The Kids Are Alright
Dean's pov
"So you can see this...shadow woman now?" Sam asked as he looked over at me from the passenger seat of the Impala.
"Yeah." I sighed. "I don't know what the hell is going on with it, but yeah." I glanced in the rearview mirror to see Si lying in the backseat, sleeping with her hands tucked under the pillow she kept in the car.
She hasn't been sleeping well lately, especially at night.
"Speaking of Saige...with your whole...deal, you still planning on--" Sam began.
"I don't know. Millie asked the same thing." I cut him off. "I'm not sure what'd she'd say or if it'd hurt her more than help."
Sam scoffed. "She's with you, Dean. Fully. I mean, head over heels, ride or die type of with you. I don't think she'll ever move on no matter what you do or do not ask her. I think you're scared."
"I am not scared." I scoffed.
"Yes, you are." Sam said. "You're scared she'll say no and hate you. That's why you didn't ask her six and a half months ago when you bought the ring."
"No, I was biding time for...a good moment. I was waiting until after I gave her the necklace for her birthday, but other things happened."
"Just ask her."
"I don't know how."
"It's easy, Dean. Four words." Sam shook his head, smiling.
"You're enjoying this too much." I stated.
"Maybe."
___
Saige's pov
"What do you mean you don't think it'll work, Bobby. It's a demon dispelling ritual." Sam said as he and I sat at a small table in a cafe.
Dean knocked on the window we sat by suddenly, making me jump and tear my eyes from the newspaper. He winked at me before heading for the door.
"Well, maybe we got the translation wrong." Sam said. "No, we can't just let Dean fry in hell while we-- Well, there's gotta be something--Okay, yeah. No. I gotta go. Never mind." He snapped his computer shut as Dean sat down beside me.
Dean leaned in to kiss my cheek, setting an arm around the back of my chair. "Who was that?"
"Oh, I was just ordering a pizza." Sam lied.
"Dude, you do realize that you're in a restaurant?" Dean asked.
"Yeah. Oh, yeah. I just felt like pizza, you know?" Sam replied.
I rolled my eyes. "He's being a dork. He was on the phone with Millie. She called."
Which was technically true. It just happened before Sam's phone call with Bobby.
"Okay, Weirdy McWeirderton." Dean said. "Why wouldn't you just tell me you were on the phone with a chick?"
"He knew you'd make fun of him." I grabbed a fry from my plate, popping it into my mouth. "Anyway, I think I found a case. So that means dinner and movie, Dean-O, don't forget."
"Wouldn't dream of it." He replied.
"What is it?" Sam asked.
"Cicero, Indiana." I said. "This guy falls on his own power saw."
"And?" Sam asked, taking the newspaper. "What, that's it? One power saw?"
"There were a few more odd deaths. Nothing that seemed to connect other than they were all parents. Oh, and they're all from the same suburb. Kinda like those bug deaths we dealt with a while ago."
"This is it?" Sam asked.
"Shut up." I grabbed the paper.
"Wait, did you say Cicero?" Dean asked.
"Yeah." I answered. "But we don't have to go. I'm not too fond of Indiana anyway."
"No, I think I hooked up with a chick from there once." Dean told us. "Like eight years ago right before Si and I got together."
"Oh, wow, now I definitely don't wanna go." I muttered.
"Lisa Braeden, I think it was." Dean nodded.
"Great, now she has a name." I sighed. "Well, this will sure be fun."
___
"Do we really have to stop here?" I asked Dean after we dropped Sam off at the motel. He parked the car outside of the house where balloons were tied to the porch.
"You found the case." Dean told me.
"Fine, next case, it's gonna involve my ex." I stated.
Dean laughed. "You're funny."
"I thought I wasn't."
"You weren't but now you are." Dean slid out of the car, moving to open my door for me.
"Oh, well, thanks. Come on, you'd have a fit if this was flipped around." I stated. "Why can't I hate having to deal with your ex's?"
"You can, I guess." Dean shrugged, arm around my shoulder as we crossed the street. "I think it's cute. You get all flustered and red and you try so hard not to let it bother you, but it does. It's adorable. And I know you'd pick me over your ex any day, just like I'd pick you over any chick any day."
I glared at him, fiddling with the necklace around my neck with Dean's promise that he loved me engraved on it.
"You've got nothing to worry about. Didn't we go over this when Jo was on a case with us?" Dean slipped his hand down and slid it into the back pocket of my jeans. "Do you need a reminder?"
I shoved his arm. "Let's just deal with the case and find another state to create chaos in." I knocked on the door. "And you've got a point. You do have a better ass than my ex boyfriend." I smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
It quickly opened and Lisa, who I had only met once, was standing there. She had long dark hair and brown eyes and a nice smile. "Dean." She laughed, not even noticing me.
"Lisa. How's it going?" Dean asked. "You remember Si, right?"
Her eyes turned to me, lingering on Dean's hand on my waist. "Yeah. Nice to see you again."
"You too." I said, feeling very uncomfortable all of a sudden.
Eight years ago when Dean and Lisa were hooking up, I had a not so great time in my life which resulted in Dean coming to pick me up and saying I could stay on the road with him for a while since he hadn't met back up with John and Sam yet.
No matter where he was or who he was with, he always called me every night, wrote me letter whenever he could, and if I ever needed anything, he picked me up.
Dean was always there for me.
"So how long has it been?" Lisa asked, eyes turning back to Dean.
"Eight, going on nine years now." Dean answered. "Crazy, right?"
"Super crazy." I mumbled.
"Yeah." Lisa nodded. "So what are you doing here?"
"Oh, well, we were just passing through at Si's request and just figured we should stop." Dean shrugged.
Lisa just stared at him for a moment, smiling. "Dean Winchester. Heh. Wow, just wow." She laughed.
"Should we kill her?" Shadow Lady whispered in my ear.
"What? No." I said suddenly before I could catch myself.
Dean and Lisa looked at me oddly.
"I, um, I'll shut up." I nodded my head.
"I'm sorry, but you kind of came at a bad time." Lisa said, looking back at Dean. "We're having a party."
"Party?" I asked weakly.
"I love parties." Dean added.
___
It was a children's birthday party.
I was never fond of birthday parties. Mostly because mine were always a disaster and they went horribly wrong every single time.
As Dean and I stepped out into the back yard and we had some room to breathe, he turned to me, leaning in to whisper, "You okay? What was that about?"
"Shadow Lady just caught me off guard. She may or may not have asked if we should kill Lisa." I whispered.
Dean blinked. "Oh, right, obviously."
"I'm not going to."
"Yeah, I got that." Dean's hand on my waist grounded me, reminding me all was fine. "So, uh, who's the party for?"
"Ben. My son." Lisa said as she stopped, turning to face us.
"Oh, you have a--?"
Please, please, God, don't let it be his.
"Yeah." She nodded. She pointed to a dark haired boy across the yard, who held a CD in hand. "Yes! AC/DC rules."
"I think I feel sick." I muttered. "Is it hot out here to anyone else? How old is he?" I asked.
"Eight." Lisa told me.
I stepped away from Dean, pulling in a deep breath. "I need a drink."
"Could you two excuse me a minute?" Lisa asked.
"Yeah, sure, don't mind us." Dean said.
I followed Lisa's gaze and watched as she walked away toward a little girl and her mom. That's the family of the guy who died. The little girl seemed off. Like, something is super weird off.
But that wasn't the most pressing issue on my mind right now.
"You have a kid?" I asked Dean. "I need a minute to process and throw up a little."
"Okay, that's a little dramatic." Dean laughed nervously.
"I don't know whether to laugh or cry." I said as we continued through the yard. "Oh, great, a race car cake. He's you!"
"Want some?" Dean offer me a bite, holding the plate in the other hand.
"Did you hear Lisa call him Dean?" I heard a woman's voice.
"Shut up." I said, smacking his arm. "There's drama."
"Okay." Dean sighed.
"Who's Dean?" Another woman asked.
"You don't know about Dean? Best-night-of-my-life Dean?" The first woman asked.
I mean, I get that. I also definitely agree.
"Who's the girl he's with?" The second woman asked.
"Probably the younger woman that stuck to him like glue. Lisa said that she only met her once. Really nice and respectful, but head over heels in love with Dean. Lisa also said she was odd. Just...odd, you know." The first woman continued. "Anyway, Dean and Lisa, they had this crazy-semi-illegal--"
I pulled in a breath as Dean set a hand on my waist. It wasn't the first time I was scolded for sticking to Dean. It wasn't the first time I'd been told I was odd, weird. That's what my entire life. I'd been picked on and teased since the people around me could talk. I was the girl who's mom left her, the girl who heard voices, and seen winged men followed her around saying he would watch out for me, I was the girl who was scared of the dark for far too long to be deemed acceptable anymore. I was the girl who seen figures in the dark that no one else saw.
But Dean was my safe space. He was the person I could go to, talk to, confide in. He was always there for me no matter what. I guess I just didn't want to let that go, I didn't want to lose the one person who never left me.
"I'm sorry, Si, I didn't--" Dean whispered.
I smiled. "No, no, it's fine. I'm used to it."
"Si, this isn't fine."
"Worse has been said, trust me." I patted his arm, turning around and putting on a smile as if I hadn't heard a word they said. "Hi."
"Hey." Dean gave a curt nod after a jabbed him in the ribs.
"Hello." The two woman stared at Dean, not even acknowledging me.
I grabbed Dean's arm, pulling him forward.
"What's up?" Ben asked as he leaned against the fence where Dean and I stood.
"What's up with you?" Dean asked as I grabbed the fork from his hand and the plate of cake.
I watched as both Dean and Ben's eyes followed a mother and her daughter, then they both took a bite of cake.
Well, God really said copy/paste here.
"So it's your birthday." Dean began as I took the fork back from him.
"Guilty." Ben nodded his head.
"You having fun?" I asked.
"Totally." Ben nodded, smiling.
"It's a cool party." Dean said.
"Dude, it's so freaking sweet." Ben stated.
I sighed, swatting Dean's hand away from the cake I'd stolen from him.
"And this Moonbounce? It's epic." Ben continued, gesturing to the bouncy house a few feet away.
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome." Dean nodded.
"You know who else thinks they're awesome?" Ben asked. "Chicks. It's like hot chick city out there."
"I'm calling Sam to pick me up before my brain explodes." I mumbled.
Ben ran off then.
I watched as Dean muttered to himself about the math of this situation that I'd already done five times.
Dean practically ran off.
I followed.
I'm too young to be a step-mom.
___
"Hey." Dean said, leaning against the counter where Lisa stood. "So we, uh, met Ben."
"He's...something." I said. He was a sweet kid, really, but too much like Dean to be coincidental.
"Cool kid." Dean continued. "You know, I couldn't help but notice that he's turning 8."
Lisa looked at him like she didn't understand why it mattered.
"You and me. You know." Dean stated.
Lisa laughed. "You're not trying to ask me if he's yours?" She moved to the oven.
"That is what we're asking." I said.
Dean nudged my side. "No. No, of course not. He's not, is he?"
"What?" Lisa spun around, slamming the oven shut. "No."
"Right." Dean nodded.
A part of me didn't believe it.
I watched as Ben talked to a girl across the yard, smiling and laughing.
A woman and her daughter--the one who was related to the power saw death--walked toward the front door, both looking...odd. Very odd. Like not normal, super weird odd.
"Something wrong with your friend?" Dean asked.
"She's been through a lot." Lisa answered. "Her ex just died in this horrible accident."
"Yeah, I just read about that. The power saw, right?" I asked. "I feel horrible for her and he daughter."
"Yeah." Lisa nodded her head. "I guess there's been a lot of bad luck in the neighborhood lately."
"What kind of bad luck?" Dean asked.
___
"Give me the phone, ding dong." I snatched it from Dean as Sam answered while we sat in the Impala. "Are you aware your brother is a careless idiot?"
"I take it date night is canceled?" Sam asked.
"He has a child, Sam. A son. Do you know that?"
"She said he wasn't mine." Dean defended.
"Oh, do you really believe that?" I asked. "Oh, and I was right, there's a case in town."
"Yeah, I know." Sam said. "Can Dean hear me?"
I looked over at Dean, who I was holding off with my hand on his chest. "Yeah, you're good."
"Remember that chick that's been trailing us? She just stopped by here and was saying stuff about you and me and that we should look into our parents past." Sam explained.
I sighed. "Tell me more later okay? Talk to your brother." I handed the phone to Dean.
"Dude." Dean began. "Si was right, which she mostly is. There's a job here."
"Really?" I heard Sam ask.
"Yeah, Si was right. There are four more freak accidents like the saw one in the paper. All in this Morning Hill gated community. All just like Si said."
I sighed, sank into my seat, and tried to calm down.
"People falling off of ladders, drown in jacuzzis all over the neighborhood." Dean continued. "Something's up. Something these nice big gates can't protect them from."
"Is it too early to go to the bar?" I asked, grabbing Dean's wrist and checking his watch.