Ad Astra (1/?)
Title: Ad Astra
Author:
did_it_once
Beta: xtremeroswellia
Pairing: Chloe/Sam
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Supernatural/Smallville
Characters: Chloe Sullivan Winchester, Sam Winchester, Michael Winchester, Matthew Winchester, Zoey Winchester, Constantine Alexander
Disclaimer: I don't own Chloe Sullivan or Sam Winchester, however, Michael, Matthew and Zoey belong to xtremeroswellia and me. Constantine belongs to just me.
A/N: "Ad Astra" means "To the Stars." Also, this will be a multi-chapter spawnfic that will be updated on Tuesdays until its completion!
Prologue
“Dean Winchester, you have violated careful rules that we have set into place,” the voice boomed from a place that seemed like a million miles away.
Dean stood in a room much like that of a court room, only there was no one in it but him and the judge refused to show himself.
“I was helping my family! What’s so wrong about that?” He yelled.
“You were interfering with the natural way of things. This is not permitted.”
“Because you all have sticks up your asses, getting your jollies out of watching people die.”
“We will not take you talking to us like that,” the voice said sharply.
“Well too damn bad. If you don’t like it, why the hell did you take me in the first place?”
“You know why. You sacrificed yourself, lived a worthy life. But breaking rules will not be tolerated. We will have no choice but to make you leave.”
“This is bull,” he spat. “I did something good and you’re throwing me out? What, do I get my own personal hell? Complete with me watching my family die and being helpless as they do so? Bring it, you son of a bitch.”
There was no response to that comment.
He laughed loudly. “No comeback? That’s a first.”
“Dean Jonathan Winchester, you are hereby condemned. You will not return to this plane again.”
With that sentence, everything around Dean went black.
-----
Another day in sunny, beautiful, snowy, boring, rural, off-the-map -- she was running out of descriptive words -- in Northern California. Zoey Winchester sighed, flipping over on her bed to lie on her stomach. After all these years of living in the northernmost part of California, Zoey wondered why her parents hadn’t considered maybe a different setting. One with more life, perhaps.
Yeah, it was great that she could now get out of the house and travel the country with her brothers, but it still wasn’t enough. The real problem here was that, even though she knew the family business, everyone was treating her like she was too fragile to handle some of the other monsters her brothers hunted.
Which was really starting to piss her off.
Most of her assignments on hunts consisted of researching and coming up with creative, easy ways to kill monsters.
So here she was, lying on her bed, contemplating the convincing speech that would sway the family -- her mother in particular.
Granted, yes, she hasn’t been in the business for that long. But when the visions started showing, that was pretty much a red flag that she couldn’t be kept in the dark any longer.
At first, her mom and dad had been a little freaked to discover that their daughter had some kind of psychic ability.
Surprisingly, she hadn’t freaked out at all. Calmly, she had asked questions about this new-found ability. It had been a little bit of shock to discover that her father had that same thing, but his “visions” as they had named them, hadn’t started for him until he was twenty two.
This automatically made her an anomaly. That, and the fact that her parents were pretty sure that no demon had a hand in her life at all. This was something they had made sure of.
Which left them…no further than to speculate whether it was a mash up of genes between her mother and father or some other supernatural being. But with her family contemplating her power’s origins, she began to ask other questions. At that point, they had no choice but to be open with every answer they gave her.
This brought her to this moment in her room. After being relegated to research bitch, she wanted more. Sitting up, she left her room and headed downstairs to check on her brother’s progress with the latest hunt.
As she rounded the corner to the kitchen, she caught her oldest brother Michael slouched in his chair, eyes shut, while Matthew -- Matt depending on what mood she was in, was hovering over a very thick, ancient book.
When he looked up, she put a finger to her lips and snuck around to the back of Michael, putting her head close to his ear.
“Mike!”
She giggled when he jerked up in his chair, eyes wild. “How’s that research I gave you coming?”
“Uh, good,” he looked down at the book in his lap and began to flick through the pages.
She watched for a moment. “So you’ve read through most of it.”
He nodded. “Yeah, interesting stuff.”
“It’s upside down.”
“No it’s not.”
“Mike, I know how to read Latin. And that,” she pointed at the book. “Is upside down.”
“Whatever,” he flipped the book over and put it back on the table. “How come you’re not looking at this with us?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve already read it, smart one.”
His eyes narrowed. “Then why are we looking at it?”
Zoey hit him in the back of the head, annoyed. “Because I thought you might want to…you know, know how to kill what you’re hunting. But hey, if you don’t want to know, stop reading. Go play playstation.”
Michael rubbed the back of his head. “Geez, it was just a question. Don’t need to get all worked up about it.”
“It was a stupid question.”
At that point, Matthew cleared his throat and looked up. “Are you two done yet?”
“Depends,” Zoey turned to him.
“Well, I’ve read up on what I need to for this…zombie…hybrid,” he made a face. “And if bozo here forgets what to do, I can do it. So all that leaves is for us to pack up and head out to kill this sucker.”
“Alright,” she folded her arms. “I’ll go pack.”
Michael put a hand on her. “Nope. You’re staying home. You know the rules.”
“That’s not fair,” she glowered. “I did all the research. Put this entire hunt together. And you’re just going to leave me in the dust to miss all the action?”
He sighed. “Zoey you know Mom’s rule. You can know but you can’t go.”
“That’s a stupid rule. I’m eighteen years old! I’m not some fragile thing that’s going to break into a million pieces should a molecule of air touch me.”
“Okay, now you’re stretching it,” he pointed out.
“No, I’m not. I’ve gone on the dumbest things. Salt and burn…non-violent, random hauntings. And for the love of God, a freaking ghost cat hunt. I need a dignified hunt,” tears came to her eyes.
“Aw, Zo’ don’t cry,” he hugged her. “It’s for your safety. It’s not that we think you’re fragile.”
“Sure it’s not,” she said softly, sniffing.
“Look,” he pulled away. “The next hunt we go on, you can come. Promise.”
“No matter what it is?” She looked up at him skeptically.
“No matter what.”
She smiled slightly. “Okay.”
“Alright,” he let her go and looked at the books on the table. “Good job with all this. We really do appreciate it. And no one can research better than you, that’s a promise.”
She snorted at that comment, wiping at her eyes. “Sure, butter me up now, why don’t you.”
“It’s what big brothers do,” he smirked and turned to head upstairs.
Michael paused at the top and listened to the muted voices of his brother and sister discussing various aspects of the research. He bit his lip. He probably shouldn’t have promised to take her along on the very next hunt they found. His mother would not be happy. In fact, she’d probably kill him, bring him back, then kill him again just for kicks.
He had to find a way out of this promise, and fast.
***
Dinner time. Almost like a last supper for the Winchester boys before they headed off on their hunt. The table was mostly silent, only the clanking of dinnerware hitting the plates breaking it.
At one end of the table sat Chloe, who was now looking around at her family, a small frown on her face. It was never this quiet. Usually Michael and Matthew were throwing some weird derogatory comments at each other that left Zoey breathless in laughter. Tonight, there was a different mood around the table.
“Alright. What’s going on?” She looked between her children.
Zoey gave her a puzzled look. “Uh…we’re eating?”
Michael nodded. “What she said.”
“Uh huh,” she wasn’t convinced.
Matthew looked up at her. “I’m gonna have to agree with those two, Mom.”
It was Sam’s turn to feel suspicious. “That must mean you’re plotting against us to do something. You never agree with those two.”
Zoey snorted. “Dad.”
He shrugged, taking another bite of his dinner. “It’s true.”
“Is this about the thing you’re hunting?” Chloe raised an eyebrow. “Which, by the way, I haven’t heard anything about.”
Matt swallowed and turned to her. “It’s a zombie hybrid.”
“A zombie hybrid. Explain?”
“Well,” he put down his knife and fork. “It’s human but not…”
“All zombies were human at one time, Matt.”
“Yes, I know. I mean that it’s a zombie in that it’s dead and all that, but human because this thing has lived for a while.”
“And no one’s noticed?” Sam frowned.
“It doesn’t kill whatever it’s by. It essentially lives a normal life, Michael and I aren’t sure what to make of it other than this guy should be dead.”
“Yeah,” Michael nodded. “I’ve been wanting me some undead action.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “And you’re for sure on how to kill this?”
“Yes Mom, we are. Zoey helped with that part.”
She turned to her daughter. “Good job.”
Zoey grimaced and pushed away from the table. “I’m not hungry anymore.”
“Zoey--”
“Save it,” she stood up. “I’m going out with some friends. I’ll be home when I’m home.”
“Zoey,” Sam stood up as well. “Sit down.”
“Screw you,” she spat, walking out the door, slamming it shut.
Chloe sighed, putting her head in her hands. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with that girl.”
“She’s just tired of doing mostly research,” Matt said quietly. “I don’t blame her.”
She gave him a cross look. “We already talked about this. She only goes on the basic ones. That was the agreement.”
“Yeah, that was over a year ago and she’s done really well in what we’ve taught her fighting-wise. She’s a quick learner, Mom,” he protested. “It’s not like she couldn’t go on more complicated hunts with us. She knows what she’s doing.”
“Do not start this argument with me, Matthew Dean,” she said sharply. “You all agreed to this and you’re going to stick with it.”
He sighed, “Yeah, I know what we all agreed to. But that doesn’t mean agreements can’t change. It’s only fair that some compromises be made.”
“I don’t want to hear this right now,” she stood and began to gather plates. “When we sat down to talk about this, we all agreed that this would be the best thing. Even your sister agreed.”
Matthew stood as well. “So? You never said that we couldn’t renegotiate this deal. All you said was that this was what the deal should be.”
Michael looked up at him. “Dude, enough. We don’t need to argue about this now. There’s no reason.”
Matthew deflated. “Yeah, I guess. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t need to talk about this again.”
Chloe was silent as she gathered the rest of the dishes.
Sam looked between the three, his mood suddenly somber. Even after all these years, his thoughts would still turn to Dean in a time where mother and sons were fighting. He couldn’t help think that if his brother were here right now, he would have the perfect solution to this dilemma. On top of that, there probably wouldn’t be this dilemma. Dean’s daughter would probably be heavily involved in hunting.
And a daddy’s girl through and through.
Quietly, he stood and gathered the dishes that Chloe had missed and set them in the sink. When Chloe was standing next to him, he leaned toward her. “Maybe we should rethink this whole situation,” he murmured.
“Yeah,” she said softly, voice sad. “Maybe we will. If she ever gets home tonight.”
Sam bit his lip at the sudden worry that laced through her tone. Zoey often liked to run off and not return for hours on end. And she would never answer her phone. He put his arm around his wife and kissed the top of her head. “She’ll come home. She just needs some time to cool down. You know, she’s kind of like you were with Dean…”
Chloe pulled away at the mention of his name. “Yeah, I guess so. Big fight, always needed some time away so we wouldn’t kill each other.”
“Yeah,” he whispered. “And you two still loved each other through those massive blowouts.”
She nodded, tears springing to her eyes. “But I love you too, you know.”
A sad smile touched his lips. “I know. And I love you too.”
She smirked. “Maybe you should show me how much you love me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”
“Yes, really,” rocking onto the balls of her feet, she kissed him.
Michael made a noise. “Get a room. And not one that’s in the house, please. Some of us like our clean, untainted minds.”
Chloe laughed. “Mike, you know liars go to hell.”
“Whatever! I’m as pure as the day I was born!”
She coughed. “No, I’m pretty sure even that’s not possible.”
“Hey,” he pouted.
“Why don’t you and Matt go out for a little while?” she tilted her head. “See if you can find your sister before a cop brings her home.”
Michael winced. “Yeah, okay. We’ll go look for her.”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
He nodded. “No problem, Mom. We should be back before midnight…shouldn’t take too terribly long to find her.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” she called as Michael grabbed his brother, protesting lightly, and went out the door.
When the door shut, Chloe let out a long breath.
Sam rubbed her shoulders lightly. “It’s going to be okay, Chloe. She’ll come around.”
“I hope so,” she bowed her head and leaned into him. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
“We’ll figure something out,” he kissed the top of her head again. “We always do.”
She turned to face him. “How did I end up with someone like you?”
He shrugged. “Good luck, I guess.”
She hit him lightly. “More than luck. I think it was fate.”
“Fate,” he echoed, eyes growing distant.
“Hey,” she touched his cheek softly. “Don’t go there.”
He looked down at her. “Sorry, couldn’t help it.”
“Come on,” she kissed him and took his hand. “We’ll leave the dishes for the kids to do.”
He followed her as she gently tugged him toward the stairs. “Alright, I guess I can live with that.”
“You’re damn right you can,” she smirked once again and led him into their room, locking the door behind them.
Author:
did_it_once
Beta: xtremeroswellia
Pairing: Chloe/Sam
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Supernatural/Smallville
Characters: Chloe Sullivan Winchester, Sam Winchester, Michael Winchester, Matthew Winchester, Zoey Winchester, Constantine Alexander
Disclaimer: I don't own Chloe Sullivan or Sam Winchester, however, Michael, Matthew and Zoey belong to xtremeroswellia and me. Constantine belongs to just me.
A/N: "Ad Astra" means "To the Stars." Also, this will be a multi-chapter spawnfic that will be updated on Tuesdays until its completion!
Prologue
“Dean Winchester, you have violated careful rules that we have set into place,” the voice boomed from a place that seemed like a million miles away.
Dean stood in a room much like that of a court room, only there was no one in it but him and the judge refused to show himself.
“I was helping my family! What’s so wrong about that?” He yelled.
“You were interfering with the natural way of things. This is not permitted.”
“Because you all have sticks up your asses, getting your jollies out of watching people die.”
“We will not take you talking to us like that,” the voice said sharply.
“Well too damn bad. If you don’t like it, why the hell did you take me in the first place?”
“You know why. You sacrificed yourself, lived a worthy life. But breaking rules will not be tolerated. We will have no choice but to make you leave.”
“This is bull,” he spat. “I did something good and you’re throwing me out? What, do I get my own personal hell? Complete with me watching my family die and being helpless as they do so? Bring it, you son of a bitch.”
There was no response to that comment.
He laughed loudly. “No comeback? That’s a first.”
“Dean Jonathan Winchester, you are hereby condemned. You will not return to this plane again.”
With that sentence, everything around Dean went black.
-----
Another day in sunny, beautiful, snowy, boring, rural, off-the-map -- she was running out of descriptive words -- in Northern California. Zoey Winchester sighed, flipping over on her bed to lie on her stomach. After all these years of living in the northernmost part of California, Zoey wondered why her parents hadn’t considered maybe a different setting. One with more life, perhaps.
Yeah, it was great that she could now get out of the house and travel the country with her brothers, but it still wasn’t enough. The real problem here was that, even though she knew the family business, everyone was treating her like she was too fragile to handle some of the other monsters her brothers hunted.
Which was really starting to piss her off.
Most of her assignments on hunts consisted of researching and coming up with creative, easy ways to kill monsters.
So here she was, lying on her bed, contemplating the convincing speech that would sway the family -- her mother in particular.
Granted, yes, she hasn’t been in the business for that long. But when the visions started showing, that was pretty much a red flag that she couldn’t be kept in the dark any longer.
At first, her mom and dad had been a little freaked to discover that their daughter had some kind of psychic ability.
Surprisingly, she hadn’t freaked out at all. Calmly, she had asked questions about this new-found ability. It had been a little bit of shock to discover that her father had that same thing, but his “visions” as they had named them, hadn’t started for him until he was twenty two.
This automatically made her an anomaly. That, and the fact that her parents were pretty sure that no demon had a hand in her life at all. This was something they had made sure of.
Which left them…no further than to speculate whether it was a mash up of genes between her mother and father or some other supernatural being. But with her family contemplating her power’s origins, she began to ask other questions. At that point, they had no choice but to be open with every answer they gave her.
This brought her to this moment in her room. After being relegated to research bitch, she wanted more. Sitting up, she left her room and headed downstairs to check on her brother’s progress with the latest hunt.
As she rounded the corner to the kitchen, she caught her oldest brother Michael slouched in his chair, eyes shut, while Matthew -- Matt depending on what mood she was in, was hovering over a very thick, ancient book.
When he looked up, she put a finger to her lips and snuck around to the back of Michael, putting her head close to his ear.
“Mike!”
She giggled when he jerked up in his chair, eyes wild. “How’s that research I gave you coming?”
“Uh, good,” he looked down at the book in his lap and began to flick through the pages.
She watched for a moment. “So you’ve read through most of it.”
He nodded. “Yeah, interesting stuff.”
“It’s upside down.”
“No it’s not.”
“Mike, I know how to read Latin. And that,” she pointed at the book. “Is upside down.”
“Whatever,” he flipped the book over and put it back on the table. “How come you’re not looking at this with us?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve already read it, smart one.”
His eyes narrowed. “Then why are we looking at it?”
Zoey hit him in the back of the head, annoyed. “Because I thought you might want to…you know, know how to kill what you’re hunting. But hey, if you don’t want to know, stop reading. Go play playstation.”
Michael rubbed the back of his head. “Geez, it was just a question. Don’t need to get all worked up about it.”
“It was a stupid question.”
At that point, Matthew cleared his throat and looked up. “Are you two done yet?”
“Depends,” Zoey turned to him.
“Well, I’ve read up on what I need to for this…zombie…hybrid,” he made a face. “And if bozo here forgets what to do, I can do it. So all that leaves is for us to pack up and head out to kill this sucker.”
“Alright,” she folded her arms. “I’ll go pack.”
Michael put a hand on her. “Nope. You’re staying home. You know the rules.”
“That’s not fair,” she glowered. “I did all the research. Put this entire hunt together. And you’re just going to leave me in the dust to miss all the action?”
He sighed. “Zoey you know Mom’s rule. You can know but you can’t go.”
“That’s a stupid rule. I’m eighteen years old! I’m not some fragile thing that’s going to break into a million pieces should a molecule of air touch me.”
“Okay, now you’re stretching it,” he pointed out.
“No, I’m not. I’ve gone on the dumbest things. Salt and burn…non-violent, random hauntings. And for the love of God, a freaking ghost cat hunt. I need a dignified hunt,” tears came to her eyes.
“Aw, Zo’ don’t cry,” he hugged her. “It’s for your safety. It’s not that we think you’re fragile.”
“Sure it’s not,” she said softly, sniffing.
“Look,” he pulled away. “The next hunt we go on, you can come. Promise.”
“No matter what it is?” She looked up at him skeptically.
“No matter what.”
She smiled slightly. “Okay.”
“Alright,” he let her go and looked at the books on the table. “Good job with all this. We really do appreciate it. And no one can research better than you, that’s a promise.”
She snorted at that comment, wiping at her eyes. “Sure, butter me up now, why don’t you.”
“It’s what big brothers do,” he smirked and turned to head upstairs.
Michael paused at the top and listened to the muted voices of his brother and sister discussing various aspects of the research. He bit his lip. He probably shouldn’t have promised to take her along on the very next hunt they found. His mother would not be happy. In fact, she’d probably kill him, bring him back, then kill him again just for kicks.
He had to find a way out of this promise, and fast.
***
Dinner time. Almost like a last supper for the Winchester boys before they headed off on their hunt. The table was mostly silent, only the clanking of dinnerware hitting the plates breaking it.
At one end of the table sat Chloe, who was now looking around at her family, a small frown on her face. It was never this quiet. Usually Michael and Matthew were throwing some weird derogatory comments at each other that left Zoey breathless in laughter. Tonight, there was a different mood around the table.
“Alright. What’s going on?” She looked between her children.
Zoey gave her a puzzled look. “Uh…we’re eating?”
Michael nodded. “What she said.”
“Uh huh,” she wasn’t convinced.
Matthew looked up at her. “I’m gonna have to agree with those two, Mom.”
It was Sam’s turn to feel suspicious. “That must mean you’re plotting against us to do something. You never agree with those two.”
Zoey snorted. “Dad.”
He shrugged, taking another bite of his dinner. “It’s true.”
“Is this about the thing you’re hunting?” Chloe raised an eyebrow. “Which, by the way, I haven’t heard anything about.”
Matt swallowed and turned to her. “It’s a zombie hybrid.”
“A zombie hybrid. Explain?”
“Well,” he put down his knife and fork. “It’s human but not…”
“All zombies were human at one time, Matt.”
“Yes, I know. I mean that it’s a zombie in that it’s dead and all that, but human because this thing has lived for a while.”
“And no one’s noticed?” Sam frowned.
“It doesn’t kill whatever it’s by. It essentially lives a normal life, Michael and I aren’t sure what to make of it other than this guy should be dead.”
“Yeah,” Michael nodded. “I’ve been wanting me some undead action.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “And you’re for sure on how to kill this?”
“Yes Mom, we are. Zoey helped with that part.”
She turned to her daughter. “Good job.”
Zoey grimaced and pushed away from the table. “I’m not hungry anymore.”
“Zoey--”
“Save it,” she stood up. “I’m going out with some friends. I’ll be home when I’m home.”
“Zoey,” Sam stood up as well. “Sit down.”
“Screw you,” she spat, walking out the door, slamming it shut.
Chloe sighed, putting her head in her hands. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with that girl.”
“She’s just tired of doing mostly research,” Matt said quietly. “I don’t blame her.”
She gave him a cross look. “We already talked about this. She only goes on the basic ones. That was the agreement.”
“Yeah, that was over a year ago and she’s done really well in what we’ve taught her fighting-wise. She’s a quick learner, Mom,” he protested. “It’s not like she couldn’t go on more complicated hunts with us. She knows what she’s doing.”
“Do not start this argument with me, Matthew Dean,” she said sharply. “You all agreed to this and you’re going to stick with it.”
He sighed, “Yeah, I know what we all agreed to. But that doesn’t mean agreements can’t change. It’s only fair that some compromises be made.”
“I don’t want to hear this right now,” she stood and began to gather plates. “When we sat down to talk about this, we all agreed that this would be the best thing. Even your sister agreed.”
Matthew stood as well. “So? You never said that we couldn’t renegotiate this deal. All you said was that this was what the deal should be.”
Michael looked up at him. “Dude, enough. We don’t need to argue about this now. There’s no reason.”
Matthew deflated. “Yeah, I guess. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t need to talk about this again.”
Chloe was silent as she gathered the rest of the dishes.
Sam looked between the three, his mood suddenly somber. Even after all these years, his thoughts would still turn to Dean in a time where mother and sons were fighting. He couldn’t help think that if his brother were here right now, he would have the perfect solution to this dilemma. On top of that, there probably wouldn’t be this dilemma. Dean’s daughter would probably be heavily involved in hunting.
And a daddy’s girl through and through.
Quietly, he stood and gathered the dishes that Chloe had missed and set them in the sink. When Chloe was standing next to him, he leaned toward her. “Maybe we should rethink this whole situation,” he murmured.
“Yeah,” she said softly, voice sad. “Maybe we will. If she ever gets home tonight.”
Sam bit his lip at the sudden worry that laced through her tone. Zoey often liked to run off and not return for hours on end. And she would never answer her phone. He put his arm around his wife and kissed the top of her head. “She’ll come home. She just needs some time to cool down. You know, she’s kind of like you were with Dean…”
Chloe pulled away at the mention of his name. “Yeah, I guess so. Big fight, always needed some time away so we wouldn’t kill each other.”
“Yeah,” he whispered. “And you two still loved each other through those massive blowouts.”
She nodded, tears springing to her eyes. “But I love you too, you know.”
A sad smile touched his lips. “I know. And I love you too.”
She smirked. “Maybe you should show me how much you love me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”
“Yes, really,” rocking onto the balls of her feet, she kissed him.
Michael made a noise. “Get a room. And not one that’s in the house, please. Some of us like our clean, untainted minds.”
Chloe laughed. “Mike, you know liars go to hell.”
“Whatever! I’m as pure as the day I was born!”
She coughed. “No, I’m pretty sure even that’s not possible.”
“Hey,” he pouted.
“Why don’t you and Matt go out for a little while?” she tilted her head. “See if you can find your sister before a cop brings her home.”
Michael winced. “Yeah, okay. We’ll go look for her.”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
He nodded. “No problem, Mom. We should be back before midnight…shouldn’t take too terribly long to find her.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” she called as Michael grabbed his brother, protesting lightly, and went out the door.
When the door shut, Chloe let out a long breath.
Sam rubbed her shoulders lightly. “It’s going to be okay, Chloe. She’ll come around.”
“I hope so,” she bowed her head and leaned into him. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
“We’ll figure something out,” he kissed the top of her head again. “We always do.”
She turned to face him. “How did I end up with someone like you?”
He shrugged. “Good luck, I guess.”
She hit him lightly. “More than luck. I think it was fate.”
“Fate,” he echoed, eyes growing distant.
“Hey,” she touched his cheek softly. “Don’t go there.”
He looked down at her. “Sorry, couldn’t help it.”
“Come on,” she kissed him and took his hand. “We’ll leave the dishes for the kids to do.”
He followed her as she gently tugged him toward the stairs. “Alright, I guess I can live with that.”
“You’re damn right you can,” she smirked once again and led him into their room, locking the door behind them.