In My Dreams |Dean Winchester|

21. Poker Face

We were walking up the small hill to the hotel. Me, Sam and Dean walk up no problem. "Little help here?" Bobby's voice comes from behind us. Sam runs down and pushes him up the hill. "You know, I still think I should play." I say. Everyone turns to me. "No, no, no. You're not good enough. I'm better. Bobby's way better. We both lost." Dean says. "Exactly." Bobby says. "So, what? So I don't get a say in this anymore?" I ask. "Parker, when you get to be our age..." Dean starts. "You're thirty, Dean! Look, I've watched people hustle plenty of poker..." I cut him off. "Knowing the game is not enough, Parker. It's not about playing the cards." Bobby says. "It's about playing the other guy. I know that." I say. "Well, hooray for you. All I'm saying is, I played this guy. I know his style. I can take him." Bobby says. "No, Bobby. You don't have enough years in the bank." Dean says. "I got enough." Bobby says. "No, you'll die if you lose, Bobby." I say. "Parker is right." Sam says. "So what if I do, huh? What exactly am I living for, huh? The damn apocalypse? Watching men die bloody while I sit in this chair, can't take a step to help 'em?" Bobby asks. "Bobby..." Dean starts. "No, no. It's the facts. I'm old...and broke down...and I can't..." Bobby sighs. "I ain't a hunter no more. I'm useless. And if I wasn't such a coward, I'd have stuck a gun in my mouth day I got home from the hospital." He continues. "Bobby, you are not playing again. I'm not letting you do that. There's another way out of this. There's got to be. And I'm gonna find it." I say.

I sneak out. I go to the bar. Patrick looks up as I enter. His partner looks back at me. "Hesh here is gonna live to see his granddaughter's bat mitzvah. Isn't that right, Hesh?" Patrick asks. "Thanks again, Patrick." Hesh says looking back at Patrick. "Shalom, my friend. Shalom." Patrick says. Hesh gets up and leaves. "That was nice of you." I say. "I'm a nice guy. What can I do you for?" He asks as he shuffles his cards. I sit down. "Deal." I say. Patrick smirks at me. He passes out the cards. He piles up the chips. I start small. I wasn't trying to fuck this up. "I like you, Parker. I do. You're smart, and your heart's clearly in the right place." He says. "I can tell a lot about someone by looking." He says. "You mean you're psychic." I say. "No. That'd be cheating. I'm talking about good old-fashioned intuition." He says. I nod looking at my cards. "Right. Let's just play." I say. Patrick sips his whiskey. "We are playing." He says. "Does your boyfriend know you're here?" He asks. "Bet five." I say dropping the chips in the pile. "Didn't think so." He says as he puts his five down. "I raise. Here you are, right? Trying to clean up their mess, and they still want to sit you at the kiddie table." He says. "You're not the helpless damsel anymore." He says. I look at him. "Then again, maybe you are. You're in over your head here, Parker. I mean, you can keep making these moves, you know, playing it cautious, playing the percentages. But I'm still gonna kick your ass into the nursing home." He says.

"Does this armchair-psychology routine usually work for you?" I ask. He chuckles. "You tell me. You're the one who's losing." He says chewing on his tooth pick. He shuffles the cards as Lia walks in. They kiss. She points at the toothpick when he's not looking. I snatch it up. Patrick winks at me. "Little break?" He asks. I nod and go outside to get some air. "You stupid, stupid bitch." Dean's voice comes. I hold up the toothpick. He takes it. "Why would you fucking do this?" He asks. "Because I can't have you dying on me." I say. He huffs. "You complete me Dean. I can't do this without you." I say. "You complete me too." He sighs. "Now let me do this." I say. He nods. He puts his forehead to mine. "Don't worry I got this. And if not we'll just have grown old together." I giggle. He snorts. I kiss his cheek. "I gotta get back." I say. He nods, kissing my forehead. I walk back inside and sit. I play my chips trying to stay calm. Patrick sits back down, Lia behind him.

"Question." Patrick says after a while. He holds up a toothpick. "Is this what you meant to give your boyfriend?" He asks. I don't show any emotion. Lia seems to be panicking. "The one you gave him never passed my lips. Won't do a scrap of good." He smirks. "I don't like cheating, Parker." He says. He stretches his hand out and clenches his fist. A choking sensation wraps around my throat. I grip at it gasping for air. "Stop it!" Lia exclaims. "Patrick, let her go!" She exclaims grabbing onto him. "She tried to kill us!" Patrick exclaims. "I did it! I gave her the spell!" She cries. Patrick's eyes widen and he releases me, looking at her. "What?" He asks standing. He cups her cheek. "Why...why would you do that?" He asks. "You know why." She says bring her hand up to caress her locket. "You know." She says. He turns from her and sits. He looks at me. "Keep. Playing." He says. Lia looks away. I look at her. I watch as he plays. His cards are good. I keep my emotions flat. I throw five more chips in. He chuckles.

"Well, look at you, the percentage player betting the farm. Awful transparent of you, Parker. I mean, if I had a monster hand like you have, I'd trap you. But you get so excited, you bet yourself right out of a big pot." He says. "I fold." He says discarding his cards. "Set of ladies, I'm guessing." He says. I collect my chips and reveal I only had a three of clubs and a five of diamonds. "Nice bluff. If we had time, I could make a real player out of you." He says with a smirk. "I got time." I say. He grins at me. "Maybe. But I can't say the same for Dean. Your lover's gonna be dead soon." He says. I look up quickly. "And when I say 'soon'..." He says leaning forward. "I mean minutes." He says. I quickly stand. Patrick forces me down with witchcraft. "The game's not over till I say it is. Blinds." He says. He deals us two face down cards each. I glance at mine. I add chips into the pot. "So." Patrick says as he lays out three cards. Ace of spades and four of hearts and clubs. "When it's about your boyfriend, you get so emotional, your brain just flies right out the window." He says. "Good to know." He adds. "Go to hell." I say my voice cracking. I shove all my chips in the middle. "I'm all in." I say. Patrick looks at his cards. "I can't leave until it's over? Fine. It's over. Now, where's my boyfriend?" I ask. "Look, there's poker and then there's suicide." Patrick says. "Just play the hand." I say. "Fine." Patrick says, adding all his chips to the center. Patrick flips his cards over. Ace of clubs and diamonds. "I'm sorry, kid. Aces full." He says. I look at the cards and let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I look at Lia who was crying.

"You're crying." I point out. She sniffles looking away as me and Patrick watch her. "For a witch, you're so nice, it's actually kind of creepy. It's okay." I say. I look back at Patrick. "It was a great hand." I say. Patrick goes for the chips. "Just..." I stop him. Patrick looks at me. "Not as great as..." I lay my cards out, the fours of diamonds and spades. Four of a kind. "As four fours." I finish. Patrick looks at me then back at the cards. Patrick leans back. "Well played. You know, that whole... going out of your head bit, very method." He says. I smirk. "Well, there's more to you than meets the eye." He says raising his glass in praise. I nod. "Cash these in for Dean, please." I say. He nods, setting his glass down. "With pleasure." He smiles. He waves over them and they float off into the air and out the door. "You're free to go. Keep your boy out of trouble now." He says. "I will." I say, going to leave. "Oh and Parker..." He stops me. I turn to him. "A gift for you as well." He says, flicking his wrist out. I feel a sensation in my lower stomach. "What was that?" I ask. "You'll know when the time comes. I just fixed it." He says. I leave with that racing through my mind. I rush to the hotel quickly. I open the door.

"Dean!" I shout into the hotel room. He comes out of the bathroom. Bobby was there sitting in a corner with Sam at the table. I run to him jumping into his arms. He catches me. "Baby you did it." He smiles. "No tricks, you actually beat the guy?" Bobby asks. We look at him. I smirk. "What can I say? I'm good." I giggle. "How the hell?" He asks. I smirk. "Just lucky." I shrug. "Hey. I'll see y'all guys later." Sam says, grabbing his jacket. "Where you going?" Dean asks. "Uh...mm, nowhere." Sam stutters. "A booster shot. Don't say it." Sam says embarrassed and leaves. "Well, I guess we can get the van loaded." Bobby says as I sit. Dean clears his throat holding a finger up to Bobby. Bobby stops and looks at him. "I shouldn't have called you an idiot." Dean sighs. "Which time?" Bobby asks. "I'm sorry. I mean, I actually... I, I... I get it. Getting old ain't a bachelor party. And dealing with the crap you got to deal with..." Dean looks at Bobby. "Don't you go on pity patrol." Bobby huffs. "I'm not. I'm not. I'm just...I'm saying, you know, if I was in your shoes..." Dean stutters. "You'd never stop complaining." Bobby chuckles. "Fair enough. You're not useless, Bobby." Dean says. "Okay. Good talk." Bobby says, trying to roll off. I stop him.

"No, wait a minute. Listen to him." I say. Dean sits and looks at Bobby. I sit next to him. "You don't stop being a soldier 'cause you got wounded in battle. Okay? No matter what shape you're in, bottom line is, you're family. I don't know if you've noticed, but me and Sam, we don't have much left. I can't do this without you. I can't. So don't you dare think about checking out. I don't want to hear that again." Dean explains. "We love you Bobby." I add. There's a long pause of silence. "Ok." Bobby nods. "Ok. Good." Dean says. "Thanks. Now, we done feeling our feelings? 'Cause I'd like to get out of this room before we both start growing lady parts." Bobby chuckles. Dean and I both laugh. "Yeah, we're done." Dean says. Dean grabs his burger, looks at it and then just sets it back down. He grabs his bag. "Let's go, Ironsides." Dean says, slinging it over his shoulder. He heads for the door. "Oh, that one's sticking, huh?" Bobby asks, chuckling. I giggle as I wheel him out the door.