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Back in the bed, Ari couldn’t sleep; her stress had escalated her cramping. She sat up and felt nauseous. She ran to the bathroom to throw up. Dean showed up behind her to hold her hair back then afterward he handed her a cold wet cloth.
“Thanks,” she said at his distressed look.
He shooed her out of the room so he could clean up and she could get back in bed. Suddenly her doubts seemed stupid. Most men would never be there for her when she most needed them. Few even acknowledged the monthly pain of women. She decided to clear the air when he came back to the bed.
“Dean, if you want Cassie then you should go to her,” she said as she fought back tears.
Damn it, she took a deep breath.
“What?” he asked calmly as he wiped at her tears again.
Good grief.
“I came looking for you when you and Sam were in the study.”
“You heard something?”
“Uh huh, I am not forcing you to be here with me. I told you the money was yours…”
“What? Why are you saying that?”
She told him that she heard something about him loving Cassie. Dean sighed as he pulled her into his arms.
“Cassie is the past and she knows that she and I are history, that …. I am with you.”
“Oh.”
“Yep, I don’t regret it, it’s what I want,” he said as he kissed her nose.”
“Good, I mean I know you are going to be busy but I want to be an asset to you not a hindrance.” she said with a sigh.
“Very good,” he said as he put his head on hers before he closed his eyes.
I am all in, more than you know, he thought.
Early the next morning, Jo packed up before she headed to her car. She looked back at the house before she got in the car but was surprised when Amber tapped on her window. She must have followed me.
“Where you going?” Amber asked.
“Well, I was leaving, I have things to do,” she said with a smile for the little girl as she got back out of the car.
She took Amber back inside, but that meant she would have to tell someone she was going to leave. She stood in the kitchen while Amber ate the cereal she made for her. She bit her lip before the tears came. Okay I can do this, I will have to wake Dean or his woman someone has to watch Amber.
“Keep eating I’ll be back,” Jo said as she headed down the hall to wake someone.
She tapped on the door a couple times before Dean opened the door. He wore only a pair of boxers and his muscles drew a gasp from Jo.
“Um, someone needs to watch Amber I’m leaving,” she said before walking away and back down the hall.
“Jo?” Dean said as he went to the bed to grab his bottoms.
Ari rubbed her eyes as she saw Dean get dressed.
“What’s going on?”
“Jo is leaving I’ll be back in a minute,” he said as he walked out the bedroom door.
Amber was coloring at the table while Jo rinsed her bowl when Dean came in.
“You couldn’t have told us this last night? You were just going to take off?”
“Yes, its getting a bit crowded here and it’s not like you give a damn,” she said as she crossed her arms over her stomach as she leaned back against the sink.
“Like Sam would say, it’s common courtesy I was talking about, and watch your language around the child,” Dean said as he glared at her.
“Don’t leave,” Amber said as she looked at Jo with sad eyes.
“It’s not personal, really, I have things to do. I got a call from a contact over in Michigan there are rumors of a werewolf up in the Upper Peninsula. Maybe I will swing back through on the way back,” she said with a smile for Amber and a glare at Dean.
“A werewolf? Maybe Sam and I should go with you,” Dean suggested.
“Oh.”
“Have you done any research?” Sam asked as he walked in the room with Paris by the hand.
Paris wasn’t dressed for her environment with four inch heels and a tight pair of Capris. She looked uncomfortable as she crossed her arms over her stomach. She had begun to notice her and Sam seemed to have slipped into a pattern of sex with very little talk. Even though she wanted to know about the supernatural, she was beginning to think Sam had begun to have second thoughts. What had she done?
Dean’s eyebrows shot up. Chet came in behind the two of them.
“Morning,” he said to the group.
Sam ignored his brother’s expression as he reached in the cabinet for two bowls.
Paris sat down at the table as she waited for Sam to fill her bowl. She smiled at Dean who went back to his discussion with Jo.
“So?” Dean asked as he reached around Sam to get his own bowl.
“Well if you want to go help, I guess you can,” she shrugged.
“Nice to see you too, Dean,” Paris said between bites.
“Yeah, um. good you made it to visit Sam,” he said as he realized he had not gone back to tell Ari what was going on.
She walked in the room just as he rose to leave the room.
“Good morning,” she said to no one in particular.
“I was going to make you breakfast,” Dean began.
“Oh no, its fine. So what is going on in here? Looks like a party,” Ari said with a smile as she got her own bowl.
Dean sat back down.
“Looks like we are going on a hunt with Jo,” Sam said as he straddled his chair.
Dean nodded, as Ari sat down beside him at the large table.
“Okay when are you leaving?”
“Well we need to research first,” Sam said around the cereal in his mouth.
Paris smiled at him.
“So I show up and you are going off on a hunt?” she asked, as she pretended not to mind.
“It’s what they do,” Ari said in defense of the Sam and Dean.
Dean squeezed her hand under the table.
“Mommy when are we going to the store?” Amber asked as she went to stand by her mother.
She still wore her Barbie nightgown.
“We are leaving after breakfast so go get dressed, okay.”
“Okay,” Amber said as she went to her room.
After breakfast, Amber, Ari, and Dean headed to the store to get supplies. They had decided to go to Wal-Mart before heading to the Whole Foods store for food. At the store they split up, Dean took Amber to the kid’s area to buy color books while Ari went in search of the other things they needed. Amber was browsing through each book as Dean waited a bit impatiently behind her. A tall blonde woman wondered into their aisle and he raised his eyebrow at the way she looked at him. Okay even I don’t like to feel like a piece of meat. He bent down to ask Amber is she was almost done. She grinned up at him but shook her head. He sighed as the blonde approached him.
“Cute kid,” she said as she stopped in front of him.
“Yeah she is, looks like her mother,” he replied without interest.
The lady shrugged.
“Are you with her mother?”
Dean nodded, the woman’s perfume had begun to work its magic on him, not that he was interested but it was a nice smell.
“I am yes….”
“He is Mommy’s boyfriend,” Amber supplied as she stood between the two of them.
The lady stood back.
“Okay, well, have a nice day,” the lady said as she walked away.
Dean smiled at Amber who went back to look at the books. Got her mother’s spunk.
Jo and Sam went to the study to do research after the others left. Paris sat bored on the sofa while Chet went outside to his truck to clean his weapons. She scanned through various magazines on the table. Looks like Ari believes in the home spun life style. It didn’t take her long to get through that project before she got up to look through the books on the shelves. There was a range of topics from mythology, romance, mysteries, biographies to an encyclopedia collection. She smiled to herself, they aim to please at least, they must have emptied a couple of thrift stores. She grabbed a romance before she sat back down to read.
Two hours later, Paris showed up in the study to find Jo and Sam laughing at something on the computer.
“Hey what’s so funny?” Paris asked as she went over to them to see what was going on.
“Oh it’s this goofy picture of a werewolf we ran across,” Sam said with a grin.
“Yeah, um… so you two done with the research?”
Jo shook her head, “No we were taking a break,” she said as she yawned.
“We did find out we need to get out of here early in the morning, there is a full moon in two days. There have been five murders in the last five months, not sure how we missed this when we were up North.”
“Guess you had other things on your mind,” Jo added with a frown as she glared at Paris.
“Yeah we did have other things we worked on,” Sam said mysteriously.
Paris raised an eyebrow at him.
When Ari, Dean and Amber arrived back at the house, Ari was disappointed to find the kitchen was a disaster area. The sink was full of dishes, the stove had oil on it, the floor had crumbs and the table looked half wiped off. She frowned as she went to the room to change. Dean shook his head just before he yelled out Sam’s name.
“Samuel Francis, get in here,” he said in a fatherly tone.
Sam ran out of the study to the kitchen to see what the problem was.
“What the hell, Dean, I’m not six why are you yelling for me?”
“You know I might believe that if the kitchen looked as though responsible people lived here.
Sam looked around and it hit him that Dean was right. What the hell was Paris doing while we researched? i He sighed. Ari came in the room and began to make the dish water without saying a word to either of them.
“I’m sorry, Ari, I assumed that Paris would do it. Though maybe she sees herself as a guest.”
“Even guests have enough sense to make tidy,” Dean said with a roll of his eyes.
“I didn’t know I was the maid,” Paris said a she stood near the door with her arms crossed.
“I helped clean because it makes sense because there is no maid,” Jo said as she looked curiously at Paris. I can’t see Sam with this prima dona.
“We all clean up after ourselves, period. Unless someone specifically says they will do this or that,” Dean said as she looked at the other three except Ari who only listened while she washed up.
“We will make a chore list,” Sam said in his organizational mode.
Though with them leaving their would be less work with half of them gone anyway, Dean and Ari agreed it was a great idea. Everyone helped clean up that afternoon. Paris swept, Jo cleaned the oven off, Dean helped Ari rinse, dry and put up the dishes while Sam mopped up when they were all done. Chet came in when they finished and asked when dinner would be ready. The room was suddenly alive with laughter. Amber came in to asked what was so funny, Ari shook her head as she kissed the little girls hair.
***
Early the next morning, Jo, Sam and Chet put their things in the Impala while they waited for Dean.
“Be careful, remember the rules, try not to kill Paris,” Dean said with a grin.
“I’ll miss you too,” Ari said as she kissed him long and hard on the mouth.
“I love you,” he said in her ear as he tugged her hair behind it.
Amber smiled up at him before he picked her up.
“Take care of you mother, munchkin,” Dean said to her as he hugged her. He had become fond of the little girl despite the fact that she favored Sam most of the time, he believed she was getting used to him being around. Ari and Amber watched them leave from the back door. Ari was relieved that the demon that had made the deal with her dad was dead, that was one less thing she had to be concerned with. They waved at the car as it backed out of the drive. Paris waved from the window upstairs, with fear in her heart. She had a bad feeling about Jo and Sam.
Once they were on the road Dean turned up the music and the others settled down to try to rest in spite of the noise. Sam was used to ignoring it, Jo couldn’t get comfortable and long to hear some REO, but kept quiet. Chet could sleep through anything and by the time, they had driven a half hour he was snoring his head off. Jo begin to laugh as Sam leaned up and grinned at the older man’s way of relaxing. He had his head back and mouth open, Dean shook his head as he bammed his hands on the steering wheel with the beat.
At their first rest stop, Sam phoned Paris to check on her. He felt bad that he had left her after she dropped everything to come see him. No, she didn’t just come to see me she changed her life and made a decision I had not agreed upon. They really needed to talk more about that.
“Hey, how are things going?” Sam asked as he walked over to a bench to wait for the others.
“Yeah, we are fine. How about you?” she said with no real interest in her voice.
“We are just changing drivers here at the rest stop. Paris…I’m sorry the way ….”
“No, don’t apologize I should have known you were more interested in hunting then having a girl friend,” she said with a chill to her voice.
“Paris, you know what we are about, I did not try to hide that from you.”
She was quiet.
“Paris?”
“Yeah, I’m here, we can figure this out when you get back,” she said.
“I hope so,” Sam said with little enthusiasm.
“See you then,” she said as she hung up.
Sam looked at the phone, they were not starting off well at all. He looked up to see Jo motion for him to come to the car.
When they arrived at the motel that evening, they got two rooms. Sam paid while the others took their things from the car. Dean put his things away while Chet settled in front of the television. Sam stood in the kitchenette wide awake.
“I’m going to talk to Jo, you two need anything from outside?”
Dean shook his head before he pulled out his cell phone.
“I can use a soda on your way back,” Chet answered.
Sam nodded as he left the room to go next door.
He knocked on the door and Jo looked through the peephole.
“Hold on,” she said as she wrapped her robe around her slim frame.
“Hey,” she said as she opened the door.
“Sorry, I didn’t think you would be ready for bed so soon. I will talk to you tomorrow,” he volunteered as he turned to leave.
“No, its fine I am not dressed for bed yet,” she said as she opened her robe to show she had shorts on with her tank top, “Just lounging,” she said.
“I won’t ask what you sleep in,” he said a bit nervous at the thought of her naked body.
Was she taunting him? Or was she just being herself? What was happening to him? He cleared his throat as he moved the chair beside the bed where Jo had sprawled out with the remote in hand.
“Want to watch a movie? Or did you have something you needed to say?” she asked with an innocent look.
“No, um I am just not tired yet. You?”
“Not really, kind of winding down from the ride.”
“Well, let’s see what’s on the movie list?” he said as he got up to grab the menu from the television.
Dean was in the bedroom on the phone with Ari while Chet watched television in the common area on the sofa.
“So everything is locked up safe and sound?”
“Yes, Honey, we are all doing good, stop worrying.”
“Sorry, I just feel like I haven’t been there for you lately.”
“It’s okay, I get that you have evil things to kill,” she teased.
“Is it what you expected, when you decided to come with us?” Dean asked as he began to miss her all over again.
“Pretty much, remember I am used to being alone. You just watch your back while you are out there. I don’t want to have to stitch you up when you come home,” she said with a smile in her voice.
“Hey you start back on your nursing classes tomorrow right?”
“Yep, I will be online if you need me,” she laughed.
“Like I could grab that laptop from Sammy,” he teased back.
“You should get some rest, talk soon, okay?” she said as it hit her for the second time since the guys left that Dean would not be holding her again that night. She felt wistful but she did not want him to worry.
“You are right, I’ll talk to you soon,” Dean said as he hung up the phone.
Sam came back a couple of hours later to find Chet on the sofa asleep in his spot so he took the cot though it was too short for him to sleep comfortably. He had just nodded off when there was an earth wrenching scream from somewhere behind the hotel and the sound of a wolf howling. He jumped up to see Dean stood in the door with one leg in his pants. Chet yawned when he heard the brother’s moving around.
“What is going on?”
“The wolf is outside now,” Sam said as there was a knock on the door.
“You guys hear that?” Jo asked as Sam held the door open for her to come in.
“Yeah we did, let’s haul ass,” Dean said as he grabbed one of the silver bullet filled guns from his bag on the floor.
Chet dressed quickly and they all left the room.
No one else was about outside though they could not figure why since they had clearly heard the noise. All four walked quietly with their weapons hidden as they entered the dark wooded area. Sam took out his flashlight to shine on the ground in front of them as the others followed his tall frame. Jo was behind him, Chet was after her and Dean was in the back as he scanned the area with his own light. They walked quite a ways before they almost tripped over a body of a young woman. Her eyes were closed but she was dead her mouth still open from her scream. Jo covered her mouth at the sight, while Sam bent down to check her coat for identification. He did it carefully as not to leave prints and decided they would need to find a way to call it in anonymously as they continued to seek the wolf.
It didn’t take them long to find the spot where the wolf changed from its human form. There was a pile of clothing not three hundred yards from the girl but the wolf was no where in sight. Dean checked for some way to tell who the wolf was and felt hair on his hands when he reached for the wallet in the pants pocket.
“Damn, the thing is shedding. Why is it out before the full moon?”
Sam looked up through the trees to see that the moon was full.
“We must have gotten the date wrong,” Chet said as he saw the look on Sam’s face.
“It’s a good thing we came when we did,” Sam said sadly.
TBC