"What were you going to say when you told me you had stuff?" Dean asked leaning against the frame of the bathroom door. Sutton sat on his bed, and glanced up at the tall, handsome Winchester.
"A case, a long one," she admitted, avoiding eye contact. It felt weird to be confessing secret stuff to a questioning adult, especially since she, herself was one as well. Dean's expression went softer, and he looked confused, and if Sutton wasn't mistaken, he looked concerned about it.
"I've been following something, it's big, which is why Jade and Desirae can't know, it's why I'm leaving as soon as I can. I have work to do, Dean," she explained to him. "It's complicated, and really important."
"I get complicated," he told her, crossing his arms. "We all can help you with it."
She looked up at him, she could tell he was stubborn, and very set in his ways. She shook her head. "No."
His expression turned hard again, "So you're just going to disappear and take care of whatever this is all by yourself?"
She didn't answer, which basically just confirmed her intention to do exactly what he had said.
"That's a suicide mission," Dean told her.
She shook her head. "Bringing anyone along is a suicide mission."
"You don't do that to family."
"This is what my family does, Dean, it's not some happy little brady bunch deal like what you have here okay?"
"Let someone come with you, me even, nobody else has to know" he stated firmly.
"Or what?"
"We'll find you one way or another, you can't stay hidden."
Sutton sighed, and stood up from Dean's bed. She crossed her arms and stepped towards him, standing three feet away from him.
"What does it matter to you?" She asked.
Dean stood there, not knowing what to say. He looked the woman up and down, then right into her blue eyes. His gaze flickered down to her lips, and he couldn't help but start leaning in towards the woman. She reached her arm up, placing her hand on his chest. He looked down at where she had touched him, right over his protection tattoo. For a split second, he wondered if she knew it was there. He wondered also if she also noticed how rapidly the tension was softened between the two of them. How they went from a heated discussion about a hunt, to there being a chance that things could get heated in another way.
His thoughts were cut short when he glanced down at where her hand was, and he noticed the burn marks around her wrist. He pulled back and went to reach for her hand, which she pulled away quickly. He was about to say something, but she had already grabbed her leather jacket off the dresser and turned towards the door. "Sutton."
"I'm not leaving, relax," she told him. "Goodnight Dean."
"You don't even know where you're staying tonight," he told her. She stopped in the doorway, and looked back at him. "I'll sleep on a couch."
"Just stay here for the night," he sighed. "I'll take the floor." He didn't want to argue with the woman. She was fiery, and it was tiring him out. He also didn't trust that she wasn't going to leave during the night. Yes, she was a grown adult, fully capable of making her own decisions. But it didn't feel right for her to just turn on a dime like this. Was she really that against being with her family? And why was she acting so strange with him?
"Fine."
❂
"Morning," Marina said pleasantly as Jade and Desirae made their way into the kitchen. "You sleep well?" She asked the guest, who helped herself to an apple from the fruit bowl.
"I did, thank you," Jade replies, a warm smile forming on her face.
"Sutton still asleep?" Marina questioned casually, pulling a pack of bacon from the fridge. Jade looked at the woman in awe, how did she have the time to always be cooking?
"She didn't seem to have made it back to our room last night. I definitely didn't see her this morning,"
"I'm pretty sure she spent the night with Dean, they rolled in at like, one this morning," Kiarra mentioned, averting her attention from the Stephen King book she had buried her nose in. "I heard them crashing around."
Desirae scowled at the thought of Dean bringing Sutton to his room. Clearly the man still didn't understand what off limits meant. She was prepared to tear him a new one once he rolled into the kitchen for breakfast.
"Not surprised, Dean's like, everyone's type, Sutton especially," Jade said nonchalantly, accepting a cup of steaming coffee that had been handed to her by James. She flickered her gaze over to Sam "for the record, I don't mean that in a weird way." She pursed her lips and cracked a smile at both the gesture, and the man who stood on the other side of the kitchen island. "Plus, they're grown ups."
Desirae rolled her eyes. "Yeah whatever, just everyone pray to god they don't have kids. One Dean running around here is enough. Don't need any little spawns destroying the place."
The girls laughed, just as Dean walked into the kitchen. He scowled at Desirae, before scanning the room. "I respected the boundaries you put on me and I still do, just cause I took your sister out doesn't mean I'm gonna sleep with her," he said coolly. "She didn't even stay with me last night."
Jade glanced at the man, who despite acting unbothered, his ego took a pretty big hit. She smiled to herself, men were so sensitive.
"Where'd she end up?"
Dean shrugged. "Said she'd find a couch."
Jade and Desirae both exchanged glances, then looked at Dean. "Seriously?"
"That's what she told me."
They both put their coffee mugs down on the counter and turned to the hallway. They hurried through the halls, and both stopped at the garage door. Desirae opened the heavy metal door, and cursed when she noticed that the Challenger was gone.
"Of course she's gone, the woman's been a flight risk since she could crawl," Desirae huffed.
"Desi, I'm sorry, I know how much this all meant to you," Jade sighed, putting her hand on her sisters shoulder.
Desirae shrugged her off, and turned back into the bunker, brushing past Dean, James and Marina, who all had all followed the girls down the hall. Dean turned around to see Desirae go, and she shot him a glare over her shoulder.
❂
"So what do we do know?" Dean asked, sitting in the library. Desirae, Jade, James and Austin were seated as well, the group gathering around the large mahogany table. He felt a pang if guilt, like Sutton taking off was partly his fault. And he didn't like that Desirae seemed to feel the same way about it.
"What do you mean, what do we do now, Dean?" Desirae asked him, in a severely icy tone. "She left, she doesn't want to be here. It's simple."
"She's hunting something," Dean spoke up, "Whatever it is, I think it's dangerous, she wouldn't tell me a thing about it. And it's hurt her before."
"You don't have a say in this, Dean," Desirae snapped. He glared in her direction, and she returned the look.
"He might have a point, Desi," Jade told her sister, cutting the tension between her and the eldest Winchester. "How many times have you gotten into trouble, and called me for help. We've saved each other's asses more times than we can count. Sutton will handle herself, if it's too much for her to handle she'll let us know."
"She never calls us. Never has, probably never will. She could die out there, cause she's too stubborn to let us help her."
"She has a phone she'll use it if she needs it," Jade sighed exasperatedly. She seemed so tired of arguing about this, Dean wondered if this was a frequent occurrence.
The group sat in silence for a moment. Dean ran his hands through his hair, and stared down at his lap. He'd been through that very situation before, back when he and Sam criss-crossed the country to find their missing dad, who was so hell bent on killing the yellow eyed demon that it eventually lead to his death. He looked at up Jade and Desirae, who both held expressions mixed with worry and anger. He didn't want those women to go through what he and Sam did, and he especially didn't want Sutton to die so young.
"What do you suggest we do then?" Jade asked.
"We track her down," Dean replied, despite the fact that Desirae made it very clear that he was not welcome to provide input. "There's enough of us to drive every road out of here, we can all hunt things way out of our league, Sutton should be no problem. Then we help her kick whatever it is she's having issues with."
Desirae turned her attention to him. "We better find her."
"Alright, fifteen minutes we leave," Dean instructed, getting up from his spot at the table.
He remained sitting in his spot, starting at one of the books Sam had left open on the table. He hoped that they would find Sutton, that they could convince her that they can help her with whatever she's chasing. That they can keep her safe.
"Hey Dean?" Desirae piped quietly. He glanced up at the woman standing across the table from him. She had her arms crossed over her chest, in a way that made her look like a fragile girl.
"I know I've been a bitch to you, and I really can't blame you for Sutton leaving. Really, I think if she would've stuck around for another day she would have not already made up her mind. She would have stuck around. For you, more than anyone else I think. I'm not sure what went on between you two last night, but whatever it was or wasn't, don't take it too hard. She's always has a one track mind to destruction. Nothing ever stands in her way." Desirae admitted. She sighed, and gave him a half smile that seemed more genuine than anything that she had ever given him. She turned, and headed down the hall to the garage.
Dean sat there for another moment. He thought about what happened the night before. How she opened up to him about her life, and how he was inches from kissing her. Had he have actually kissed her last might, would she still be around? Would she have woken up in his bed, and eaten breakfast with them all? Would Dean be in a car with her, hunting down whatever it was she was after?
You're sounding like a kid. He thought to himself, running his hands through his hair again. He shook his head and stood up from the table.
He was determined to be the one to find her.