Hopelessly Human

1. A Day in the Life

(I was gonna wait to post this, but I couldn't. Here's book 2! Prepare yourselves, folks. Chapters will be every 2-4 days unless I decide to change things.

Things are gonna get dark this book. Enjoy the light while it lasts.)

Season Six

[Exile on Main St.]

ONE YEAR AGO

NOW

An alarm beeped at precisely seven am. Dean woke up in bed next to Lisa.

"You okay?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Dean replied.

INT. BAR

Dean was having a beer with Sid.

Sid spoke. "And thank God this is before Facebook, right? Because it'd be me and that goat all over the Internet. Don't get me wrong, right? No complaints. But if you'd have said to me, "hey, you -- 15 years from now? Suburbia.""

"Oh. Yeah," Dean agreed.

"Right?"

"Believe me, I know."

"So, you've traveled around a lot, huh?"

"Mm-hmm. Yeah, my whole life, pretty much."

"And?"

"I don't know."

"Come on. You -- what, you moved in, what, about a year ago?"

"Yeah, thereabouts."

"So I been buying you beer for a year. And I think that means you owe me a couple of gory details."

"Oh, no. There's not much to tell, you know? It's, uh... I lived on the road... Took, uh, crap jobs that nobody else wanted."

"Like?"

"Like... Pest control."

"Really? Pest control."

"Yeah. You get to work with a partner or two. You get to help people. You have no idea what's in some people's walls. It could eat 'em alive."

"Yeesh."

"'Course, that was then. And now..."

"You're practically respectable."

"Yeah. Wow. I guess. That's kind of scary, actually."

"Thanks, guys," a waitress said.

"Thank you," Sid replied. "I think she likes you."

Dean held up the receipt with her name, Brigitta, and her phone number on it. "You think?"

"What is it with you?! Like, every time!"

"It's like chicks specifically dig unavailable." He ripped up the receipt. "Who knew?"

"I will see you tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks, man." Dean noticed a brunette woman who looked eerily similar to Natalia. He shook his head a few times and left the bar.

Natalia walked up to Dylan and sighed. "Are you absolutely sure there's a job in town?"

"Pretty sure, yeah," Dylan replied. "You all right, babe? You look like you saw a ghost."

"Not a ghost. Just saw Dean. He looks... Normal. God, that sounds so weird to say."

"Did you say hello?"