam's shoes and imagine how he was probably feeling.
It was only after they got past that hurdle, him and their dad both letting Sam have his moment to process, that they started talking about what was next. His dad's frustration at being always one step behind was palpable, and Dean could read without him saying all the near saves but ultimate misses his dad'd had in their months apart. The people they couldn't save were always the cases that hit the hardest and stuck with them the longest.
But then he was telling them how the signs were starting up again, this time in Salvation, Iowa. It was their chance to do something… finally put an end to the thing they'd been hunting for over two decades.
Dean couldn't help but pace as the minutes ticked by, his eyes darting towards the shared wall every so often. He, Sam, and their dad had been talking, planning their next steps, and as an old thought dawned on him anew, Dean found himself swiveling back in their direction.
"She stays out of this," he told them firmly, taking the time to look each of them in the eye. There was no need to specify who he meant. "I mean it – I don't care what she says, or how capable she is, we leave her the hell out of it. I am not putting her on this thing's radar the way –"
Dean cut off, realizing what he'd been about to say. But his implication was clear anyway.
He didn't want her on this thing's radar the way their mom had been.
He didn't want her on this thing's radar the way Jess had been.
Neither Sam nor his dad looked angry… more just like they understood. It almost pissed him off, that they could see what she was to him that easily, but in that moment, it mattered more to Dean that they listened. He didn't care that it looked like the link may have been to Sam rather than their family as a whole - Lorelai's safety wasn't something he was willing to gamble.
"But Dean, what if-" Sam started, and Dean glared.
"What if nothing, Sam. We, the three of us, can handle this. We do not need her."
Sam looked like he wanted to argue, and Dean was already gearing up for a fight when his dad spoke up, surprising both of them.
"Leave it, Sam. It's Dean's call. If he wants her left out of this, we leave her out of this."
Dean and Sam both blinked back at him. He hadn't expected an argument from his dad about excluding Lorelai, but he hadn't expected it because he'd assumed John would be relieved to part ways with her. The way he'd said it, though… he hadn't expected the easy acceptance that it was his call. Nothing had ever been his call.
Before anyone could say anything, though, the door was opening, and Lorelai herself was coming through, an irritated look on her face as she kicked the thing shut behind her and handed the gun back over to John.
"There's magic making that thing work," she announced, "but figuring out the layers is going to be a bitch. It's so old, I can't get anything off the magical signature, and replicating it didn't do shit – just gave me a regular, antique Colt revolver. I took some scans, so I can try and work through it without the actual gun, and I did find some rune work that might lead me somewhere, but if I hit a wall, it'd be nice to be able to take another look at it."
Dean noted the look of surprise mixed with a grudging respect on his dad's face. Lorelai, of course, didn't seem to have any time for it. She was still all business, and Dean could tell he wasn't the only one that was still simmering over their earlier argument.
"So what, you're asking that –"
"I'm just asking that if I call you at least consider humoring me," Lorelai finished for John with an eye roll. "You know, since we've both got the same goal in mind. But you guys should keep the gun. I can manage without it."
"What about replicating the bullets?" Sam asked, but Dean knew the answer just from the face she made.
"No dice. They aren't as complex so I can probably crack them first, but it'll still take me some time."
"You wanna take one of 'em with you?" Dean asked, trying and failing to keep the gruffness totally out of his voice.
"That's okay," Lorelai dismissed, her voice tight. "I'll work with what I have for now."
An awkward silence hung in the room, and Dean couldn't help but notice his dad eyeing all of them surreptitiously as he tucked the Colt into his jacket.
It didn't take long after that for all of them to pack up. Dean followed Lorelai back to their room to gather up his things while his dad and Sam packed up their crap and loaded it into their cars. And then before he knew it they were all back outside, ready to disperse.
It was tense as he and Lorelai stood facing each other. Dean was fully aware they had an audience but it felt like the world had narrowed to just the two of them. He was still pissed, still wanted to scream at her – she drove him fucking insane – but it didn't make parting ways with her, again, any easier.
He was tired of saying goodbye. He was more tired of doing it with all their crap still hanging over them, unresolved.
And although with the lifestyles they both led, the threat of something happening was always there, this time Dean was acutely aware of the danger he was about to walk into. This wasn't just his regular monster hunt or salt and burn, it was dangerous shit he was about to go tackle. Dangerous on a level that felt fundamentally different than what he typically tangled with.
It was with that thought in mind that he crossed the invisible barrier they'd both been maintaining and pulled her into his arms. She stiffened at first, surprised, but then her arms came around his waist and she tucked her head under his chin the way she had a thousand times before.
"I'll see you around, yeah?" he managed, and Lorelai nodded. "Go get your arm checked out. Maybe we can hook up after."
Lorelai let out a soft snort, but Dean felt her arms tighten around him anyway.
"I'll get my arm checked out if you promise me you'll actually call if anything goes sideways. Don't think I don't know what you three are up to."
Dean snorted. "I swear, anything starts to get hairy, you're our first call."
It was a promise he had no intention of keeping, but Lorelai didn't need to know that. He was relieved when she nodded.
"Yeah, okay."
Dean mourned the loss when she stepped back but knew it was for the best. He had work to do and so did she.
He watched as she hugged Sam goodbye, and then shook his dad's hand. And then after a quick glance around to make sure they weren't being watched, she gripped her and with a light crack she was gone, as if she'd never been there to begin with.
Dean sighed and pulled his keys from his pocket. Sam gave him a look, but Dean shook his head. He wasn't ready to talk about it, though he was sure Sam would push him anyway. For now though, all he wanted to do was put Manning in the rearview mirror and deal with this demon that had been plaguing them their whole lives. Everything else he could deal with later.
Thank you all for reading! Hope you all enjoyed ❤️ I'm sure we all wish they were in a little better of a spot, but progress can be messy - I promise they're heading there!
Anyway, I will see you all 3/9 with the next chapter!