Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

That Hollow Feeling (Cinderella1181 and Mim)

He nodded at her. "I always seem to come back to you. Always." He grinned a little.

Dean took her to bed shortly after that. He wrapped himself around her and kissed her shoulder. Before he drifted off he texted Sam. Find us a case, we are going to be heading out for a week, week and a half He shut his phone off, pulling her in close to him. He kissed her shoulder. "Hey I have a question, because, if we end up keeping this going, you know...it's a valid idea for when I know I am going to be gone for a while. If we have sex in a loop, can you go back and visit it over and over?" He grinned against her back, his hand cupping her breast. "Because, I am totally willing to make that sacrifice for you baby." He moved his head and kissed her neck. "That way, you only need me from now on. No one else."
 
Jude laughed at his suggestion. "It's a noble sacrifice, Dean, but unfortunately Loops don't really work that way." She yawned widely, setting her palm on the back of the hand cupping her breast. "Commons and Hollows can't enter, that's why they're so safe. So even if it did work that way, unless you've got some Peculiarity you're not aware of we couldn't. Loops take a little pocket of space, I think out in the woods here it's about ten square miles, and basically time lock it. So the same day is repeated over and over in the Loop, but the Peculiars are aware of the passage of time. So they go about life as usual while the world moves on around them. Some Peculiars are thousands of years old." She yawned again, her eyelids getting heavy. "Problem is if you leave your Loop for a future one, or for the day outside your Loop, after a certain amount of time you start to age up physically to your natural age. The father in the future, the quicker you start aging. So a kid can go from 7 to 70 in about 20 minutes...usually kills 'em." It was starting to get difficult to concentrate on her train of thought. "S'why I never went to one, 'cept for vacation...I can hide in plain sight easily enough." Jude mumbled something, but was already mostly asleep.

Two weeks passed. Rachael and Jude cleaned out her parents' house, stopping for breaks to allow Jude to break down and grieve. The congregation found a new pastor and, seeing no reason to continue going to a church she no longer subscribed to, Jude stopped attending Sunday service. There were no fellowship suppers as there had been while her father was there, so when the parishioners gradually stopped dropping in to see how she was doing she made no effort to reconnect. Rachael made a few more attempts at seduction but was gently rebuffed each time, hating when Jude pointed out that Dean was coming back. She didn't believe it, but if that was what kept her best friend going then that was what she would let her believe for now.

There was a lot of introspection. What time Jude didn't spend with Rachael getting things in order or trying to forget, she spent alone. Thinking. After a week she returned to work, and was acting more her usual self but still hadn't returned to the chipper receptionist they'd had before. They gave her space, and she was glad for it as they worked on Deputy Andy's disappearance. Mostly they figured he'd been abducted and dumped by the same person who'd murdered Jude's parents--and technically they weren't wrong--but when the first week then the second passed without more murders the whispers started. It made her nervous, the way that the cops around the station were starting to look at her with a mixture of pity and curiosity, and it helped her make a very difficult decision.

Three days before the Winchesters returned, a man in a dark but expensive suit with a close-cropped beard pushed through the front doors and approached the window in front of Jude's desk. He smiled charmingly as he leaned against the little counter in front of the window and glanced at her nameplate. There was a strange glint in his eye which made Jude a little uneasy, but she smiled back brightly nonetheless. It was a police station after all; there were plenty of people about to make her uneasy.

"Hello, darling," he started, catching her off guard with a British accent. They didn't get many foreign types around here. "I'm looking for a couple of good men."

"Aren't we all." It was joking small talk, and Jude tried not to let her laugh sound fake as he chuckled along.

"Well, a couple of specific men," he corrected. "Tall, handsome, feds. One of them has long hair, sort of moose-like?" He held a hand above his head at about Sam's height.

Jude nodded. "You mean agents Hendricks and Paige?" Those were the names Dean had told her to give should anybody come looking for them.

"That's them." He smiled as he took a pen and small moleskine notebook from an inside pocket of his jacket, writing something down.

"They were called away on a higher-priority case," she informed him. "We won't expect them back for at least another few days."

"No matter." He waved a hand dismissively before tearing out the piece of paper and folding it over. "If you could give this to them when they return, I would greatly appreciate it. Ah ah! Do not open before Christmas!" He smiled when Jude looked up at him, then turned her eyes from the paper and taped it closed with a piece of scotch tape. "Lovely. Thank you so much, Jude. Have a wonderful rest of your day."

He didn't have to leave a note for the boys. He could always find them, after all, and he had them both on speed dial. But when one of his minions had come back with news that it had seen Dean Winchester on an actual date with a woman he'd had history with, he had to see it for himself and had not been disappointed. By first impressions, at least, the pair were hilariously mismatched and now he had a bit of leverage.

~*~

"So we come back, and you...what? Live in nowhere, New Hampshire playing at your apple pie life and hunting on the weekends?" Sam jotted down notes on their case as they crossed the state line. "You tried that already, Dean, and you almost killed someone remember?" He wanted his brother to have a life outside of hunting. Hell, he'd been encouraging it for years. But moving out of the bunker, settling down with Jude, he didn't see it happening. And if Jude ever wanted to bring kids into this...! He liked her, or at least what he knew of her, but he didn't see her being very tolerant of the hunter lifestyle, especially if she wanted a family.

The Impala crept through Friday rush hour, which lightened up once they got past Manchester, and made it into Keene about three in the afternoon. Jude looked pale and a little drawn, still needing occasional reminders to eat, but she smiled and stood when they stepped through the door.

"Agent Hendricks, Agent Winchester." It felt like they were putting on a performance that nobody else knew about, and she was proud for remembering her lines. "Good to have you back. Chief Parker wanted me to give you a bit of paperwork to fill out when you came back, before you leave again." She handed them the clip board through the window. "I can help you out if you need me to. Oh and um, some guy came in a few days ago, left this for you." The piece of paper was still taped closed: despite her intense curiosity, Jude had stayed true to her word and not peeked. The writing on the paper, when they opened it, was a familiar, slanting cursive.

Cain
53 Hangleton Rd.
Laredo, MO

P.S. Interesting choice, Squirrel. She looks like fun.

-C
 
Dean looked at the writing. Crowley had done it. He had found Cain. But his heart stopped, he had also found Jude. He looked at her. "Thank you Jude. We will get to filling out this paperwork now, before I hit the road again in the morning. My partner will be staying with you though." He said giving Sam a warning look. It was a look that said we'll argue about it later. He went and sat at a desk with Sam.

"Your not going alone." Sam hissed at him.

"I am, and your going to stay here. Crowley found her, he knew about her, and while he's helpful, he's a dick." Dean looked at him with his face set. "You need to wrap your head around the fact that she is family now, and this family sticks together." He felt something akin to anger rise in him. "If he so much as touches a hair on her head, I'll kill him."

Sam knew, just from the way he spoke, he was serious. He didn't like it but he trusted his brother. "I'll watch her."

"Good. Get to know her. Someday Sammy, she's gonna be your sister - in-law." He softened a little. "Besides, you have Rach to attend to. It will help soften the blow when I take her best friend away someday. I mean, she already hates me now, why not have her hate me full on."

He worked on finishing up the paperwork, and then headed to Jude. He smiling at her, putting on his best flirt. "Here you go little lady, is there somewhere I can drop my partner off? How much longer do you have to work? You want to get some pie?" He leaned in close to her ear. "And by pie I mean do something naughty and nasty with your very sexy boyfriend?" He sat up grinning at her. "A little pie for the road, some sweet sweet pie."

Dean watched her blush a little. "Maybe a little warm cherry pie..." He felt her pinch under his thigh and he grinned at her. "So, is that a yes then on the pie date?"
 
It was a yes on the pie date, and Jude made Dean take her for actual pie. She was still subsisting on leftovers brought by sympathizers and well-wishers, but there was only so many nights in a row that she could stomach casserole and not a single person had left pie. Besides, she had a bone to pick with Dean Winchester.

"Why are you leaving again?" Jude asked frankly before taking a bite of her pie, fixing him with her blue-green gaze. She had noticed his change of posture after reading the note, and it seemed like she was about to be baby-sat by his brother. "That Brit in the suit threatened me, didn't he? Was he some kind of monster in disguise? Dean, why do you have to leave? You promised you'd come back, and it's starting to feel like..." She didn't finish that thought. It was starting to feel like he was ghosting her again, just less abruptly than last time. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. His mysterious attitude was making everything harder, considering she'd already made a decision. "If you don't want to be here, if you don't want to be with me, just say so."
 
"Hey, hey calm down on the don't wanna be here." He gave her a frown and pursed his lips a little. "I do want to be here, I want to be here more then you know but... look. So Sam and I's grandfather may or may not have let in a knight of Hell. And she may or may not be after all of us. Crowley and all." He sighed. "That funny little British man was the King Of Hell and he's a pain in my ass. But right now I need him on my side, because I need his help and I am less then thrilled that he may or may not have underhandedly taken a swipe at you." His face darkened a second before changing. "I can guarantee you, Andy may have watched you for years, but there is almost always a demon tailing my ass."

He took her hand across the table. "Look, I am going to tell you now, this, this is how our life is going to be. Weeks, with me being gone, sometimes a month or two. There is always going to be a case or a job that needs me, always going to be someone or something that needs me. It sucks but it is who I am. That being said, I want you to be what I come home to. I want you to be on the other end of a job. You, being...special are going to give me the best chance at being normal."

He leaned in and kissed her hand. "So yes, I am going to leave tomorrow, because that smug little bastard managed to find Cain, and I am going to beg him to help me put an end to the bitch he created. And when that is over, I am going to come back here, and we are going to figure out realistically, how long you need to shut your life down here, and get back to Kansas with me and if I gotta get a damn house for Rachael in Lebanon or not. So yes, this all sucks, but I am not leaving you Jude. I told you I am not leaving you again and I'm not. You just gotta understand, this is the nature of what I do. Think of me like...a traveling salesman. On the road but I come home to you and only you." He shrugged.

He sat back. "We need to get you an anti possession tattoo as well. That is the last thing I need, is you being taken over by a demon."
 
Jude reeled as names and figures from Deans life came at her rapid fire. She wasn't sure where to start, but the assumption that she was leaving her home--even if she was--seemed like a good place to start.

"Okay one: who says I'm going anywhere?" she demanded. "It's awfully damn presumptuous of you to assume that I'm going to leave everything I've ever known to move in with a "traveling salesman" in Kansas. There's absolutely zero reason you couldn't come back here instead of Kansas." Jude had her reasons for leaving, reasons she would explain later, but there were clearly some boundaries that she needed to set with Dean. Thinking she was going to drop everything for his life when he'd been out of the picture for nearly twenty years was one of them.

"Two: I don't know what a knight of Hell is. And...King of Hell?" She frowned. "I thought Satan was the king of Hell. And even if it's this Crowley guy, what does he want with me? I'm Peculiar but I'm pretty useless when it comes to anything a devil or a demon might want a Peculiar for."

"And three: Cain? Cain?? Like, the Biblical Cain?" Jude leaned across the table to look more closely at him. "Dean, even the Rev admitted that those were just stories. Just...ways that humans explained their own origin, or sometimes they were allegories. If this guy says he's found Cain I'm pretty sure he's having you on."
 
Dean grinned. "Yeah well, let me answer those in reverse order. Number three, yes Biblical Cain. Princess what you know about the supernatural world would barely be a drop in a thimble. There is so much out there and if Crowley said he found him, well, I am sure he has. My best friend is an angel, I have personally met Satan and I can tell you if it is in the bible, chances are it is real." He raised his eyebrow.

"Second of your three line items. Technically Satan is trapped in a cage in hell, but he's been trying to break out and Sam is his true vessel. I am Michael's, like the arch angel, and there was perhaps an aversion of the apocalypse that Sam and I may have set in motion and stopped all in the same breath. But, when we killed Lilith and Azazel, who was the last..well..ruler in hell, Crowley who was the king of the crossroads, found a niche and took over the whole shabang." He laughed a little at the look on her face. "Yeah baby, this is my life." He ran his hand into his hair. "And you are leverage for me. He knows about you which means that you are in danger if things should turn bad in our little deal we have going on."

"And to answer number one, because I love you, and I have a bunker. Somewhere fortified and safe to keep you, and Sam and Cas when need be. It is warded, it has a place for baby and I am taking you home to Kansas." He set his eyes. "Plus My memory foam is there." He shrugged a little. "It remembers me, and it will remember you too." He sighed. "Look, I am willing to make compromises, and meet you, but Kansas, with the nature of my job is really centrally located, and a good base of operations for, you know...salesmen."
 
Jude sat back and folded her arms across her chest. Biblical creatures she could handle. Dean and Sam being vessels--whatever those were--for Satan and the archangel Michael she could handle. She'd once met a man who could turn himself inside out, literally inside out, then rightside in again. It was gross. She could handle a lot of things, but Dean Winchester swanning back into her life and informing her of where she was going to live and what she was going to do was something she could not--would not--tolerate. Jude dug her heels in, beginning to reconsider renting out her house to Rachael.

"Oh you're going to take me home to Kansas, are you?" she challenged, arching an eyebrow. "You're going to waltz on in after almost twenty years and whisk me off to a bunker--tre romantique, by the way--and I'm just going to go along with it, is that it? I'm going to leave everything and everyone I've ever known and loved to go live in a bunker in Kansas with a guy I dated for a year in high school." She sniffed and considered him for a moment. "So am I gonna be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, or are you a vacuuming in heels and pearls kinda guy? Either way don't worry honey, I'll have a meatloaf on the table by six. The children will bring you your pipe and slippers after supper, and I'm sure we can train the dog to fetch you the evening paper." Jude looked over at Dean scornfully. There was the macho, take-charge guy she'd fallen in love with...and the one she'd come to loggerheads with many times about this very sort of behavior.

Jude was many things: she dressed like it was the 60s and sang like it was the 40s, but when it came to gender roles her very modern sensibilities combined with an intensely stubborn streak. She had decided to leave in order to keep her town safe: once other wights realized that Andy and his Hollow were unaccounted for they would send more and everyone would be in danger. She had also decided to methodically hunt down what wights had escaped those few very rare Peculiars who could actually see Hollows, to take revenge for her parents and every other Peculiar senselessly murdered for their gain. But now she was tempted to not tell him that, to put off going with him if not change her mind altogether, to make a point. Her lips pursed and she chewed on the inside of her bottom lip.

"Think over your next words very carefully, Dean Winchester," she warned.
 
"You don't need me to take care of you. You don't need anything of the sort, but I am going to tell you this...I want you to come home to Kansas to me, because I want you to learn to hunt. I want you to be a part of this family. I want you near me. I don't care if you cook, or if we have kids right away or even ever. I just want you damn it Jude. I have only ever wanted you. But fuck if staying in this town that is going to drain the life from you means I get you then fine, I won't be happy about it, and you'll see me even less, cause I still have a center of operations there, but I will come back here. I am committed to this."

He slammed a finger down in the table."And I didn't just waltz in here, I was on a case. if you were so concerned about finding me, you know Rev had Bobby's number, at one time, you know he owned Singer's Salvage, I told you more then one story, you could have found me, The coming back in to peoples life is a two way street, if you had really wanted to find me, you would have." He sighed. "I love, you I didn't come back because I was protecting you. From my dad, my life, everything. but now...your neck deep in it, and I want you beside me."
 
"Yeah, you want me to learn to hunt," Jude countered, leaning forward. "You want me to be part of something. You haven't asked, not once, what I want. And I love this town. Maybe it would drain the life out of you but don't assume for one second what it does to me. You don't get everything you want, Dean: I'm my own person with my own thoughts and feelings and dreams and desires and you're going to have to get used to that if this is going to work. This is square one right here."

But then Dean accused her of not trying to find him. Jude turned pale then flushed a dark shade which clashed horribly with her hair. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, wordlessly, as he implied that she didn't really want to find him. "Oh hell no! Hell. No. You do not get to lay that on me, Dean Winchester! We called Bobby and he always had some excuse for another. Hell, we even showed up at his scrapyard and were chased off by dogs before we could even get through the gate. We finally tracked down your shady-ass dad who kept changing his name and he threatened us with legal action for stalking. Bet Saint John never told you that though, did he? The year after you left do you know how I spent my summer vacation? Do you want to know where I was on my seventeenth birthday instead of here with my friends? I was in the ass-end of Idaho looking for you, but it seemed you'd already moved on. I had a life here, Dean, and I couldn't just drop everything to track you across the country when your Dad kept changing his name and moving every two weeks, but don't you dare ever say I didn't try to find you. Don't you fucking dare. I tried to find you when you couldn't be found; we've been right here in the same place for twenty years, cupcake. You knew where to find us. If the world out there is so dangerous and you wanted to protect us, you would've come back to do it. If you had really wanted to be in my life, you would have." With a noise of anger, frustration, and hurt, Jude stormed out of the shop, apologizing to someone as she breezed past him.

"Man, that looked rough." Their waiter from their (second) first date sat down across from him. "Women, am I right? Hi, Dean." He smiled and his eyes flashed black for a bare second before returning to normal before anyone else could see. "Crowley says he's waiting for you--impatiently--and that you'd know where to find him. In the meantime I'm to get comfortable in Barry here and keep an eye on things for you. Hold down the fort, if you will." He glanced in the direction Jude had gone and winked. "His majesty doesn't like to be kept waiting." Without another word he slid out of the booth again, interacting with the people Barry had grown up knowing while they didn't see the difference.
 
"Son of a BITCH.."Dean said in frustration. He ran his hands over his face. He sat there for a few minutes watching new Barry, and then pulled out his wallet and threw a few bills on the table. He got up and went out to the Impala, Jude had driven with him, and he knew almost instinctively which way she had gone back to the house. Dean went and got in the car and headed there, knowing he would beat her there. This hadn't been the first time that she had stormed off on him. Far from it, but they were older now, so it gave her more time to get angry at him.

He drove to the cottage and parked. He got out of the car and sat himself on the hood and looked up at the clear Maine sky. He wasn't sure how long it had been, an hour, fifteen minutes, who knows, when he finally heard her. He sat up and looked at her.

"I never knew dad had ever even talked to you. To be honest, once I turned 18, I got as far as New Hampshire and then turned around. I was certain you'd not want me. That you'd tell me to go to hell. I have been nearly here a hundred times Jude. At least, but I was a coward. My life doesn't easily give way to...well anything. Other than Sammy, and Cas I have no one. Because my luck is terrible, I am cursed. Everyone and everything I love is stripped away from me. So yes, a lot of those times, I may have come here I got as far one time as Mr. Jorgensens and I turned back around, because I am afraid of losing you. I never, in a million years wanted you to ever be a part of my fucked up life. I never in a million years wanted you to have to deal daily with demons, or vampires, or vetalas or whatever else I am hunting, because the mortality rate in hunters is really high, but it is even higher in those we care about." He sighed, dropping his head a little, looking at his hands, after a brief moment he spoke again. "If you don't want this life with me, I understand. I get it. But, this is who I am babe. I am a hunter, a brother, a protector, the god-damed righteous man and a man who loves you very much. I want you to come with me, to be by my side, but if you choose not to, then I understand."

He took a breath. "So, what do you want me to do Jude? Because, I have to go, there is a demon riding Barry, and I refuse to leave this unresolved before I take off in the morning."
 
She'd made it two miles before she'd had to take off her shoes. Jude nearly hurled them into the cow pasture in frustration, but knew that wouldn't solve anything. Instead she tramped the five miles home in her bare feet, shoes dangling from one hand, muttering under her breath the things she'd only thought of saying after she'd stormed off. For about half a mile she mostly focused on cursing herself for letting Dean drive and leaving her car back at the office. But it was farther to the police station than it was home, and she was sure Dean would be around sooner or later to try and talk to her. They'd always been able to talk their problems out, but she just wanted to be mad for a while. When she saw the Impala in her driveway as she walked up it with muddy, aching feet she wasn't entirely certain whether she wanted to hear him out or tell him to go to hell. It wasn't the first time she'd had to distance herself from him to clear her head, and she was certain it wouldn't be the last.

Instead of saying anything she stomped past him toward the door, putting the ball in Dean's court. Dropping her shoes next to the door, Jude turned and folded her arms across his chest. Might as well hear what he had to say; ignoring him and locking him out wasn't going to solve anything, no matter how much she wanted to do it. She felt her temper rise when he described how many times he'd started to come back, how close he'd gotten, but never had. She tried to understand, tried to remember that he'd had secrets too, that there were things in his life that were trying to kill him just as there were in hers. Jude took several deep breaths in an attempt to get her temper back to its usual even keel; only Dean Winchester could ever get a rise out of her like this.

"So we both had secrets," she finally said with a sigh, having to put a fair amount of effort into keeping her voice from shaking or sounding angry. "So we both have things in our lives trying to murder us, and we've both just been trying to keep each other safe. And that's completely fine, Dean, but you've finally hit on what I've been trying to get you to understand since you got here: it's my choice. I want to be with you, but it's my life and I'm the one in charge of it. You are always more than welcome to tell me what you want out of this, out of us, you're welcome to ask me to do something or go somewhere...but I'll be damned if you're going to tell me what to do." With another sigh Jude came back down the porch steps and approached, lacing her fingers behind his neck and looking up into his eyes. Those damned eyes that could always get her to do anything for him. "Just...stop telling me what I'm going to do, where I'm going to go, what's going to happen to me, alright? Start by asking if I want to come with you instead of telling me that I'm going to. Stuff like that. Okay?" She pushed herself up onto her toes to kiss him gently, then let go of him.

"I'm still angry," Jude informed him calmly. "I still want a couple hours to myself to just be mad. But you and Sam are welcome to come for dinner. I'll make sure there's clean linens for Sam, since he'll be staying behind." Then something hit her and she frowned. "Wait, Barry's a demon? Barry Henderson?? That kid wouldn't hurt a worm!"
 
Dean laughed that deep rumble of his. "Yeah, well, technically Barry's BODY is a demon. He is deep in there, probably screaming to get out. Depending on which demon is in Barry, He could be asleep in there. Who knows. But yeah, my life is weird as hell." He sighed.

Dean knew if he could get her to laugh a little he would get back in her good graces. "So what your telling me over all is, that if I leave you alone for a few hours, you'll put clean sheets on Sam's bed, but we can make yours dirty with nasty make up sex?" He grinned at her, that stupid half lopsided grin. "Like really nasty, possibly illegal make up sex?" His eyebrows wiggled at her. "I mean, I am going to be meeting Cain, the first murderer, it could be my last night on earth and you don't want to send me off with out that one last time...do you?"
 
Far from smiling, Jude's mouth dropped open in horror when Dean detailed what was happening to poor Barry. "Well we've got to get him out!" she protested. "You're going to get him out, right?"

But then Dean changed the subject to make up sex. He nudged and wheedled, finally getting her to smile when he wiggled his eyebrows. "Fine!" she finally consented before hitting him lightly. "But don't say it's your last night. Don't worry me like that." She frowned and sighed, shaking her head. "And actually listen to what I said, alright? I need you to listen to me if this is gonna work." Jude bit her lip, then pushed him a little. "Now go away. I'm mad." She turned to go back inside before calling over her shoulder, "And tell Sam to bring my car with him."

True to her word, Jude was mad. But as she turned her record player up loud and cleaned, changing the linens on the guest bed and scrubbing the floors, dusting the window sills and wiping down mirrors, her anger gradually ebbed away into annoyance, then finally dissipated. Foregoing leftover casserole for once, Jude stuck a roast in the crock pot and had a pie in the oven by six, feeling every bit the 50s housewife she'd mocked earlier in the day. By 7:30 the pie was cooling, potatoes had been boiled, the roast had been sliced, and the table was set for three.
 
Dean had gone and found Sam, and eventually brought him back to her house. He smiled a little when he knocked on the door and opened it up. It smelt amazing. "Hey honey, I'm home." He called out as he walked in. Sam rolled his eyes. He saw her and grinned. He went over and kissed her check. "You didn't have to do this you know...Not for us."

Sam stood there, almost to large for the house. He ran his hand into his hair. "Um, yeah, thanks Jude for this." He went and sat down at the table. He was a little fascinated by the change he saw in his brother. Him being with her was, so differnt then when he had been with any other female. "Dean said you were a really good cook."

Dean wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight to him for a moment. This for him, this moment was bliss. He had the girl he always wanted and his brother. For the next few hours it was all he was going to worry about. "She's the best cook and she made us pie." He let go of her and went to get a beer, he held it out for Sam who took one and then grabbed his own. He sat down at the table.
 
"Well I told you I'd have dinner on the table when you got home, didn't I?" Jude teased when Dean announced his arrival. She was standing at the counter, carving up the roast and laying the slices on the serving dish when he kissed her cheek and squeezed her tight. She couldn't help but smile, imagining every evening like this. She would just have to change his mind about that bunker. "I wanted to do it. I like cooking, and it's a bit difficult to just cook for one or two all the time."

Jude smiled as she brought the serving plate and the bowl of potatoes to the table, before returning to the counter to retrieve another bowl, this filled with green beans. It was a pattern Dean would be familiar with: Jude's mother Rose had always insisted on a protein, a starch, and a vegetable at every supper. She didn't expect Dean to eat the green beans, of course, as she remembered how averse he'd always been to vegetables. But it was still there for herself and Sam.

"I dunno about the best cook," she admitted with a shrug, grabbing a beer for herself before sitting, "but I'm a pretty fair hand in the kitchen. Besides, I've been mostly living off of what other folks have been kind enough to bring me for the past couple weeks. I felt up to cooking, so I did. You'd be amazed at how many people decide casserole is the best thing for grieving family." She shook her head, taking a few slices of roast and plenty of potatoes. "And the canned and frozen vegetables...ugh...I've spoiled myself. These were grown this afternoon, and there's nothing quite as fresh." She gestured to the vegetables and wiggled her fingers a little, indicating just how they'd been grown.

"Yeah uh...about that," Sam said slowly, "are there more of those things out there? Those Hollows?"

Jude frowned and nodded. "Yeah. And they'll send another one after me eventually, but one in more than thirty years isn't a bad rate. There's a lot of Peculiars spread out all over the world, and throughout time. One woman in New Hampshire isn't really gonna be a high-priority target." She cut into the meat and before taking a bit asked, "I'm sorry but...could we please not talk shop while we're eating? It'd be nice to just...forget everything for about twenty minutes."
 
Sam looked sheepish and cast his eyes down. "Sorry." He said quietly. "It looks very good."

Dean grinned as he waited for everyone else to get what they wanted. He took a full third of the portion of meat and potatoes, and even three symbolic green beans. He tucked into his meat and smiled a little. He cooked for Sam and himself, but it was things like burgers, or bacon or burritos. It was never things like pot roast or mashed potatoes. He was in heaven. He took a large bite and moaned as he did. "Oh my god this is so good." He said, mouth still half full.

Sam looked at him in disgust, he turned to Jude. "If you tell me you don't want him right at this moment, I will understand. He is disgusting."

Dean flipped his little brother off.
 
Dean took three whole greenbeans and Jude laughed, patting him on the head condescendingly. "Eating your greens, I'm so proud of you!" she teased. She smiled when he declared her food good and shook her head. "Glad you like it, but I'm okay with not seeing it second-hand." When he flipped off Sam she smacked his hand. "Hey! Clearly Mom's lessons in table manners never stuck! So he's always like this?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Sam smiled and shrugged. "It is really good though, Jude."

"Thanks. So you're a hunter too?"

"Uh yeah, all my life. Have you...always been a receptionist?" Sam really didn't know what else to ask about her job. Reception had always sounded like a pretty easy gig to him.

"I was a librarian for a while after college," she admitted. "But the march of technology goes ever on and they had to downsize an already pretty tiny public library. Last hired, first fired, as the saying goes." Jude shrugged and speared a potato with her fork. "Fortunately it's a small town and as soon as the Chief heard about the library downsizing he told me the old receptionist was retiring and the job was mine if I wanted it. There's perks to a town like this." She smiled. "Dean always went on about how smart you were, though, how much he hoped you did something with those smarts. Ever end up in college?"

"Stanford pre-law," Sam answered, glancing over at Dean. He'd never mentioned that he'd hoped he would go to college, and in fact had seemed pretty pissed when he'd left. "I dropped out though. Family business that needed some attention."
 
Dean looked down at his plate, not wanting to make eye contact with Sam. There were a lot of things that he kept hidden. "Sam and I had a rough first year or so we were together." He said quietly. He looked at Jude. "I kind of screwed up his chance at being normal." He said quietly.

He looked at her, and sighed a little. He effectively shut things down, changing the subject. "You guys want to watch a movie tonight or something?" He didn't want to talk about the past and the feelings it drug up. He didn't want to talk about the things that he and Sam lost. He wanted to be focused on the future. With this crazy little family he had here. "Or you know.. Jude and I could head to bed early since I have such a long drive tomorrow. "

Sam made a face. "I think I'll see if us...you know...er..."

Dean looked at him. "If Rachael is busy?" He wiggled his eyebrows at him.
 
Dean mentioned that he had screwed up his brother and Jude sat there, feeling awkward and exchanging uncomfortable glances with Sam. Blissfully, he changed the subject and asked Sam if Rachel was busy. He looked confused and a little crestfallen.

"I dunno. She's been ghosting me and um..." He shrugged and Jude reached across to pat his shoulder.

"Don't take it personally," she assured him. "She's always been pretty mercurial, and more into girls anyway. I personally think one of the reasons she hates Dean so much is they're too much alike. She's probably wasted at some strip club trying to get into bed with one of the strippers. Or the bouncer. Or both." She chuckled and shrugged. "She really did like you, Sam. She's just more the ah...'hit it and quit it' type."

Sam thought on that for a second. "Not sure if I should be insulted or flattered," he admitted, taking another helping of green beans.

"With Rachael I usually settle for both." Jude looked to Dean. "We could watch a movie while we eat pie. I've got some popcorn. Besides, as I recall you can usually function pretty well on very little sleep." She winked and laughed when Sam pulled a face, but she also didn't want Sam to feel uncomfortable with the two of them just disappearing off to her bedroom after dinner. She wanted this to feel like home to him, too, since he'd be staying here for a while. "So what're you in the mood for? And I swear Dean if you make me watch Roadhouse one more time..."
 
"Look, I don't know what your complaining about. Roadhouse is an amazing piece of American film making." He puffed his chest out some. "I think you are greatly underestimating the power and perfection of Patrick Swazey."

Sam laughed. "Dude, nothing in life is like that."

"This is where you are wrong. Life is just like that." He said. "How about we compromise. Dirty Dancing. It's got Swazey and it's a girl movie for you two ladies." He grinned. "That and Jennifer Grey is hot. Babe, what kind of Pie did you make?"
 
Jude folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow, smirking. "I made you-get-none pie if you imply I need girl movies to be entertained." She glanced at Sam and grinned. "Let's see how that libido holds up, shall we?"

"Whoa, whoa, Jude--!"

"Nothing like that, Sam, calm your tits." Jude waved a dismissive hand. "Since you're jonesin' for cultural classics, Dean, we're gonna watch Harold and Maud."

Sam threw his head back and laughed. "Talk about great American film making," he laughed. "Dean if you can still go at it after this, I won't complain for a month. Two months. Do you have it?"

"Do I have Harold and Maud." Jude laughed and started cutting into the pie while Sam cleared away dishes. "Rachael calls it the 'boyfriend test.'"

"Boyfriend test?" Sam arched an eyebrow as he looked over his shoulder at her.

"Yeah. Any guy willing to sit through it and come back for a second date was actually into me and not just in it for the sex," she explained. "We pulled it as a joke once on Jimmy Smits the summer after my freshman year in college. I don't think I've ever seen someone stumble so fast for such a lame excuse. After that it became the go-to."
 
Dean raised an eyebrow. "What you two know about my movie watching could fill a thimble. Remember I only sleep like 4 hours a night, I have watched a lot of movies on late night bad tv. Bring it on."

Truth be told, Dean loved movies and had seen many. He wasn't smart when it came to math, or science, but English and History he had excelled in the little but of time he had spent in high school. "We read this the year I was here. It was our play that year remember?" He grinned at her. He flipped his brother off. "Just because you have a fancy degree and went to college doesn't mean, i didn't get some education."

He smiled at them both. "Bring it on."
 
Jude smirked. "Yeah we read it. But you never saw it, did you? Not the movie." she challenged.

Sam for his part looked a little confused. "Dean I don't have a degree...I dropped out, remember?" They'd literally just talked about this.

"And my degree is in literature and gender studies," Jude put in with a shrug. She knew now that it was a useless degree, but try telling 18-year-old Jude that. "Eh...I guess that's actually kinda relevant here."

After dishing out the pie, with vanilla ice cream of course, and popping popcorn Jude popped in the movie and wedged herself comfortably between the two extremely large brothers. As the love scene and post-coital mostly topless octogenarian loomed closer she kept glancing over at Dean to gauge his reaction. There was, after all, a big difference between 15-year-old Jill Festeburg in makeup and actual 76-year-old Ruth Gordon.
 
Dean watched the movie, and just before it happened he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I bet your gonna look way better in your seventies then Ruth Gordon. I hope I get to find out." He grinned at her and pulled away. "I bet you'll be hot."He said so only she could hear it.

Sam looked at him and made a face. Okay, maybe he hadn't been as quiet as he thought he was being. He looked over Jude's head at Sammy and gave him that look that said, I am getting some and your not...ha ha ha ha

As the movie shut off, Dean looked at Sam. "Man, I bet you are real tired huh? you could go to bed and put your music on in your ears and just go to sleep right?"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom