In the Light

Chapter Nine: Vegas, Baby!

Back at the hotel, Dean had just gotten back from getting fast food. If he kept doing that, she'd loose a lot of weight from all the salad she ate.

"Here," Dean said looking at the salads with slight disgust on his face before setting it down. "Looks like we got good luck for once. No cases. Haven't seen any demonic signs. Not even any funky murders."

"So what now? We have a party? Ooh! Vegas? Wait. Is that how you get money?" Ruby said in a rush.

"Vegas sounds fun. I'll teach you a thing or two about poker. Sam?" Dean looked to his brother. Not for approval just to see what he thought.

Sam didn't say anything at first. He looked at Ruby. She grinned and nodded her head. "Fine."

"Yeah!" Ruby shouted then mimed making it rain. "Oh. I should probably buy some clothes."

• • •

"Oh my gosh. We're the annoying couple that everyone hates," Ruby realized.

"Huh. I guess we are." Sam kissed Ruby's red hair. She could feel the stares of the single girls on her back. She silently thanked God for Sam.

"Sam?" They were sitting in a quaint shop. Ruby had hot chocolate and Sam had black coffee. She decided it was time to ask him. "Why did you leave me? In college."

"I've been waiting for this." Sam sighed. "Dean came and got me. He found out about what we'd been doing from another hunter. Dean told me we should be hunting demons and not summoning them. He was right of course. I saw that eventually."

He paused, deciding how much to say. "Our dad died when Dean was four. I was only six months old. Our mom grew up a hunter. She tried to give it up, but some monster killed our dad and she's been after it ever since. We think it's a demon. That's why we're only hunting them for now. We've been hoping to get lucky all these years, but now we have a lead." He was quiet after his short monologue.

Ruby had a lot of questions but settled for one. "Where's your mom now?"

"Hunting on her own. She never tells us where though. I think she thinks it's too dangerous for us. She trusts us more now though. She never let us go hunting without her until now." He smiled. "She's amazing. She'd love you. Well, the you you are now. She holds grudges, but I never told her about you."

"Should I be insulted?"

"No. I just completely stopped talking to her and Dean until he picked me up at college." Sam drained his cup. "You done?" he asked, pointing to her cup.

"Yeah." He threw their cups away and came back their table and stood next to Ruby. "Where do you want to go? You'll need a lot of different clothes. Some plain shirts and jeans. Maybe a few dresses. I hope you like pantsuits because you'll be wearing a lot of those."

"I think I know where we can go first." She smiled and sprang up. She grabbed Sam's hand and jogged to the nearest directory. She found it on the map. "Let's go!" She dropped his hand and started jogging fast across the mall. She sprinted down some stairs, looking behind her to make sure Sam was still there. Soon, she stopped in front of a small, dark store with what some would call screamo music coming from inside. Breathing heavily, she smiled and said "Hot Topic."

"Here?" Sam said, his eyebrow raised, with a smile on his face.

What some people don't know about Hot Topic is that they carry merch. Sure, they carry body jewelry and the occasional corset, but a lot of their customers go there for the Harry Potter tees and Star Wars pins. "So how much money can we spend?" Ruby asked, not even looking at Sam.

"As much as you want," he said, playfully.

• • •

The store was so small that the line at the register took up the front of the store. Still, it took them over an hour to emerge.

"How did you manage to get so happy about everything you saw for an hour? You literally saw a shirt that had fallen on the floor, said 'Ooh, pretty,' and handed it to me to hold for you to try on."

"Hey, don't complain. We got everything we needed. Who would've guessed that Hot Topic had FBI-appropriate clothes. Of course, I'll have to wear jackets and tights with a lot of them, but that's okay."

They headed back to the hotel soon after that, ready to go to Vegas - the city of lights, or something like that.