Dean steps out of the car, but pauses and leans in looking at Riley. "You coming, or are you going to continue to pout?" Riley sneers at him then sighs and grabs her jacket out of the backseat. Dean smiles and taps the roof of Baby. "Ha ha! Getting the gang back together."
Riley rolls her eyes, but can't help but smile. Dean and her used to joke that they were the mystery gang. It still makes her smile looking back on all the times they would stay up late and watch Scooby Doo. Sam would always wake up from their laughing, and after trying and failing to shut them up, he would join them.
The two of them approach the apartment entrance. "Velma, my lock pick set please." Dean says in a pompous voice. Riley rolls her eyes and hands the lock pick set to him. "Whatever you say Fred." Dean glances at Riley with a playful smirk. "I thought I was Scooby, or as you used to call him- Scrooby Doo."
Riley cringes at her younger self. "I was a six. How was I supposed to pronounce it?" Dean chuckles as he works. "Not like that obviously. Lets not forget about Booger King, Musam, Marinju Pie-"
"Okay, okay, okay, we get it! I can't speak!" Riley shouts before her father can continue her long list of missed pronounced words. She didn't even have a lisp to blame. It was just her with an inability to speak english.
Dean finally picks the lock. "Yahtzee." He pushes the door open and gestures to the inside. "Ladies first." As Riley walks into the building she gives her father a long glare, then stomps on his foot. "Ow. Still grouchy I guess." Riley harrumphs in response and crosses her arms.
Dean laughs and walks in. "C'mon Grumpy. He's on the second floor." Riley follows after her father. "Remind me again why we are breaking in? Couldn't we just wait until morning and meet him at the school?" Dean makes a face and nods. "We could," He looks down a corridor and smiles at one of the doors.
He smirks at Riley. "But where's the fun in that?" Riley gives her father an unamused look. "You are a terrible influence." Dean licks the lock to the door and steps inside, knocking over an umbrella holder in the process.
Riley snorts. "He definitely heard that." Riley steps into the apartment and Dean leads her into the kitchen. Dean opens the fridge and smiles when he finds a beer. He pops it open, then he's suddenly attacked. Riley smiles and watches as her father and Uncle spar. "Now this is fun."
Dean knocks Sam to the ground. "Woah, easy, tiger." Sam creases his brows. "Dean?" Dean laughs and Riley rolls her eyes. "You scared the crap out of me." Sam says out of breath. Dean makes a face. "That's cause you're out of practice." Sam reverses the hold Dean has him in and flips him over, now pinning him down.
Dean chuckles. "Or not." he pats Sam's arm. "Dean, what the hell are you-" Sam spots Riley standing in the corner. She gives him a long glare and he swallows hard. "Well, I was looking for a beer." Dean grabs Sam's shoulders and shakes them.
Suddenly the lights turn on. "Sam?" All three Winchesters turn to a woman in her pajamas. "Jess, hey." Riley walks over to her father and looks between Sam and Jess. She also notes her father staring at Jess. "Dean, Riley, this is my girlfriend, Jessica." Jess walks into the room. "Wait, your brother Dean?"
She looks at Riley and smiles. "You must be Riley. I've heard a lot about you." Riley shoots Sam a glare. "Nice to know he didn't forget I existed." Dean steps on Riley's foot and shoots her a stern look. She widens her eyes and looks away.
Dean chuckles. "I love the smurfs." Riley raises an eyebrow at her father. "You know, I got to tell you," Dean walks toward her. "You are way out of my brother's league." Sam and Riley share an unamused look. Jess points at the room behind her. "Just let me put something on."
"No, no, no, I wouldn't dream of it, seriously." Riley reaches toward and pinches Dean under his arm. He squirms at the pain. As he walks back to Sam he gives Riley a warning look. "Anyway, I got to borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business, but nice meeting you."
Riley huffs and crosses her arms. She just wants to get this over with.
"No." Sam suddenly says. He walks over to Jess. "No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her." Dean and Riley share a look and the younger blonde shrugs. "Okay," Dean says, turning to face them completely.
"Um, Dad hasn't been home in a few days." Riley lets out a breath. Could he be more vague? It's not like Jess is going to know anything. "So he's working overtime on a 'miller time' shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later." Riley could sense the bitterness in Sam's voice. He clearly still isn't on good terms with John.
It's exactly how she feels with him.
Riley steps forward and Sam can see the blatant anger in her expression. "He's been on a hunting trip and he hasn't been home in a few days." Dean puts a hand on Riley's shoulder and squeezes. A silent way to tell her to calm down.
Sam's face falls, finally understanding. "Jess, excuse us." Dean walks past Jess, giving her a wink. Sam follows him, but RIley doesn't move. "I think I should stay here." She meets her father's eyes and he closes his mouth, glancing at Sam. "Okay. I'll come back and get you when we're done." The two of them leave the apartment.
Jess smiles at Riley. "So, you thirsty?" Riley purses her lips then nods. "A little, yeah." Jess smiles and walks further into the kitchen. She begins filling a mug with hot water. "Hot chocolate okay?" Riley nods and sits down at the table. She fiddles with a loose thread on her jacket while staring at the wood in front of her.
"So what's going on between you and Sam?" Riley's head snaps up to look at Jess. "What?" Jess smiles as she pours the cocoa into the two mugs. "Phycology Major and-" She puts spoons in each mug and sits down at the table with Riley. "I would be stupid not to notice." Riley takes her mug and stirs it a bit.
She sighs. "When he left for college he said he would call me." Riley sulks her shoulders, and takes in the smell of chocolate. "Never did." Jess lets a breath escape her nose and smiles fondly. "If it's any consolation, he never stopped talking about you."
That didn't make Riley feel any better. He had every opportunity to call, but deliberately chose not to. She missed him and he let her down.
"So what do you and your dad do?" Riley purses her lips at Jess's question. "We... Travel a lot." She shrugs. "The occasional pest control job. It doesn't really pay well." Hunting doesn't pay at all. Riley is her and Dean's main source of actual money, not credit scams. She is excellent at pool, it is honestly scary how good she is.
Pingpong is something she's always been good at too. Once she and Dean were staying in a hotel that had a rec room with a pingpong table. They got into it. Yelling, jumping about. It was intense. Riley ended up winning and she knows her dad wasn't going easy on her.
"That sounds like fun. I've always wanted to travel the country." Sam enters the apartment and Jess stands up. Riley looks away from her uncle and he sighs. "Dean's waiting by the car." Riley nods and rushes out of the apartment.
Sam looks after her sadly. "I really messed up, didn't I?" Jess doesn't answer him.
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Dean leans against Baby as RIley walks out of the apartment. "What did he say?" RIley asks her as she stands next to her father. He glances at her and shakes his head at her bad mood. "He's coming, but we have to bring him back on Monday. He's got an interview." RIley raises an eyebrow and looks at her father. "An interview?"
Dean nods. "I said the same thing." Riley glances at the apartment building with a frown. She honestly didn't know what to expect coming here. Sure Sam agreed to helping them find John, but he didn't want to stay.
Riley knew he wanted out of the hunting life, but she felt as though he wanted her out of his life too. Afterall, he never called like he promised.
And that stung.
- author's notes -
did ya'll catch my Bumblebee reverence at the end?
Ah, I can't stop writing Riley. She such a fun character and is a bit like me. (Especially her crabby attitude)
I can't stop listening to her playlist. If anyone wants it, It's on Spotify. I can send you the link.
Bye!
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