April 2015
When you arrived at the hospital in Tulsa, Cass was waiting for you out the front of the main entrance. It looked like he had been pacing back and forth on the footpath and you were curious as to why he wasn't with Claire already.
"Hey Cass. How is she?" You asked as you stepped up next to him.
"I don't know..." Cass answered quietly. "I haven't gone up yet."
Obviously frustrated with his response, you grilled him with, "What? Why not?"
Rather than explaining himself, the angel began to look at you strangely and this time you weren't the only one to notice it. "Cass? What's wrong?" Dean asked for you as his hand moved to rest behind your back.
Cass turned to Dean and then back to you, watching closely. You had the feeling that the glow on your skin had changed again and growing impatient, you straight out asked him. "Am I glowing again or something?"
"Um. Yes... You are... But we agreed you would keep me updated in regards to the protection spell and your scars. So I take it nothing new has happened?" He now turned to Sam as well, including him in the conversation as he had been there when the angel had asked you to keep him in the loop.
The only thing new that had happened, was your relationship with Dean moving to the next step. And while you were still wondering how to answer, you felt Dean's hand press firmly against your back. It was the affirmative signal you had both agreed to. Although in this instance you weren't quite sure what he meant.
You found out when Dean spoke up though, confidently informing the angel on what had happened between you. "Cass. She and I are together now." The angel looked at him confused, forcing Dean to explain more. "We're past the courting and the dating. She's my girlfriend."
"Oh... I see." Cass begun. "It doesn't really explain why you're glowing though..."
"No, but it's the only thing that's different, um, new about me..." You added. "Do we really need to talk about the glowing? Cause I really just want to go and see how Claire is..."
Sam finally jumped in on the conversation and stepped forward, gesturing you all to step inside the hospital. "Good idea Glowworm. If they want to keep discussing it I'll go with you..."
"No, no..." Dean gently nudged you forward. "I'm good. Cass? Let's go."
"Right. Of course." Cass replied with one last glance at you.
The four of you stepped into the hospital building. Sam leading the way towards the room number he had written down earlier that day. It was nearing five o'clock and you hoped that visiting hours were still happening.
When you reached the door to Claire's room, the men let you go ahead. Dean at the rear as he was apprehensive about seeing Claire again. During the car ride to Tulsa, he had told you that he was probably the last person the teenager wanted to see. And while you and Sam both knew where he was coming from, you had made sure to let him know that you appreciated the effort he was putting in for you.
You knocked twice, before hearing her voice on the other side call back. "Yeah."
Opening the door, you peaked your head inside and smiled when you finally caught her eye. "Hi..." You spoke quietly. "How're doing?" You asked as you stepped inside the room.
Claire smiled at you as you walked over to the bedside. She was about to greet you in return and raised her arms up to give you a hug, when she saw the three men accompanying you, enter the room too.
Her arms instantly came back down again, and she glared towards them. "What're they doing here?"
"Awesome." You heard Dean loudly sigh.
You weren't sure if she was referring to the three of them, or a select two. But you ignored her comment and attempted cheerily, to explain their presence. "They were worried about you too when they heard... You um, you had me down as an emergency contact and I live with Sam and Dean. They were there when I got the call..."
"Yeah well... That was a mistake. You can go with them too." She spat out.
Those words stung. Even though you knew she really didn't mean them. And you did your best to push aside the hurt feelings so you could continue to be there for her like you wanted. Your ears felt like they were burning though and you knew that if you turned around you'd no doubt see Dean's angry glare. Not at you, but on your behalf.
Cass moved to step closer to Claire and asked "Why were you at a bar?" before you had a chance to continue.
"I wasn't." Claire stated.
That was when Sam chose to move forward, resting a hand on your shoulder to ask. "Claire. What were you doing in an alley outside a bar?"
She replied, but she refused to look at Sam as she did so. "Wrong place, wrong time. Story of my life."
"Look, we're not leaving until you tell us what the hell really happened. So if you want us gone... Talk... If you only want to talk with Glowworm here, fine, but one of us will need to be here too." Sam informed her.
"Why can't I talk to you alone?" Claire turned back to you. "What's with the bodyguards?"
You hadn't told Claire about the circumstances regarding your arrival in the States yet. It had never come up in conversation with her. And she definitely had no idea about the whole God situation. That had all come about after you had met and there had never been an appropriate time to tell her. 'Hey by the way Claire, I just found out I was bought here by God.' There was no tangent conversation that matched that very well.
"She's possibly in danger alright." Dean spoke up a little too gruffly for your liking. But he stepped forward to stand next to you. "Be grateful she's come all the way here to see you."
Claire snorted at that. "Everyone's in danger around you. You're a monster..."
"Claire!"' You snapped warningly. "Please don't. Enough with the monster talk. Dean's not a monster..."
Your hand searched for his and you laced your fingers together. Squeezing it lightly, hoping he returned the pressure. When he squeezed once, it relieved you, but the simple gesture didn't go unnoticed by Claire. "What? Are you sleeping with him or something? After what he did?"
In frustration, you sighed loudly. "Would you just talk to me. I can ask two of them to leave the room and you can choose who... Just tell me what you were doing. I wanna help..."
"Yeah, well you can't... Don't you have family of your own or something?" She spat back at you. "Go and talk to them and butt out of my life..."
You lowered your head down at her words as you felt Dean squeeze your hand once more. Silently checking that your were okay now. You tried to remove it from his grip but when he wouldn't let you, you returned the pressure lightly.
Keep it together girl. She doesn't know what happened to you. If she did she wouldn't have said it like that, maybe... Reading between the lines though, you realised she'd given you a clue. Not on purpose, but a clue nonetheless. "Claire... Does this have something to do with your family? Is that why you were at the bar?"
"I was looking for my mom okay... I wanna find my mom and tell her she ruined my life."
Cass moved to step closer to Claire. "Your mom didn't..."
"She left me, and so did my dad. But Jimmy's gone, right? Has it easy up in heaven. So... Mom's the only one left I can tell off..." Even though she was addressing Cass, she looked at you as she spoke.
You tried once again to remove your hand from Dean's grasp and this time he didn't resist. Allowing you to step forward and sit next to Claire on the bed. "Tell her off... Why would you go to a bar to do that? How did you know she was there?"
"I didn't. But I knew she'd been there and talked to this guy Ronnie. He goes there a lot." Claire shifted on the bed and reached over to grab her backpack. She pulled out a small book or maybe a journal. You weren't sure what, but it was quite small and clearly held pages inside. She pulled out a postcard and handed it to you. "When I was living with my grandma, she used to send me postcards, and I traced this one back here and eventually knew about the bar."
As you read the postcard, Claire continued. "This was the last one... I got it just before my grandma died. Two years ago. Nobody's heard from her since but her diary, this," She raised the book still in her hand. "It said she was gonna meet a guy name Ronnie Cartwright around the time she disappeared. He's the one who knocked me down. I didn't tell him our last name but he knew it. And I think he knows something..."
After you'd finished reading it, you handed the postcard to Sam who was now the closest to you out of the two brothers.
"Why was Amelia looking for him?" Cass asked as Sam inspected the card.
"She went looking for miracles. She went looking for you." Claire replied softly to the angel.
Dean took the postcard from Sam's hand, choosing to join in the conversation again. "Well. Why don't we go back to the bar and see if we can track down this Ronnie guy, huh?"
"Really?" Claire instantly warmed up to Dean on that.
"You're going to help find Amelia?" Cass was the first to voice his surprise.
When Dean first spoke, you were elated that he wanted to help Claire. But his next words made you cringe as you realised why he was so enthusiastic to help the teen. "Sounds like her mom disappeared trying to hunt down an angel." He Shrugged. "It might be a case..."
"Dean. We don't know that..." Sam added.
"Well we've hunted on less... And you two want me to keep busy. So let's check it out..." Dean was way too calm for your liking.
Claire pushed back the covers on the bed and moved to stand up. "I'm going too." Her voice was overly enthusiastic for someone who still had a concussion.
"No you're not..." Cass interjected. But the authoritative voice he tried to use wasn't working for him.
The teen had already moved over to the closet where you presumed the rest of her things must be. But she spun around to glare at you all, moving from face to face, determined to get her way. "This is to find my mom! I'm not sitting around here waiting for you. I'm coming!"
Sam held his hands out gently towards her, trying to diffuse the situation without physically touching her. "Look... Claire. Maybe ah, maybe you could show us what you've found out so far? We can help you try and piece everything together while..." He turned to look at the other two men. "While Dean and Cass go to the bar and find Ronnie?"
Claire looked at Sam apprehensively, seeming to consider his suggestion.
"And we'll include you in everything we find out alright. Let us try and help you find your mom. If Dean's right and she disappeared dealing with an angel, you don't want to do this alone. We can help you..." Sam rotated his hand around the room with his finger pointed. "If you let us..."
The teenager nodded her head. "Alright. Fine... Everything's at the motel, so let's go." Claire turned back to the cupboard to pull out her clothes and walked into the small bathroom attached to her room to get changed.
On that note, Dean gently grabbed you by your upper arm. "Sweetheart." He whispered as his head motioned towards the door before addressing Sam and Cass louder. "We'll wait for you in the hall."
This no doubt, was going to be a 'stay with my brother at all times' speech, but you decided it best to follow him as he had suggested over causing a fuss. So you followed his lead when he gently pulled on your arm again, taking a second to glance over at Sam to convey an apology as best you could. You would much rather be waiting for Claire in his place.
When you stepped out into the hall, Dean closed the door and guided you a couple of metres away from it. Trying to stay out of the way of the equipment and other people moving about the busy space.
He placed his hands on your waist and stepped in close to you. His brow furrowing as he searched your eyes and asked. "You didn't tell Claire about your situation?"
That's what this is about? Well that's not what you were expecting and you shook your head before answering. Trying to brush the notion aside. "It never came up... Kind of hard to bring something like that up you know. 'By the way, I was kidnapped by god'." You whispered that last part.
"Don't you think you should tell her?... That mustn't have been easy to hear her say that to you..." Dean was right, it wasn't. Being reminded that you no longer existed, particularly to your family this time, was hard. But you didn't blame her for it and there was no point bringing it up to her unless an opening came up. She had enough to worry about and didn't need to feel guilty about something she said in passing to you.
You shook your head again. "She doesn't need to know... And she's right, I'm not her family..." You stated simply.
By his facial expression, you could tell Dean didn't like that response. He pulled you in closer to wrap his arms around you. "You've been treating her like your sister since you met her sweetheart. I'm sure it's not the same thing and you can't replace your family back home... But come on. You brought her that present, so I know you care about her. You don't need to lie to me, or yourself..."
Your head rested itself against his shoulder as your arms moved to wrap around him tightly. You tried your best to stop any tears from forming as his words reminded you of your sister. As usual, he was right. You had been treating Claire as a replacement for your own sibling and rather than making you feel closer to the teen as were Dean's intentions, instead you felt guilty for doing that to her.
You sighed and attempted to stifle the single sob that tried to rear its ugly head before you began to cry. It worked. But the man before you either heard or felt you doing so and held onto you tighter. Moving one arm up so he could gently stroke your hair.
"Maybe you should come with me and Cass to the bar?" He whispered.
You let go of him and pulled back at that to look at him. Shaking your head, you put on a smile and replied. "No. I'm good. I honestly thought I was going to hear you chastise me to be careful again..."
"That's a given. I shouldn't have to tell you that anymore...". Dean said as he side eyed you.
*****
Dean had left with Cass from the hospital in search of Ronnie at the bar. Meanwhile you made your way with Sam and Claire, in Cass' car, to her motel room so she could show you what she had come up with so far in regards to her mums disappearance. Sam was impressed with what she had worked out but offered to teach her a few tricks, including hacking into credit card records.
You were at the motel for only an hour before Dean and Cass joined the three of you. Having found Ronnie who had given up a name, Peter Holloway. They suspected he was some kind of angel, healing the sick and injured. But by the sounds of it, he had also been feeding off of others, and that is what you all suspected had happened to Claire's mum, Amelia.
They hadn't been with you long before Sam picked up that Ronnie had been killed through the local police scanner. "What did you do?" Claire instantly accused Dean of the act to which he denied stating "I didn't lay a hand on him!"
"Dean that's not exactly true." Cass sighed.
You and Sam exchanged a glance across the table you had been sitting at before he looked up at his brother who was currently standing behind you. Leaning on the back rest of the chair you occupied.
"What happened then?" Sam asked worriedly.
"I just made him talk, with a little bit of force... I may have, slammed his head on the table, but I didn't kill the guy!"
As Dean continued to defend himself, you sighed internally. Too much detail babe, you thought to yourself. You're really not helping to prove your innocence here. At least he was being truthful though.
"All right! I'm gonna get suited up and head back over there." His arm wrapped across your chest and he lowered his head down to rest on the top of yours. "You wanna come with sweetheart?"
Even though you wanted to go with him, if you could avoid seeing a dead body, you were definitely going to take it. With a hint of sarcasm, you patted his arm and replied. "Yeah... Nah... Dead guys just aren't my thing. Have fun though... I'll stay here with Sam and keep looking into Holloway."
He chuckled at you and kissed you on top of the head before raising himself back up to stand. "Suit yourself. Keep an eye on my brother for me." He then moved quickly towards the door.
Cass went to follow him, calling out. "I'm coming with you."
As did Claire. "Me too." Causing both men to stop abruptly. Dean considered Claire for a moment, seeming to scowl, and then walked off, silently accepting the teenager was going to tag along with them.
You watched the exchange with a smirk, half wishing you had gone along, just to see how it all played out. But you reminded yourself of the dead body and turned back to Sam who was watching you with a smirk of his own.
"What?" You asked with a scoff.
"You should've seen how disappointed Dean looked, when you said you were staying here with me... He'd probably kill for you if you asked him too."
"Poor choice of expression Sam..." You chuckled. "But thanks, I think... I appreciate the sentiment"
Sam nodded at you. "You're a good influence on him y'know. I have a feeling he'd be in even more trouble with the mark if it weren't for you. He might not have been so aggressive if you had gone with them to the bar..."
"What're you saying Sam? You want us to be attached at the hip, so I can keep him calm?" While you put on a serious expression, you were actually teasing and when the younger Winchester began stuttering, trying to save face, you giggled at him. "Relax, I'm just messing with you man..."
Sam shook his head at you rather bashfully.
You wondered if Dean had told Sam that he had given up on trying to find the cure. That the only reason the two of you were now together, sooner than planned was because Dean had told you he wanted to live his life. How would Sam take that information from you. Was it even your place to bring it up?
Dean had never told you that his words were in confidence, but that was a given right? Considering you were now in a relationship with him. If he told Sam something that you told to him and him alone, you would be gutted.
But you knew Sam wanted the same as you. That he wouldn't give up even though Dean had. So you decided it was probably better to tell Sam your concerns. Especially as he was still on board with saving his brother from the fate of Cain. You hoped anyway. "Um. Sam..." He looked up at you as you cleared your throat. "You know Dean's given up right? On trying to find a cure?"
Sam looked at you surprised. "What?"
"So he didn't tell you?..." The answer was obvious, but you enquired anyway.
Sam shook his head. "No. I had no idea... When did he tell you?"
"That night when you couldn't find me, our first date..." You admitted.
"Is that... Is that why, things changed between the two of you so quickly?" He asked, putting two and two together as he had done about your relationship starting.
"Yeah... After Cain, he said he wanted to live his life while he still could. Because he thinks he's going to end up like him... He said he was being realistic... But I told him I wasn't going to give up, and I'm hoping you won't either?"
"No! Of course not!" Sam insisted. "We're going to find a cure whether he likes it or not, and then you and he can work at the Apple pie thing... I really appreciate you telling me. And I won't, mention anything to him either. He told you in confidence right?"
You nodded at that. "I guess. I mean, he didn't tell you so..."
"Don't worry, this stays between you and me." Sam reassured you.
You said your, "Thanks" to Sam, before your train of thought changed and you remembered Claire's accusation moments earlier. "Sam... What he did to Ronnie at the bar... What if he's getting worse?"
"Then we work harder to find the cure."