Chapter 1: Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters
Being pregnant is worse than being possessed, because possession doesn’t include morning sickness.
THEN:
[May 2013 - Men of Letters Bunker - Outside with no keys]
I stood in front of the door to the Winchesters’ secret bunker. One of the select few who knew the location, I was also privy to the location of the lock that would allow me access. The boys had given it to me in case I ran into trouble and needed a place to lie low. Well, the time came and I needed to hide out for a while. There was a particular demon on my tail and disappearing into the bunker for a few days would throw him off the scent. The various sigils and marks of protection would ensure I couldn’t be tracked and it would keep any prying spooks out.
The tumbler on the door was old and rusted shut, but it was just for show. The actual locking mechanism was behind a curtain of ivy on the wall next to the door, and you had to use lock picks to get it to move at all. I pulled my kit out and applied the tension bar to the bottom of the keyway. Dean taught me to pick from the top of the keyway but I found the bottom easier, especially since the lock here was higher than the standard doorknob. Inserting my pick, I felt for the pins one by one, four in all. The first pin was a decoy, deceptively easy to catch at first but the other pins wouldn’t fall into place if the first one was already set. The second pin was easy to overset, so save that one for second to last. Pins three and four were less tricky, likely because they were towards the back. I pushed the tension bar with my thumb and gently eased my pick up on the third pin. It set without any trouble. Next the fourth pin, also set without any trouble. This was too easy, the boys had better hope nobody snooping around is halfway decent with a set of lock picks or they’ll be raided by the next roving band of teenagers.
I approached the second pin with caution, pushing it upwards even more slowly than I had the third and fourth. It appeared to set and I let go of the breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. Last but not least, the first pin, and being the last pin to set there was a bit of extra tension on it. I had to apply more pressure than I would have preferred to get it to move at all, but I was rewarded with the telltale click of the keyway turning under the pressure of my tension bar.
As the door swung open, I stuffed my picks in the pocket of my jeans and grabbed my bag. Closing the door behind me, I slipped inside. I heard voices coming from the library, where they spent most of their time researching cases and lore, it sounded like the boys were home. Not that it mattered, they told me I could crash in the bunker whether they were here or not. I made my way down the hall until I found a small bedroom that looked unoccupied and threw my stuff on the bed before heading into the library myself.
“Hello boys,” I said in the doorway. They both looked up.
“Kate! Glad to see you,” said Sam, smiling.
“Yeah, come have a beer,” Dean put a bottle to his lips and took a swig.
I looked at my watch. “It’s…nine in the morning.”
“So? That hasn’t stopped you before.”
God, I hate that Dean knew about my old habits. We’d gotten drunk together one too many times for me to be embarrassed, it was well past that into utter humiliation. I pulled up a chair at the end of the table so I could face both of the boys.
“What are you up to in our neck of the woods?” Sam asked.
“Some demon won’t stop hounding me, I can’t seem to shake him loose so I thought I could hide out here for a few days.”
“Oh yeah, Sammy just restocked the kitchen and I filled up the beer fridge.”
Sam and I both looked over at Dean.
“I expected that look from Sam, Kate, but from you?” he said, feigning like he took a shot to the heart. “That just hits me right here.”
“Stop being so dramatic,” I said, “It’s not a good look for you.”
“Then what is a good look for me?” Dean took another swig from his beer bottle.
“Three piece suit, Windsor knot in the tie, and whiskey on the rocks.” I said.
Dean grinned behind his bottle then put it on the table in front of him. “Well, I can do one of those and it’s not the monkey suit.”
“Dean, we agreed: no hard liquor before lunch,” said Sam as Dean was about to get out of his chair.
“I know.” Dean looked offended. “I was going to offer our guest some coffee.”
Yes, please.
“I would love some coffee.” I said. “Is it back in the kitchen? I can grab it myself.”
“I need to make a fresh pot. But you can come with me.”
Once inside the kitchen, Dean closed the door and stood with his back to it, facing me. I was standing next to one of the prep tables. The bunker at one point had housed more than a dozen hunters and the original architects had included a commercial kitchen. This was probably my favorite part of the bunker, my first legit job was as a server in a restaurant and I just never got the romanticism of the kitchen out of my system. Dean looked at me with his sharp green eyes and a slow smile spread across his face.
“Are you really here because of a demon?” He asked, walking slowly over to me.
“Yes, though I admit,” I added. “The thought of seeing you again definitely influenced my decision to lay low here instead of a seedy motel.”
He was close enough to touch now, but I resisted, trying to keep my body language cool and composed. I didn’t want him to know what I was really feeling, which was actual feelings towards him. Hunters didn’t have love lives, especially not with other hunters. That was a recipe for disaster.
“I can’t say much for the room service here,” Dean said. “But the staff is very, very…”
He moved closer, I could feel the heat coming off his skin, it electrified the air between us and gave me goosebumps.
“Accommodating,” he finished.
I licked my lips and drew a breath, for the second time in less than an hour I’d forgotten to breathe. If I kept this up, the demon wouldn’t need to kill me, I’ll forget to breathe on my own. Dean slid a hand behind my head to the nape of my neck and I let out an inadvertent sigh as I melted into his touch. He pulled me towards him but he didn’t need to do it very hard, I could have been knocked over with a feather.
Twisted sheets. Lopsided pillows. Legs, arms, and heat. I smiled, basking in the comfort of my bed and Dean’s arms. He dozed lightly with me snuggled up next to him, listening to the rhythmic beat of his heart and breath. I playfully traced a finger along his stomach and the hem of the wrinkled undershirt he’d neglected to take off. Once we’d gotten into my room, he was almost in a frenzy, nearly ripping my clothes from my body and barely remembering his own.
As I teased the hem of his shirt higher, his hand caught mine in a tight grip that didn’t loosen until I squeaked.
“Ow!”
“Sorry,” he said and pulled my hand to his face, brushing my knuckles with his lips.
I smirked and gave his cheek a light tap.
“Jerk.”
After another few moments of sweet, blissful quiet, I propped my head up on my hand and asked a question that had been knocking around in my head for a while.
“Dean?”
“Hmm?”
“Why do we always use my room?”
He opened his eyes and held my gaze.
“Haven’t we used mine?”
I shook my head.
“Nope. I don’t even remember seeing your room.”
“Must have been one of my other girlfriends then,” he closed his eyes, then opened one to peek out and see if I would take the bait.
Two could play that game.
I leaned in and let out a long slow breath on his neck, I could feel the fine hairs start standing up, and slowly trailed small kisses from his collar bone up to his ear. I heard his breath catch. Good.
“I bet if I called your other girlfriends, they’d tell me you use their rooms too.”
I had slipped my hand beneath his undershirt and started trailing up from his stomach when he opened his eyes again.
“The truth is, Kate, I never had a room. Not, my own room where I could keep my stuff and nobody would touch it.”
Of course, John never stayed long in the same place. Most hunters didn’t. They couldn’t, it was too dangerous.
“It’s not that I don’t want you or anybody else in there,” Dean continued, “but, I don’t know, it feels like standing in front of a crowd but I’m the one in their underwear.”
I smiled.
“I get it.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, it’s the first time you’ve ever had a truly private space and letting anybody just traipse through there would cheapen it.”
He gave me a squeeze.
“You’re pretty great, Kate.”
“I know.”
I fell asleep to the sound of his laugh ringing in my ears.
I woke up the next morning alone. There was a note with Dean’s trademark scrawling across it on the side table next to a cup of still-steaming coffee.
Gone hunting, back in a few days.
-D
At least I got a little bit of private time with him before he left. Last night would have to last me for a little while, there was no telling if I’d still be here by the time the boys got back.