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At the hotel that night, while Sam was on the laptop Dean went outside. He leaned against the room door momentarily before he went to sit on the hood of the Impala. He pulled out his cell to dial a number he had not dialed in quite a while. He had been considering making the call for the last month. Part of him was still hesitant to do it, it wasn’t as though he had to put in the call. Those that knew him would have never expected it from him. He just wasn’t that emotional, normally. He looked at the phone in his hand as he sighed before he pushed in the numbers.
The phone rang four times and he was going to hang up when it was answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi Cas.”
“Dean?”
“Yeah,” he said as he crossed his arm over his chest when the chill in the air accosted him.
“Um, what’s up, I got the impression we weren’t talking.”
“I never said that, but I am still with Ari.”
“Then why are you calling me?” she asked testily.
“I guess I still thought we were friends, but maybe I was wrong,” he said as he ran his hands through his hair. What am I doing? He knew Cassie saw things in black and white or she would have been able to accept him easier for who he was.
Cassie hesitated on the other end of the line. She bit her lip as she took the cordless to sit on the sofa.
“Dean, I’m sorry, I do want to be friends. I mean we weren’t good at it before but now I mean I know you don’t have that much family I….”
“Damn it, I didn’t call for your sympathy offering,” he said angrily as he got up off the Impala to pace in the parking lot.
He felt stupid, the conversation had not gone as he had hoped. He was angry now and it ruined the whole reason for the call. He had only wanted to tell her he was going to be a father. They knew so few people he had not had the chance to tell anyone, damn it, he was happy about his life. Why was he letting her get to him?
“Why did you call?” she asked.
“I..”
“What?”
“I wanted to tell you I am going to be a father,” he stated as though it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Really,” she asked with concern in her voice.
“Yeah, it seems us, Winchesters can reproduce.”
Cassie felt nervous all of sudden, she was quiet for a moment as she took in what he had told her. Did she dare tell him her secret? It would serve no purpose other than to make him hate her. Her heart raced with fear and the adrenaline it produced.
“Cas?”
“Um, Dean, I need to tell you something.”
Jo arrived back at the roadhouse about the same time that Dean and Sam checked into their hotel. She had begun to drive back the day after she was attacked by the shrtiga. There was just too much going on in her head to deal with Sam or Dean. She also had mixed feelings about Ari’s babies. Dean’s babiesshe thought. I must be a real bad person to have a grudge against someone’s unborn children, deep breath. This too shall pass. She was outside the roadhouse in the car when Ellen happened to see her through the window. She pursed her lips as she watched her daughter, who seemed to be talking to herself. Ellen sighed, she had been afraid that Jo’s trip to Wisconsin might end on a bad note, but she had not known it would be an emotional roll a coaster for her only child. Jo sighed as she saw her mother at the window, but she only stared blankly in her direction. Jo knew she loved Sam but had no idea how to get rid of the vision of her in Dean that still roamed through her head. She needed to get a grip that was all there was to it. She took a deep breath, opened her door and got out with a new resolve. I can do this was her mantra as she opened the back door to grab her bag from the seat.
Chet took off for a road trip of his own the day before Sam and Dean had gone away on their little vendetta that they had told Ari was a hunt. Ari was relieved that Ash was going to stay around. Not that she was afraid but she had gotten used to having guests. She and Ash got along well, since both were computer buffs like Sam. Ash also enjoyed Amber’s love of life and of course her puppy.
“So Dean said that Shr..tiga was someone from the area and was drawn here because of Amber,” Ari said to Ash as he sat at the kitchen table to his laptop.
“Yeah it looks like she has been around for quite a few years, she blew it when she chose the Winchester household,” Ash teased.
“That’s right, just bad timing, huh? I am sorry it went after Jo though.”
Ash nodded.
“Sam said he was just in time the thing was all geared up to grab the breath of life from her, gives me the willies,” Ash said.
“I know it is creepy.”
Dean wasn’t listening to Cassie he was too busy mentally patting himself on the back for having a chick flick moment, Sam would be proud. He smirked before he realized Cassie had said something.
“What did you say?”
“If you are happy I am happy for you,” she said hesitantly.
“Yeah, Cas I am … I am sorry for what happened with us. I mean I wanted you to know what was going on with me.”
“You know, its good to hear from you, I didn’t mean to make you angry earlier.”
She sighed as she watched her green-eyed baby girl sleep she knew she would never be able to tell him about his daughter. She would raise her on her own, maybe find a new love some day. She bit her lip, Dean was on another path all over again. He had enough on his plate without her adding another child.
“It’s good to talk to you; I hope you find someone. I don’t think I have changed but I just have goals now, goals that involve a family,” he said as he leaned against the Impala again he crossed his legs one over the other.
“Yeah, that’s always good. I think you may have changed more than you think but it is a positive thing.”
That was when he heard it, the catch in her voice.
“Cas?”
“Uh huh?”
“You okay, I’m sorry did I wake you? I should have called earlier.”
“No, no I’m good just thinking about your news. You know it’s big and surprising,” she said as she added a laugh.
“Yeah, took me a month to get used to the idea of twins.”
“Wow, you do it right huh,” she said as she frowned down at her three and half year old who had begun to move around.
“I guess so.”
“Dean I should go, good luck with...everything. Let me know when it happens if you want.”
“Sure….bye,” he said as he hung up.
He looked up to see Sam looking at him out the window, he shot him the finger and laughed. Such a busy body his brother was getting to be. Hadn’t Cassie said something else? Guess not.
Inside the room, Sam let Dean know he had found something on the pimp, Rex. He didn’t think the guy would be to hard to find.
“He hangs out a place called Blue Angels, like we thought.”
“Good can we get this over with?” Dean asked as he laid down on the bed with his hands behind his head.
“Well can’t put out a hit if that is what you mean, and we cannot kill him. What do you have in mind?”
Dean leaned up to get his phone out of his jacket.
“Give me a second,” he said as he began to dial.
“Yeah, Andy, we found the scum, are you on the way?”
“Andy?”
“Yeah your buddy with the mind control gifts,” Dean said with a smile.
“You didn’t ?”
Dean put his finger up to indicate he was still talking.
“Okay so you are south of us about five hours?” Dean asked.
Sam watched Dean as he spoke with Andy a few more minutes he hung up.
“To answer you question, Oh, I did and Andy is all in for this. He has been practicing and says this will be his greatest gift to me for my … children and Ari.”
“Dean.”
“No Sam you can’t talk me out of it. It’s a sure thing, man, we won’t be anywhere around when the bastard does himself in.”
Sam didn’t like it but it wasn’t as the pimp was an innocent. He did feel the tactic was a bit much even for them.
Dean had no second thoughts about his plan, he needed Ari to be safe and stress free. He also wanted to get back to spend some time with Ash before he left. He also realized Sam was skeptical about how things were going to happen, but it couldn’t be helped, They had no choice. It wasn’t as if they could reason with the man who had hurt Ari. Then a small voice whispered in Dean’s ear, “What would Ari say?” Dean shook his head, “she would say good job honey I love you for watching over me,” though she would never know why Rex had given her a divorce and disappeared never to be heard from again.
Once Andy arrived they reviewed everything with him. He looked at Rex’s mug shots so he could recognize him and practiced speaking the way Midwesterners do so he would not stand out. Sam watched Andy and was glad his friend had come to help though he still was a bit queasy about what they had planned. Dean was quiet as he sat on his bed across the room from the two of them.
“So Andy you really think you can do this?” Sam asked.
“Oh no problem from the guy’s rap sheet its surprising he is even alive today,” Andy said as he raised an eyebrow while he review the report on the laptop.
“I mean have you ever done anything like hurt someone?” Sam asked as he pressed his point.
“I see you are not sure of this Sam, but think of it this way, every decision you make is a risk. I see this as a service for your family and think of others he has hurt.”
“Sam, leave it alone,” Dean said.
“Okay now that you spoke up think of the fact that maybe we could possibly give him choices and lead him on a better path?”
Dean shook his head, his brother was hopeless. How had he not seen it? he should have left him at home. Maybe he could convince Sam to stay at the hotel when they went to the club the next night.
“Dude he is a pimp, you know selling women’s bodies for money, taking what he wants from them we he feels like. He is the lowest form of life,” Dean said with frustration in his voice.
“I know, I just wanted us to look at both sides.”
“Yeah Sam, pimps don’t go in for rehab so much,” Andy said with a small smile.
Sam shrugged.
Ari was already asleep when Dean called her that night, part of him felt guilty because they basically lied to her about where they were going. On the other hand, he did not want her to know so he ‘bit the bullet’ and decided not to confess to her.
“Hey,” she said sleepily.
“Sorry it’s so late, I wanted to say good night.”
“Oh no, its fine. I had hoped to hear from you then I fell asleep,” she said as she sat up to look at the bedside clock. It was two in the morning.
“So how are things?’ he asked as he watched Andy and Sam across the room still playing on the computer though they insisted they were not looking at porn.
“Good, Ash is cool and Amber likes that he enjoys playing with Sammy Doo. I miss you but we are fine.”
“I miss you too, we should be back in a couple of days.”
“So you are finding what you went to find and are going to be able to kill it?”
“Yep, things are going as planned,” Dean said.
“Well, the sooner you are home the better for me,” she said with a smile in her voice as she rubbed her stomach.
“I’m all for that. Hey, I will let you go back to sleep and I will talk to you sometime tomorrow.”
“Okay, good night.”
“Night,” Dean said as he hung up to see Andy’s mouth wide open as he looked down at the computer moniter. Sam looked as though he wasn’t sure of what he saw either. Dean grinned. Not porn huh? Yeah right.
Jo did not tell her mother the specific reasons she returned home for a bit. She only revealed to her that she wanted some time to think over some things. Ellen had not grilled her only smiled as Jo went to her room. Ellen considered phoning Sam to find out what had happened but decided against it. Jo was a grown up and if she had issues she didn’t have to talk to her mother about them. Ellen suspected it was an romantic problem considering the fact that she was well aware that Jo left the roadhouse with stars in her eyes for Dean. Though recently Ellen had heard from Missouri that Jo now fancied herself in love with Sam. No wonder she had come back home instead of heading out to go hunting.
***
The next night Dean and Sam dropped Andy off a block from the club before they drove further down the street to park and get out. Andy was dressed nicely in clubbing clothes; a jacket with slacks and a collard shirt all in earth tones. He walked up to the door to be waned and they let him in without a problem.
“I feel like a Dork,” Dean said as he looked down at his Navy blue Dockers and new brown leather shoes.
“Oh Ari will love that you have something besides jeans to wear now,” Sam teased as he looked in the mirror to adjust his shirt under his suit coat.
“I have other clothes, Dude,” Dean said as he fidgeted against his jacket.
“Let’s get this over with,” Sam said as they walked down the sidewalk toward the crowded club to get in line.
The plan was to be back upfor Andy in case someone came along to trouble him as he looked for Rex and did his magic on him.
Once they were in line, Dean casually eyed the crowd around them. The girls look barely old enough to be legal let alone dressed in “hootchie mama” clothes. There was one woman about two people ahead of them that was classily dressed in a knee length burgundy silk dress. The dress fit her like a second skin and Dean found himself gazing longingly at her curves. Her hair was Auburn and swept up in a loose ponytail. Sam looked over to track Dean’s glance.
“Dude, Ari, man,” Sam said as he hit his brother on the arm.
“Damn it, Sam I can still look. Stop babysitting me.”
“Good choice of words,” Sam said just before their time to be waned came up.
Inside Andy sat at a corner table as he attempted to scan the crowded room. After he thoroughly eyed the bottom level he thought he might wait until he saw “the boys” before he headed up stairs to check it out. He had just received his whiskey sour when he saw Dean and Sam take a seat at the bar. He took a couple of slow sips of his drink and was about to go upstairs when a tall black haired woman with a pierced nose came up to ask him to dance. Andy smiled at her but turned her down. She only frowned as she walked away.
Dean had his beer in hand when he turned around on the swivel chair to see Andy as he went up the stairs. He tapped Sam on the arm to let him know what was going on, before he turned back to the bar he saw Rex walk in. The man was at least as tall as Sam with longish Blonde hair, six pack abs, and walked with the grace of a gazelle. Dean shook his head the man had most likely been a model at one time. The woman flocked to Rex as he walked in. For a minute, Dean was jealous, but he knew he had something better at home that waited for him. When Rex joined the crowd in the middle of the dance floor Sam and Dean headed up to make sure that Andy had seen Rex.
Upstairs Dean got the royal treatment when he was suddenly surrounded by four women from ages he figured from sixteen to twenty-five. They all seemed to want to dance with him. He blushed and Sam rolled his eyes.
“We hoped you would come up here,” the youngest said.
“The dance floor is bigger,” said the one that looked twenty or so.
”More room for group dancing,” another said as she caressed his ass.
Dean cleared his throat and licked his lips while he removed her hand. He thought the eldest lady might faint.
“Um, I might dance in a bit but not now,” he said as he pretended to be sad about it.
“What about you?” the short pudgy one said to Sam who was trying hard to disappear.
He shook his head, “He and I have to talk, maybe later.”
“Well, we will be waiting,” the buxom redhead said as they all frowned and walked away to dance together.
Andy leaned over the edge of the upstairs open area to look below as he did he instructed Rex to kill himself. He had been able to see the man alone as he walked to the downstairs rest rooms. Now they just had to wait to make sure it happened. Sam and Dean found Andy over at the bar a few minutes later downing his whiskey sour.
“It’s done,” was all he said just before they heard the sound of a gun shot.
Sam sighed before they all got up to go look over the railing. Everyone in the bar seemed to stand still which was the opposite of what you would expect. Then someone ran out of the men’s room.
“Someone phone an ambulance, a guy just blew his brains out.”
Then there was a collective gasp before the music came on again and the dancing began anew.
TBC