Katie continued with her story about what she and Maggie did while they were gone. "Okay, so we needed more information, to figure out how to get to Lilitu. So we went back to interrogate Georgie, and we took the J's with us." She showed them the video of this, with Jared and Jensen playing Sam and Dean. The boys actually got a laugh out of it, but that didn't relieve their concern.
"So this talk with Georgie resulted in a lot of information. He told us where she was operating from, who her lieutenants were, how she operated, everything he knew. He also told us about how the underground works, who to see to make deals with monsters, including demons. He told us where to go for fake id's."
Sam and Dean looked at each other with helpless faces. Dean poured himself another drink.
"When we knew what we were up against we devised the whole plan. Jared and Jensen made us promise to run it by them before we did anything. What we knew at this point was that Lilitu wanted you badly. She had been a follower of Lilith, but then Sam killed her. She found a new queen to follow when Abaddon showed up, but then Dean killed her too.
"So now she's fighting mad, and her whole goal in life was to kill the two of you, after a lot of torture of course. She had thought you were dead, and we heard she went on a total rant, until our little subterfuge gave her hope you were still alive. So we decided to give her what she wanted… you two."
"What?" they both said together.
"Well we couldn't really give you to her could we, it was another con, an elaborate one. A lot of it is on video, so you can see exactly how we did it. But I'm gonna give you the highlights. We needed money, so Maggie set to work on that and she had a few millions in a couple days."
Dean looked at Maggie and said, "Really? You can do that? Wow," and he kissed her forehead. He looked proud.
"With her seed money I rented a mansion and a Mercedes, hired some body guards, made arrangements for hiring a particular limo, which we got before hand and Maggie painted a Devil's trap under the overhead liner. I also got us a bunch of different ID's so we'd have whatever we might need. That was a rather costly expense but well worth it. Then I contacted the underground monster dealer and put out the word that we were auctioning off the Winchesters."
By this pout the boys were subdued. Neither of them seemed to find anything to say. They slumped back in their seats, looking resigned, and very unhappy.
"Guys, please, don't be like this. Be proud of us. Listen to the whole story before you let your feelings run wild. Remember, we are here, money is on the floor, okay?"
Sam looked puzzled then and said, "Something I don't understand. If you rented a Mercedes, and then a limo, why did you buy the 'Cuda?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. Buying the car was one of the first things we did. It was actually right here in town at a small used car lot. Maggie went insane when she saw it. We got that because I'd be making runs from here to Lincoln, and I didn't want to use the Impala."
"I see," Sam said. "Okay, please continue."
"Okay so… oh yeah, I bribed the monster broker to just send word of the auction to Lilitu, not to anyone else. He didn't like her, and was happy to help us sting her."
"Was this guy a monster?" Dean asked.
"Yeah I think so, I think he was a demon." Both boys groaned at this.
"Something we learned by doing all this, that I don't think you guys even know. You hunt the monsters that make themselves known, do things that are unacceptable in society. But there's a whole subculture of monsters out there, that behave themselves and that blend in with human society. You've probably come in contact with quite a few and never knew it."
"Are you serious?" Sam asked.
"Yes, baby, I am. There are monsters out there that don't deserve to be killed just because they're monsters. Turn it around. Do all humans deserve to be killed just because we have monsters of the human variety? Of course not. Because of my dealings while putting together this sting, I actually have a few monster friends who would probably do almost anything for me. I can be very persuasive."
"Oh my god, I'm liking this less and less," Dean whined.
"Can I say something?" asked Jared.
"Sure," Katie answered.
"We were here through a lot of this. We helped in a lot of it and we watched it go down. We were proud of them, and you will be too, if you try to look at this objectively. There's a reason the Love Angel picked them for you. Try to look at this in a different light. They did good. They are excited about it, and they want you to be proud, not upset."
Jensen nodded his head and said he agreed. Sam and Dean looked at each other, making silent communication for a few minutes, and then Sam said, "Okay, we hear that. It's hard for us because all we see is the danger you put yourselves in. But we will try to see it the way we might if it wasn't you doing it."
"Thanks, baby, that would be wonderful. Just remember it went like clockwork. We didn't get hurt. We didn't even get made. The money on the floor is the proof of that, okay?" She looked back and forth between them and they nodded.
"So how much did we go for?" Dean asked.
Katie laughed. "Well you'll see that in the videos. Let's watch them and then I'll fill in anywhere you might have questions. She showed them the videos they took of Jared and Jensen looking like they'd been captured. And then she showed the video of the auction itself. Despite themselves, they got caught up in the excitement of the auction, and the way Katie handled Lilitu.
"That was amazing," Sam said smiling. "I really am proud of you. What a performance."
"I told her she should consider acting," Jensen said.
"I can't act when it's acting. I can only do it for a reason, like a con."
"Well anyway, it was nothing short of amazing," Sam said again.
Dean was looking at Katie with a new kind of look, but he didn't say anything.
"So after the sting we were set to meet at a warehouse I also rented, where body guards I hired were waiting as well. She thought we were going there to give her you, but really she was going to her death. I'm going to play the video from inside the limo."
"Holy shit!" Dean exclaimed when Katie stopped it before it was finished. "I have to give it to you, that's the classiest way to kill a demon I've ever seen."
"I take that as high praise, coming from you. By the way, I might be the one visible in the videos, but Mags was in charge of all the electronics, as well as getting us our starting cash. She's a genius too, just less in the spotlight." Dean smiled and pulled Maggie closer and gave her a sweet kiss, and she smiled back. Katie hoped that meant things would be okay between them soon.
"Now," Katie continued, "I stopped this here because something happens next that we know will upset you. It upset us too. It certainly wasn't anticipated." The boys sat up at attention again and motioned her to go on. She finished up the video that showed Crowley's visit, and, as expected the boys were upset.
Dean jumped up and started pacing "Crowley?" he exclaimed. "I'm going to kill him."
"He wanted you for some reason, Dean, and he couldn't find you."
"How did he know about you and your sting?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. But like I said, we did rub elbows with other demons, so it's not surprising that he found out."
"Ill kill him," Dean said again. "Messing with our women! He should know better."
"Dean, if he didn't know better, I might be dead. He just wanted to send a message. I actually think he liked me."
"Well there's a mistake," said Sam. "You can't go around trusting demons, and especially Crowley."
"I didn't say I trusted him, I said I think he liked me."
"Well whatever. But you can bet we are going to be having more conversations about this," Dean said, and Maggie pulled him back down onto the couch.
"To finish up," Katie continued, "We found that Lilitu had actually brought seven million with her. We let you go too cheaply," she said with a grin. We used three million to split among all the people that helped us, one million to recover expenses, and the three million that's here on the floor is profit."
"So that other one mil is what's in the bank?" Sam asked.
"No, actually, I forgot about that. It's in the safe."
"You forgot about a million dollars?" Dean asked incredulously.
Katie shrugged. "I knew it was there, I just forget to mention it here."
"What happened to the two guys you exorcised," Asked Sam.
"We sent them to the hospital, with strong advice no to mention demons."
"I have a question," Dean said. "Were all those people who helped you with the sting demons?"
"Oh no, none of them were. We figured Lilitu would know them as demons. They were all human."
"And they all knew about demons?"
"Oh yes, like I said, you can hire people who are well acquainted with the monster underground."
"I fucking don't believe this," Dean muttered under his breath.
Any more questions?" Katie asked.
Sam chuckled and said, "I'm pretty sure we'll be talking about all of this for days. But I'm done for now. I need to process this."
"Wait," said Dean. "Whatever happened to Georgie?"
"We let him go," Katie answered.
"You let him go?" Dean echoed incredulously. "You had a demon and you let him go?"
"Yes, in fact we paid him for his help and I have a feeling he'll be useful in the future. We know there are still demons out there who followed Lilitu who know where this bunker is. We assumed you'd want to go after them when you got home. Georgie can help with that."
Dean just stared at her, shaking his head slowly in disbelief. "Why do I feel like I've stepped into a parody of my life?" he said, which got chuckles from the rest of them.
Katie sat back Down with Sam and he pulled her close. Dean looked over at Jared and Jensen and said, "Thank you, we owe you for helping our girls. I think we might even owe you for their lives."
"You're very welcome," Said Jensen, "But to be honest it's been fun. Surreal, but fun. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you exist."
"Right back at you," said Dean.
Then Jared stood up and said, "I think we ought to go home now, and let these guys have some privacy."
Maggie said, "I'll take you over," and she and Dean both stood up. Goodbyes were said, and Dean went with Maggie to the garage.
"Are you very upset?" Katie asked Sam.
He smiled and said, "To be honest I don't know what I feel. I'm going to have to sort it out. But I'm grateful as hell that nothing bad happened, and I really am impressed by what you both did, I think it was amazing. But am I upset about it? That may take some time to decide."
"Okay, I can understand that."
"I don't like that Crowley turned up. That does anger me."
"I don't care if you get angry at Crowley. I just don't want you to be angry with me." Sam pulled her close and kissed her. If I am upset, it's not anger at you, it's just my fear of what might have happened."
"But it didn't baby. It didn't."
"I know. Maybe it's my experiences on the other world, and Dean dying like that, and then the demon thing. My emotions are frayed at the moment."
"Oh baby, yes, I'm sorry. This is a time you need me, and I'm here. Talk to me. Tell me more of the details. It always helps to talk.
Sam smiled lovingly at her. "I love you," he said. "Let's go to our room and I'll tell you about the other world."
Meanwhile, in the garage, Dean was waiting for Maggie. When she returned, he pulled her close and kissed her. But he was trembling. "Are you okay?" she asked him, looking up into his eyes.
"I don't know. I went through a lot on the other world, and the story of what you two were doing has shaken me. But that's just my fear of losing you talking. I've never been more afraid of anything as I am of losing you."
"You're not going to lose me," she said. "I'm sorry for what's happened to you."
Dean held her close and looked over her head at her car. "I'm jealous," he said.
She looked up at him again and laughed a little. "What on earth for?" she asked him.
"Your car," he said grinning. "You might not believe this, but I've actually always wanted one. If Dad hadn't passed the Impala down to me, I might have gotten one."
"Wanna trade?" she asked mischievously.
He grinned and said, "Nah, I can't trade away Baby. I'll enjoy it vicariously through you."
They walked over closer to the car. "So you have a hemi coming?" he said. "That's awesome. When will it get here?"
"Another couple weeks probably."
Dean looked the whole car over more closely, asking questions and making suggestion of his own. Then he stopped, as though he were lost in thought.
When this seemed to be lasting too long for comfort, Maggie called to him softly. "Dean?"
With his hands leaning on the window ledge of the driver's side, he said, "How can you love me?"
"What?" Maggie asked softly.
"I want you to love me so badly. But then I wonder, how can you? I'm a mess, Maggie. I don't even like myself so how can you? I've done so many things in my life that I feel guilty about. But what I did over there, the way I didn't even care, I wanted you to think I was dead. How could I have let that happen? Everything I do turns to crap. So many people I've loved have died, and always because of me. I'm bad for you Maggie. I know you don't want me to say it, but I'm a piece of crap. You'd be smart to just turn and run away from me. Yet I couldn't stand it if you did."
By the time he was through his voice was catching and tears were running down his cheeks. Maggie went to him and put her arms around him but he didn't turn to face her. "Dean Winchester," she said softly. "You are not a piece of crap. Far from it. You are one of the best men I have ever known in my life. Everyone makes mistakes. Yours may seem so much worse because of what you do. But you do way more good than harm, and you take on guilt where you shouldn't. The people in your life who died, they didn't die because of you. They made their own choices in life. But what makes you good is that everything you do you do because you think it's the right thing. The key is intent, and your intent is always to do the right thing."
He chuckled derisively. "So my intent to screw another woman, that was because I wanted to do the right thing?"
"That wasn't your choice Dean, you were affected by something outside you."
"You mean the mark? That was my fault. That was my choice to do, because I needed to kill Abaddon, and I didn't care about the consequences."
"Exactly my point Dean. Your intent in taking on the mark was to do a good thing. And if I know you, you thought the consequences of doing it might be your death. You never seem to mind sacrificing yourself. Only good people do that, Dean. You had no way of knowing what would actually happen. Crowley knew what might happen, and he deliberately kept that from you. So okay, you're impulsive. That might be a little fault, but it's not enough to condemn yourself to the dregs of society.
She moved her hands to turn him around, and said, "Turn around and look at me." When he did, slowly, She spoke to him sweetly and earnestly. "Listen to me. You are a good man. You are a good person. Dean, I've known a lot of bad men in my life, and believe me, I can tell the difference. And I've been acting like a child. I know what you did wasn't deliberate. I know you wouldn't go do that now. I've had dark days in my life too, so I can understand. But you, deep down inside the core of you, you are as good as they come. And you need to know that I love you, more than I can possibly say. And one reason I love you is because you are a good man. And you know what I want?"
"What's that?" he asked.
"I want you to pick me up and carry me to our room, and finish what you started earlier."
Dean looked in her eyes for a long moment. Then he said softly, "I love you so freaking much," and he kissed her, a long sweet kiss that turned to fiery passion before it was done. So he picked her up and did exactly what she wanted him to do.
In the morning Dean talked to Sam and told him everything was all right, and he wanted to do the dinner date that night. They got the girls and took them to the viewing room and presented them both with a present from the other world. They were dresses made in the design that women on the other world wore for going out. The dresses were identical, a beautiful shimmering blue.
"This material is gorgeous," said Maggie. "I've never seen or felt anything like it."
"Most things over there are different from here," Sam said.
Katie was feeling the material with her hands. "It's so smooth," she said. "Like satin, but even better. And the way it shimmers, like you see blue and silver and sometimes purple. It's amazing."
"It's probably made with the help of magic," Dean said.
The boys demonstrated how the dresses were to be worn. They were a simple wrap around type that went over one shoulder and wrapped around the back to the front under the arm on the other side. When they were fastened they draped beautifully and shimmered as they walked. Both girls were delighted with them and decided they had to go shopping for accessories. They also wanted to let their parents know the boys were home, so they decided to do their shopping over there.
When they left, Sam questioned Dean about how things were with Maggie. "She's amazing," Dean said. "I don't deserve her, but she hates when I say things like that."
"I'm glad things settled down so quickly for you," said Sam.
"Yes, me too."
After telling their parents that the boys were home in one piece, Maria was extremely happy, since she had helped train them, and had a vested interest in the outcome. She said she wanted to talk to them sometime and find out if they thought her training had helped them.
When they went shopping Maggie told Katie about Dean and how it had affected her at first, but that she decided that was childish and she realized Dean wasn't in control of himself. They both agreed that both Sam and Dean were going to need some extra special tenderness for a while, because it was very evident that their experiences had affected them.
They found some sandals in a shimmery silver color that had crisscross straps up to the knee and looked great with the dresses, with an evening purse to match. They bought some sparkly jewelry and hair accessories too, and were excited about the overall look. Everywhere they went, sales girls were wide-eyed when they took out one of the dresses to coordinate their choices. They received a lot of comments about the dress and everyone wanted to know where they got it.
"We could start a legitimate clothing business, buying things over there and selling them here," said Maggie.
"For sure, if that was the kind of thing we'd enjoy doing. But I don't think it's us," Katie said. "Besides, I kind of like looking different from everyone else."
Maggie laughed and agreed. They had a great day, finally able to breathe again without being in fear for their men.
"Well Sammy, we've got some loose ends to tie up while the girls aren't here," Dean said.
"Yeah," said Sam. "Easy one first?"
"Sure," Dean answered and called Cas.
Within a minute, Cas turned up. "Dean, Sam, it's good to see you home." He smiled and gave warm hugs to both of them.
"It's good to be home, Cas. But, what's wrong? Hey, you don't look so good, what's the matter?" Dean asked him, worried.
"It's my grace, Dean. I'm losing it slowly, and at the moment, there's nothing I can do about it. At least nothing I'm willing to do."
"Can we help?" asked Sam.
"No, I wish you could. I'm just happy you two are back."
"So what's going on up there, you still at war with Metatron?" Dean asked.
"Metatron's been neutralized. We have him imprisoned. But again, without a leader there's some chaos, some dissatisfaction."
"Well that's good to hear you've got that scumbag, it really is. But Cas, we gotta get you back in shape."
"I'm working on it. At least I can stop worrying about you two now. Did you win?"
"We did, yes," said Dean. "And thanks for watching over our girls while we were gone.
"Good then. And you're welcome. But those girls you got there, they don't need a lot of watching over."
"We've heard," said Sam. "Listen you call if there's anything we can do, no matter how big or small, ya hear?"
"I hear," he said, and in his usual Cas way, he was gone.
The boys exchanged worried glances, and then headed for the dungeon, where they summoned Crowley. "Well it's about bloody time," Crowley complained with out preamble. "You've been ignoring my bloody calls!" he grumbled.
"And you've been harassing our women," said Dean. "You don't get to do that."
"I never!" he said. "I was just sending you a message since you were ignoring my calls."
"Not that we owe you any explanation," said Dean. "But we weren't ignoring you. We weren't here to take your goddamn calls."
"Weren't here? What d'you mean, you weren't here?"
"What word don't you understand? We. Weren't. Here."
"Okay I'll bite! Where were you then, Timbuktu? Because you know I own that too, right?"
"Well you don't own where we were. We were on another universe entirely," said Dean, as he took out the demon blade from his belt and casually began cleaning under his nails with it.
Crowley frowned. "Another universe? How can that be?"
Dean chuckled gleefully. "That could be," he said smiling, "because yet another asshole god decided he was gonna use us for his play toy and make us dance to his tune."
Crowley deepened his frown and added a question mark.
"Yeah," Sam added. "It backfired on him a bit."
"Yep just a wee bit. They're looking for a new god as we speak." Dean glared at Crowley. "You getting my meaning?"
"You killed a god?" Crowley asked incredulously?
"We did. I mean it's not like it was the first god we ever killed. But still, this one was a badass. Hey Sammy?" Dean said, as though a thought just occurred to him. "How'd you like to kill a devil now?"
"Could be fun," he said laughing, as he leaned against the circular wall, watching his brother amuse himself.
"I don't believe it, "Crowley said
"Well you should. See, you had a part in it."
"Me? I wasn't even there!"
"No," said Dean, viciously. "But you're the reason I have this goddamn mark, and the blade that goes with it. And without them, well let's just say you might just have seen the last of us."
"The mark?"
"And the blade, yes," said Dean.
The boys got quiet while Crowley stared at them. They could almost hear the wheels turning as he thought things through. "Did anything…" he shrugged, "oh, strange happen, when you used the blade?"
"Strange?" asked Dean, as though he were very curious.
"You know, like strange, unexpected?" Crowley answered.
"Ohhh, you mean, like, did I turn into a demon?" Dean asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "No, of course not. How could something like that possibly happen?" He asked angrily. He pushed Crowley down on the chair, brought the demon blade up under his chin and said, "You fucking son-of-a-bitch! You knew that was going to happen to me. You knew! You wanted it to happen!"
"Dean, no, I didn't know. Not for sure. I never lied to you Dean." Dean pushed the blade so it made an indentation in Crowley's neck, but didn't quite cut into it. "I swear, I didn't know. Not for sure!"
"But you suspected, didn't you?" Dean asked between his teeth. "You were hoping it would. Did you also know I had to die for it to happen?"
Crowley gulped. "Well, not for sure," he said. Looking into Dean's angry eyes made him uncomfortable, so he looked at Sam instead. He didn't find that any easier. "Boys, you have to believe me, I didn't know."
Dean put a non-lethal slice into Crowley's neck and backed away from him. "You're such a piece of crap, Crowley." Dean turned his back on Crowley, while the king of hell, looking more afraid than he liked to show, just sat there quietly waiting. Dean turned back to face him again. "But you know what's really funny, Crowley? You know what's fucking hilarious? The joke's on you. Isn't that a scream? The joke's on you because it happened on a world where you couldn't benefit from it. Not only weren't you there, there were no other demons there either. Isn't that hilarious?"
Again, Crowley frowned, trying to comprehend that. "What kind of a world doesn't have any demons?"
"A nice one now that there's no longer even a douche bag god, thanks to us," Dean said smiling.
Again, Crowley acted like he was at a tennis match, looking back and forth between the two brothers. "So, where's the blade now?" he asked timidly.
"Someplace you'll never be able to get your hands on it," Dean said. "But I can get it anytime I want, so you listen carefully. The only reason I'm not killing you now is because I don't want to have to deal with the fallout of a chaotic hell fighting to see whose going to be the new king. As the saying goes, 'Better the devil you know.' So listen up, and listen good. You go back and do whatever it is you do, make your deals with low life scum or idiots who think selling their soul will solve all their problems. You leave me and my brother alone. And you especially leave our women alone. Because I have the mark, and access to the blade. And you know damn good and well, I can kill you with it. You come anywhere near our women again, and I will end you. Are you feeling me asshole?" He said all this with such venom in his voice that Crowley knew he meant every word. "I get it, Squirrel, no need to get all snarly," he said, trying to act like he wasn't as afraid as he really was.
The boys each took ahold of one of Crowley's arms and threw him on his ass outside the demon trap. Crowley was gone in an instant.
Dean brushed his hands together as if they were covered with dirt, made his 'took care of that one' face and asked his brother, "By the way Sam. Where is the blade?"
"I gave it to Tarsa to hide. I wanted to destroy it, but since you sill have the mark, I wasn't sure that would be wise."
Dean looked at Sam for a long moment and then nodded. Sam asked, "How are you doing, now that we're home? Does the mark still call to you?"
Dean sighed. "It does. But being back with Maggie helps. We'll just take It one day at a time. Let's forget all this crap for the rest of the day, and go get ready for tonight."
Right behind you, dude, right behind you," said Sam, grinning widely.
The restaurant was nice, elegant without being overly formal. The boys were dressed in their evening wear and the girls looked fantastic in their new off-world dresses. They were all feeling so much excitement themselves that that they barely noticed the heads turning as they passed tables. Men and women both were noticing the girls' dresses and turning to whisper amongst themselves as they stared.
Both boys were carrying black leather bags that could have been camera bags, but when the girls asked them what was in the bags they just smiled mysteriously. Having learned during the date at home that Champaign really wasn't their forte they all ordered mixed drinks more to their liking.
After their dinner orders were taken, Katie folded her hands on the table and said, "Okay, guys, you promised to tell us more about the other world. So please, we really want to hear what it was like."
"Well," Sam said, "Things are very different there. It's not a modern world. There's no technology, not even industry. It's like our world centuries ago, only with magic."
Dean smiled. "It's very colorful, as we said. People use magic, and it turns them colors."
"What are the people like?" Maggie asked.
"Well, like here, there are good ones and bad ones," said Sam. "We met an awful lot of the good ones though. We couldn't have done what we did without them. We had no clue how to best utilize magic, and it cost us a lot of time at first."
"Yeah," said Dean. "You should have seen us in the beginning, learning as we went. It was hilarious."
"You learned to use magic?" Maggie asked incredulously!
"No," They laughed, and Sam said, "What we learned was how to buy scrolls and read them. What we didn't learn was which ones we ought to get."
"Talk about trial and error," said Dean, and they told the girls about some of their earlier experiences.
When the food arrived, the talking died down a bit, but they lingered over drinks and dessert. By that time the boys had shared a good number of their experiences with their women, and told them about some of the major characters they had come to know, especially Hale.
"In fact," said Sam, "Hale wanted us to give you a present from him. They opened their bags and got out the small stuffed animals Hale had gotten for them. "These are called Simlies, said Sam. "They are found in just about every house on the planet and are considered good luck."
"Oh my god, they are adorable," said Maggie. "They look a little like cats."
"Or chipmunks," said Katie. "We must thank your Mr. Hale. These are so cute."
"Maybe you will sometime," said Sam, smiling into Katie's eyes.
"So, tell us more," Maggie encouraged them.
"Well, something we both really liked was how they handled marriage there," said Sam. "They don't do it quite like we do here. The women don't wait around for the men to propose, the couple decides it together."
"Then they go shopping for what they call Promise Rings, which they both wear," Dean added. "They represent that the couple are promised to each other."
"Do they ever break up after that?" Katie asked.
"They do, but we hear it's pretty rare," said Sam.
"I like that tradition," said Katie, "It represents equality in the relationship."
"That's what we liked too," said Sam.
"What happens when they get married?" asked Maggie. "Or do they even get married?"
"They do say vows," Sam answered, "but again, it's a bit different. But when they do, they each give another ring to each other, called Lifeshare Rings. They match the Promise Rings and the sets are exquisite, I mean absolutely gorgeous!"
"They come in colors, and different colors mean different things," added Dean.
The girls looked excited, smiling happily with their eyes sparkling. "I would really love to see these rings" said Katie. How interesting this new world is."
Sam and Dean exchanged knowing looks and Dean asked, "So if we lived on that other world, do you think we would decide to get Promise Rings?"
"I would if you would," said Maggie.
Sam looked at Katie with the same question in his eyes. "Of course we would, I think it's a wonderful tradition," she said.
"Hmm," said Dean, pretending to think. "Maybe we could go there soon and check out those rings together." They didn't think the girls could have looked any happier, but they did.
"Yeah but ya know Dean," said Sam. "There's also something to be said for our own traditions, you know, like getting down on one knee to propose to the woman you love. I've always wanted to do that."
"You have a point," said Dean thinking. "So maybe we can start our own tradition, and mix the two somehow."
"Yeah maybe," sad Sam, looking like he was considering that. "Yeah we should definitely do that."
And much to the girls' surprise, they each stood up, went down on one knee next to the woman they loved, held out a gorgeous ring, and said, "Will you promise to share the rest of your life with me?"
The whole restaurant got quiet as all the diners gave them their rapt attention, and waited for the girls to answer. But they didn't have to wait very long. As if it had been as planned as what the boys had just done, they each held the man they loved by the sides of their faces and kissed them, while the whole restaurant cheered. The boys slipped the rings on the girls' fingers, and both couples stood up and held each other close, kissing as though they were the only ones in the room. The restaurant went wild, clapping and cheering.
When they sat down again, the girls held out their hands to look at the rings and went wide-eyed in amazement. Not only were they the most beautiful pieces of craftsmanship the girls had ever seen, the colors in them seemed to get brighter as they watched. They looked at the boys in wonder.
"They're magical," said Sam. "We weren't sure the magic in them would carry over to here, but apparently, it does." They also explained the meanings of the colors, and both girls said they were happy with the choices.
Then the boys gave the girls the matching rings and Dean said, "Here's the other half of the promise. We couldn't do this together, we had no idea we'd ever be going back there. But you can slip these on us, if you like."
The girls took the rings as they exchanged glances with each other, and placed them on the fingers of the men they loved. And these too got brighter as they all watched. "I love you's were exchanged several times, and the waiter brought Champaign anyway, compliments of the house, which they graciously accepted.
Dean asked for more glasses to be brought, and he poured out bubbly drink and passed them around to the people at the tables near them, until the bottle was empty, and accepted many congratulations and hand shakes. A woman came up to them and said, "I didn't want to intrude, but I would really like to know where you got these dresses. I've never seen anything like them."
Dean grinned and said, "Oh, you know, we picked them up on another planet."
When the woman looked at him in puzzlement, Maggie laughed and said, "Don't mind him, he's just giddy. Actually, they are made from a new material that is still in production. We are sworn to secrecy, I hope you understand."
"Ahh, said the woman, indeed I do. Well I hope it comes on the market soon, I simply must have it. And I wish all of you the very best for your lives." They all thanked the woman as she reluctantly left, almost unable to take her eyes off Maggie's ring as well.
"We have one more gift for you tonight," said Sam, and they both pulled out a large wooden box from their leather bags. Even the box was intricately carved. "We were sworn not to open these, but to present them to you for you to open. They are presents from the jeweler who made your rings.
With unabashed excitement the girls each opened their box, and sucked in their breath in complete surprise. Inside the boxes were more pieces of jewelry that exactly matched their rings; A necklace, earrings, a bracelet, and two hair ornaments. Sam and Dean exchanged knowing glances. These additional pieces had to be worth more than five times what the rings were, and they already knew they got the rings at far less than their value.
The state of shock that hit all four of them lasted several moments, until the boys, again in unison as though it had been planned, each took a necklace and stood up to place it on their woman. The girls added the other pieces themselves, and the whole effect was breathtaking, especially with the dresses they were wearing.
"Katie," Maggie said. "I don't think we will ever need another piece of jewelry in our entire lives."
Love was definitely swirling in the air, and all four of them were now eager to get home and share that love on a more intimate level. Some things are meant to be private, and what happened in the Bat Cave over the next few hours was definitely one of those things. Suffice it to say that as enticing as the girls looked in all their new shimmering and sparkling finery, getting them out of it, except for the new rings, of course, was just as intriguing as seeing them in it.
One kind of magic had brought them together, and another kind of magic was now binding their lives forever. For two girls who grew up on a world without any magic at all, and two boys who had mostly experienced magic at it's very worst, it was amazing to discover that true magic, real magic, actually did exist, if only you had the courage and the wisdom to listen to your heart, and let it enter.
THE END
Dear Readers,
There is now sequel to this Story.. It's called "The Girls of Supernatural, and picks up right where this one leaves off, and focuses on the girls determination to become hunters. As with this one, I don't where this new journey will take us, but I hope you will enjoy the ride as much as you have this one. I look forward to seeing you there.
SamGirl27