Fic: Just For Christmas (WWE/Supernatural)
This is my entry to the Lita Holiday Fic Exchange over on lita_fics.
Title: Just For Christmas
Author: Kyizi
Written For: revivingophelia
Pairing: Lita/Dean
Challenge: Christmas Tree Ornament (although, there's a mention of snow!)
Spoilers/Timeline: Okay, let me start by saying that I'm vaguely confusling matters here! For Supernatural this will take place near the start of season 2, maybe a few episodes in. For the WWE, we're going back a bit (totally not because I haven't been watching lately... ;p ) to just after Lita's neck injury. She's recovered, but not back at the WWE and she's broken up with Matt. I've also tinkered about with their ages I think, (Well, Lita's - in this fic she started out in the WWE at a young age): it's not mentioned, but Dean is 27, Lita is 25 and Sam is 23. Also...yeah, I made Lita a little supernatural (no pun intended!) herself...
*
"Demon spawn," she repeated sceptically. However, when the man just nodded, she exploded. "Are you freakin' kidding me?"
"Now, Lita-"
"Don't you 'now, Lita' me!" the redhead cried. "I'm on vacation!" she said, stepping right up to him. "Do you understand me? Vacation," she repeated. "It's Christmas!"
"Now, look," a voice interrupted. "It wasn't-"
"It wasn't what? Your fault?" Lita cried, swinging on the young man who looked rather like he wished just he'd kept his damn mouth shut. "Because I distinctly recall you saying, 'Don't worry, Li, it can't hurt you' and, unless I just developed a hearing problem, Bobby here says I am now impregnated with demon spawn!"
"But technically you're not hurt..."
Lita let out a menacing growl and the man's eyes widened as he stepped back. "She's had her shots, right?" he asked Bobby.
"Dean!"
"What?" the man asked, turning to his brother. "It's a perfectly reasonable question."
"Maybe if you stopped taunting her it wouldn't be a necessary one," Sam retorted through gritted teeth.
Lita let out an unhappy huff of air through her nose, purposefully flaring her nostrils. She practically felt Dean gulp and she could certainly smell his fear. That, at least made her feel a little better. Well, right up until she remembered her current predicament.
"Look, you're the one that went near it, how was I supposed to know that it could infect you with those...prong thingies?" Dean continued, his inability to control his mouth obviously not affected by his fear of the growling woman in front of him.
"Well..." Sam said and his brother turned on him, the look in his eyes clearly asking if he was crazy and why the hell wasn't he standing up for him. "You did tell her that it was safe."
"That's not my... I thought it was safe! Seriously, dude, my side, please."
"I'm not the one that impregnated the fox lady."
"Hey! Neither did I!" Dean cried and, for once, didn't make any 'foxy lady' comments. Which was never really a good thing to call a human that shifted into animal and it was likely a good thing he’d kept quiet now, because Lita was now a demon-impregnated, pissed off fox who wasn't feeling much like a lady at that moment.
"Bobby," she said, taking a deep breath and choosing to ignore Dean and his brother in favour of the older man. "Tell me you know how to get rid of it," she growled, her tone informing Bobby that this wasn't a request.
Dean made a noise that caused her to turn and narrow her eyes at him (she'd never forgiven the man for his initial assessment of her shifted form -- calling her 'cute' hadn't endeared him to her any more than her responding bite had endeared her to him). She didn't ask him to explain, not with words anyway, just narrowed her eyes, knowing that they were likely changing shape as she fought back the urge to snarl.
"Li," Dean said, his hands raised in surrender. (Foxes might not be known for being particularly vicious, but Lita wasn't your typical fox, not when you took into consideration that she was twice the size and, even when shifted, still had a human thought process). "We can get rid of it..."
"But?" she asked when he paused for too long.
Dean looked to his brother for help and Sam, taking pity on the older man, let out a breath and stepped forward. "We need to find whatever was used to lock the demon into this world. Packer Demons have their own bodies and they aren't generally seen this side of...well..."
"Hell," Dean supplied with a shrug.
"Yeah," Sam confirmed. "They generally need to be trapped here and to do that, someone has to call them."
"Like invoking a normal demon?" Lita asked with a resigned sigh.
"Exactly," Sam said with a nod.
"But," Bobby continued. "They're not tied to this side by people, but objects."
"Right and, let me guess, to get rid of this...spawn," she said, waving ineptly at her stomach. "I need to kill the demon and to kill the demon-"
"You need to find and destroy the object tying it here," Sam finished.
There was a moment's silence whilst Lita let the idea settle.
"See," Dean said with a loud smile. "Nothin' to it."
Lita didn't even bother glaring at him before she shifted and just bit him on the leg. Hard.
*
They'd been searching for about 35 hours when the need to sleep finally called an end to things. Lita curled up in the back of the Impala and ignored the Winchester in the front. If it had been Sam she would likely have sat in the seat next to him and chatted to help keep him awake, but as it was his cocky brother, Lita had decided the best way to keep things civil was not to interact with him at all.
Damn Bobby and his need to meddle, she thought, wishing her uncle hadn't decided Sam should go with him in the opposite direction, leaving her with the nice young man's irritating older sibling.
She wasn't sure why, exactly, everything about Dean Winchester had always driven her slightly insane with anger, but he was very good at it nonetheless. When she'd first tracked her uncle down after his impromptu visit to the hospital to wish her a speedy recovery, she'd been a little shocked to discover the world she lived in wasn't quite what she'd thought. Sure, she spent half of her life in the form of a small red-haired fox (although she was large in comparison to an actual fox), but werewolves, vampires, demons and the like had never been something she'd have remotely considered as real if she hadn't literally stumbled onto a hunt. She was lucky she'd been wearing a thick jacket with a large neck to it, or the vampire might have seen to rip off her neck brace before trying to bite her. As it was, the jerk to her head had done enough.
Luckily for her, Dean and his father had stumbled on her right before too much damage had been done (to her at least -- she was pretty sure the vampire might have broken a fang on her neck brace, but it was dust a few moments later, so it hadn't really mattered either way). She'd been so scared she'd shifted right away, heedless of her neck injury and how shifting might affect it (she'd managed to avoid doing it in the months following her accident and wasn't to know how much it would help). It had taken her a moment to recognise John and a little longer to recognise the faint hints of Bobby she could smell on their clothing. In fact, she was pretty sure that if her uncle hadn't seen fit to inform them of her ability, and she hadn't shown John her shifting before, she doubted Dean's first interaction with her in her fox form would have gone so well -- not that Dean likely had the same thoughts about it. In fact, after she'd bit Dean, John had laughed and gently picked her up into his arms, being extra careful with her neck, and carried her to their car as if she hadn't weighed the same as a healthy, young wolf. Dean had grumbled a lot as he collected her neck brace and clothing, had bitched about the bite the entire ride back to her uncle's place, and moaned at his father for not telling him about Lita, but he wasn't one to stand against his dad.
Her world was far from ordinary as it was, but demons weren't something she'd wanted in her life; being a fox was hard enough. To be honest, she'd yet to figure out any practical uses for her ability to shapeshift. Sure, she had a heightened sense of smell, saw pretty well in the dark (although, she had to be careful, as even her human eyes glowed in the dark when struck by direct light) and had an advantage of added speed, but there seemed to be no actual reason for it. She wasn't a predator, certainly not in the sense of a wolf, no matter how close or distant a cousin she might be. In fact, if there was only one thing she could ask her long-dead father, it would be whether he had ever found a use for it, or a reason behind it. She certainly couldn't ask her mother and her mother would never forgive her for contacting the European family on her father's side, so Lita was alone with her guarded secret. Well, as much as she could be with a demon hunter for an uncle. Although, her mother knew as much about her brother's life as he knew about her daughter's; which was to say, not a lot.
"I know you're awake," Dean said, his voice echoing oddly through the eerily silent car. It wasn't usual for him not to be blasting music through the speakers and Lita wished he hadn't chosen now to change that habit. "Lita," he said softly and her heart lurched. She was suddenly, painfully, reminded that she did actually know part of the reason he always managed to make her so angry.
She sighed and sat up, glaring at him when he glanced into the rear view mirror to look at her. She took another deep breath and pulled herself forward, crawling into the seat beside him. She was very aware of the last time she'd been alone in a car with him and even more aware of who was missing from his life now.
"I'm sorry about your dad," she said softly, part of her wanting to take the words back the second she'd said them. Not because she didn't mean them, but because she could sense the change in the air right away.
"Me too," he said softly a few moments later. If she hadn't had heightened hearing, she wouldn't have heard him, but Dean knew.
They drove in silence for a while, the winter air outside sending snowflakes drifting lazily in front of the windscreen. She loved Christmas and still had no real reason (not one she would acknowledge, at least) as to why she had decided to spend those holidays with her Uncle and his Demon chasing cohorts. News of John's death had hit her hard, though, despite only having known the man a few short years. She'd known Dean an even shorter time and only known Sam since she'd turned up the previous evening and stupidly volunteered to help. The knowledge that they were spending Christmas with her uncle, who was now without his oldest and closest friend, had spurred her into action and she'd booked a flight right away.
"How's Matt?" Dean asked suddenly, spitting out her ex-boyfriend's name in the same less-than-friendly manner he'd shown the man himself.
"I have no idea," she said, resisting the urge to groan. This was one conversation she so did not want to have. Especially on so little sleep. "Can we please not talk about this?"
"Fine, like I care."
"Yes, because you sound like you don't care," Lita snarled.
"Hey, don't get all growly on me because your taste in men sucks."
If only he knew, Lita thought nastily, still trying to push that thought out of her mind. "Look, you made your feelings on Matt very clear with the fist you threw in his face."
"Not clear enough if you were still with him a month later."
"Exactly what part of 'I don't want to talk about this' are you having issues with?"
"The part where you try to pretend it's got nothing to do with me," Dean retorted and she could smell the anger rolling off him.
"It doesn't have anything to do with you!"
Dean let out a growl that she was almost impressed with, but as he was already swerving the car to the side of the road, she was more concerned with the fact that she wanted to live and it wasn't looking all that likely what with his driving, the icy roads and the snow outside.
"Dean! What are you-"
Lita's mind went blank right about the time his hand curled into the front of her jacket and pulled. It was more of a mashing of lips than a kiss, but it didn't take long to slide into the latter. He all but ravaged her mouth and she wasn't exactly helpless to stop it. She just didn't really want to.
A moment later he almost threw her back into her seat.
"Don't tell me it's got nothing to do with me," he said softly, anger still radiating from him, and turned the engine back on.
*
"Looks like something you'd find on a Christmas tree," Dean said with a frown.
"It is something you'd find on a Christmas tree, you moron," Lita retorted. "It's a Christmas tree ornament."
"A satanic Santa?" Dean asked, smirking at her. He looked at Bobby. "You're not serious."
"Do I look like I'm laughing, boy?"
When Dean's face fell and he replied immediately with a 'No, Sir' Lita couldn't help but laugh out loud. She hadn't entirely forgiven him for his scene in the car, but given that she still had the phantom feeling of his lips on hers, she had decided to ignore it completely.
"So, what?" Lita asked, "I just smash it and I'm not pregnant anymore?"
"Well..." her uncle said slowly and she felt her hopes disappearing again.
"Not exactly," Sam said.
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."
She was going on 40 hours without sleep now. Having arrived back to find Bobby's house empty, they had set right back out again to look for her uncle and Sam. By the time they'd all arrived back with the Demon Anchor, Lita was ready to just have it all be over with already.
"What do I need to do?" she asked and knew she wasn't going to like the answer. Bobby wouldn't look at her and Sam kept glancing awkwardly between her and Dean. She really wasn't going to like the answer. "No."
"No what?" Dean asked. "He hasn’t even said anything yet."
"I don't want to know." Lita sighed. "I'm going to bed, we can look for another way after I've had at least ten hours sleep."
*
Dean was studiously ignoring his brother. Try as he might, Sam just couldn't guilt him into this conversation. No way in hell. It was bad enough that his dad had constantly chewed him out whenever Lita's name was mentioned, there was no way he was having the opposite conversation with his little brother. Sam would just have to live with it. He wasn't likely to actually bring it up himself.
"So," Sam said with a smirk. "You and Lita?"
So much for that idea, he thought. "What about me and Lita?"
"Was it love at first sight?" Sam asked melodramatically, clutching at his chest.
"He tried to shoot me," Lita supplied from the other side of the wall.
"I did not try to shoot you!" Dean yelled at the wall separating their rooms.
"Okay, he wanted to shoot me, but your dad wouldn't let him."
"I did not- Will you stop listening in! Isn't there some kind of...wolf etiquette or something about not using your super human hearing when you’re not supposed to?"
"I wouldn't know, I'm not a wolf."
"Well, I thought you were, which was why I wanted to shoot you! And hey, I said you were cute after that and you bit me!"
"Well, I'm not cute! Cute is a word for puppies, not foxes."
"She bit you?" Sam asked, chewing on his lip to stop from smiling. "The day she met you?"
"Because she's a psychotic animal," Dean replied with a glare, just daring his brother to laugh out loud.
"Is this a regular thing? Her biting you. I mean, is it foreplay?"
Lita's outraged noise was drowned out when Dean almost leaped at his brother. Sam hopped out of the way just in time, but all movement was stopped by Bobby's voice echoing through the house.
"Will you kids pipe down! God damn it, can’t a man sleep in his own home?”
*
"So, seriously, you and Lita?"
"Jeez, will you give it a rest already?" Dean said, sitting up and looking over at his brother's bed in the dark.
"I think she's asleep, it's four am, answer me."
"No."
"Dean, I'm gonna keep buggin' you, so you might as well get it over with."
"Why do you care?"
"Because you've been mooning over her since she got here and I just want to know if I need to get my best man's speech ready."
Dean threw his pillow at his brother. "You're not funny."
"Really? I think I'm hilarious."
"Drop it, Sammy."
"No. What happened between you two?"
"Nothing happened. Now give me back my pillow."
"No way, you're the one who threw it at me."
"Give me back my damn pillow, or I swear-"
"You'll what?"
"I don't know what he'll do," Lita said, just loud enough that they could hear her and they both froze. "But I get cranky when I don't get any sleep."
"Goodnight, Lita," Sam said quietly, looking at Dean with a wince. He threw his brother back the pillow and crawled back under his covers.
Dean let himself believe that would be the end of it.
*
"So, you and my brother?"
Lita looked at him with a lifted brow. "You seriously think you'll get more out of me than you got out of him last night?"
Sam shrugged. "More I think that you would have had more objection to my asking him last night if there hadn't been something there to ask about."
"Look, Sam," Lita said with a sigh. "I like you. Please don't try to change my opinion, because I hate being wrong about people."
"Like you were with Dean," Sam said softly, finishing off what he assumed was an unspoken thought. "Let me guess, he was an ass?"
"Is he ever not?"
Sam smiled. "Sometimes. Usually not. Especially when he cares about people. He's not very good at..."
"Being a nice human being?"
"Showing people he cares."
"He almost broke my boyfriend's nose."
"You have a boyfriend?"
"Had. At the time."
Sam nodded. "He doesn't deal with jealousy all that well, either."
"I don't think he was jealous, Sam, he was just...being Dean."
Sam laughed. "Lita, I really didn't think you were stupid."
"I have large teeth. Insulting me? Not such a good idea. Especially when you already know what I am, so I don't need to be subtle about it."
"I'm beginning to think you biting people is a sign of affection."
"Sam, I really didn't think you were delusional."
"Okay, okay. Look, I just think that you two should talk. You've clearly got something to talk about and...well... I'm not sure that I'm in the right position to help you out with your...uh...predicament."
Lita frowned. "You want to tell me how I'm meant to get rid of this Demon Spawn, Sam?" she asked warily.
"Not without back up, no."
"Sam."
"Lita."
"Tell me."
Sam sighed. "Fine, but you're not gonna like it."
*
"What the hell happened in here?"
Lita growled and spun around, ignoring the ruins of her room and focussing on the man at the door. "This is all your fault."
"Hey! I didn't do anything!"
"You told me it was safe!"
"How was I supposed to know what was gonna happen?"
"Then you shouldn't have said it was-"
"All right, all right, I'm sorry! Jeez, get a grip." Dean let out a howl of pain. "I didn't mean on me! Ouch, Lita, precious family jewels are not a play thing."
"Did you talk to Sam?"
"I really don't want to talk about my brother when you have your hands on my- ow!"
"Did you talk to him?"
"He said you wanted to see me. Lita can you please-"
"Fine."
Dean let out a pained mewling sound when she let go and stalked away from him and back to the other side of the room. He walked awkwardly to the end of the bed and sat down.
"Now, what the hell was that all about?"
"Sam can destroy the Anchor."
"That's... good, right?"
"But it doesn't get rid of this," she said waving her hands at her stomach.
Dean frowned. "Then how do we-"
"Do you know what a Packer Demon is?"
"Some kind of pleasure d-" His eyes widened. "Is that why he sent me in here?"
"Sent you? So coming near me is such a hardship."
"Damnit, woman! See, this is why you drive me crazy! You're twisting my words. And it was you who walked out on us!"
"Me? You punched my boyfriend, told me you cared about me and then left right after we-"
"I didn't go anywhere!" Dean cried, standing up to face her down. "You left in the middle of the night."
"Because I woke up to see you sneaking out!"
"What?" Dean frowned, then swore, throwing his arms up. "I was going out on a hunt! You knew we had to burn those remains! My dad came to get me and I came right back after and you were gone!"
The stood in silence, breathing heavily, each of them trying to absorb what the other was saying.
"Y-you didn't leave me?" she asked.
"No, Lita. You left me."
*
"Are we seriously going to just sit here all night?" Lita asked, glancing sideways to look at Dean, who was sitting next to her on the bed. She shifted and moved the pillows behind her a little higher up the headboard.
"Well, I'm more than happy to help you with your little, eh..." He smirked. "Problem. But-ouch!"
"Not funny. It's still your fault. But if you don't want to help me out, I can just go ask Sam."
"Over my dead body," Dean said with a growl, turning so quickly that she was trapped underneath him before she could blink. Given her own reflexes, it was a fairly impressive stunt, one that she was sure shouldn't turn her on as much as it actually did.
"I'm sure that could be arranged," she said with a smile, moving underneath him and making him groan.
"So," he said, leaning down and nudging her nose with his. "What exactly do I have to do to help?"
"What, you need a diagram?"
He chuckled. "Just a little pleasure, right, and then I'm on my way."
"It better be more than a little, or you'll be on your way in lots of little pieces. In a box."
"I'm fairly sure that's not meant to be a turn on," Dean said with a smirk. "But there's nothing little about me. And you're-"
"You talk to much."
She grabbed the back of his neck with her hand and fused their lips together. He responded instantly and Lita remembered just how good it felt to be with him. Part of her wished it had been under circumstances where she could be sure he really meant it, but for now, this was enough. She'd make sure it was, because getting over him once had been hard enough.
*
"So," Sam said, trying unsuccessfully to smother a smile. "How did it go?"
"You lookin' for a blow by blow, Sammy, because, really, there's such a thing as too much sharing."
"Very funny."
"I'm a regular comedian."
"A regular clown, more like it," Lita said entering the room. "So, you're leaving?"
"We got a hunt in Cleveland. Could be big," Dean said, returning to his almost-packed bag.
"You're not even staying with Bobby for Christmas?" Lita asked, trying to mask her feelings. Bobby had been looking forward to Christmas, she knew it, even if he'd never said it in so many words. And Lita? Well, maybe she'd started to look forward to it a little more herself.
Sam cleared his throat as Dean continued to pack, not looking at her. "I think I'll go...be somewhere else."
Lita crossed her arms and let the younger man pass without even acknowledging him. She watched Dean pack, knowing it was setting him on edge and just continued to look at him until he threw his bag to the floor and rounded on her.
"What? We have a job to do and holidays don't mean a damn thing to the undead, or demons, or anything else that we go after for that matter. What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to care!" she yelled, instantly wishing she could take her words back. Instead she swallowed and took a step back. "About Bobby," she continued, feeling the lie burn in her throat. She already knew he cared for Bobby. "Don't you think he wanted you here?"
"That's not what you meant," Dean said softly. He took a deep breath and stepped towards her, ignoring that she stepped away. Instead he backed her into the wall, placing one hand at either side of her head. "Lita."
"It doesn't matter," she said, shaking her head and pushing against his chest.
He stepped even closer, trapping her completely. "Yes, it does."
"Why?"
Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Because you matter. You know," he cleared his throat. "To me."
"Then stay."
"I can't. I can't let you...I.." Swearing, he stepped away and ran his hands over his face. "Look, this life? My life? Doesn't work the way everybody else's does."
"Dean, I turn into a fox."
"That's not what I meant. I go out there every day and I don't know if I'm coming back."
She nodded. "I know. I work in a dangerous job, too, Dean. It's not the same as yours, I get that, but it's hard and I travel a lot and I know that makes this," she waved a hand between them. "Whatever this is, hard. But..."
"Yeah," he said, letting out a breath when she couldn't continue. "But."
"You say you care about me."
"I do."
"Then stay. Just this once."
"Just for Christmas," he said, stepping towards her.
She smiled and stepped into his arms. "Just for Christmas."
Dean offered her a tentative smile. "Yeah, I guess I can do that."
"Bobby will be thrilled."
"Lita," he said raising an eyebrow and smirking at her. "I like Bobby, but I'm not staying for him."
"Good," she said and stepped onto her toes to kiss him. His arms tightened around her and, even if it was just for another two days, she could almost believe she was exactly where she was meant to be.
*
THE END
Meh, didn't end quite the way I wanted and I so want to play in this 'verse a lot more. But I was determined to actually give revivingophelia a finished fic!
Hope you like it, sweetie!
*
Title: Just For Christmas
Author: Kyizi
Written For: revivingophelia
Pairing: Lita/Dean
Challenge: Christmas Tree Ornament (although, there's a mention of snow!)
Spoilers/Timeline: Okay, let me start by saying that I'm vaguely confusling matters here! For Supernatural this will take place near the start of season 2, maybe a few episodes in. For the WWE, we're going back a bit (totally not because I haven't been watching lately... ;p ) to just after Lita's neck injury. She's recovered, but not back at the WWE and she's broken up with Matt. I've also tinkered about with their ages I think, (Well, Lita's - in this fic she started out in the WWE at a young age): it's not mentioned, but Dean is 27, Lita is 25 and Sam is 23. Also...yeah, I made Lita a little supernatural (no pun intended!) herself...
*
"Demon spawn," she repeated sceptically. However, when the man just nodded, she exploded. "Are you freakin' kidding me?"
"Now, Lita-"
"Don't you 'now, Lita' me!" the redhead cried. "I'm on vacation!" she said, stepping right up to him. "Do you understand me? Vacation," she repeated. "It's Christmas!"
"Now, look," a voice interrupted. "It wasn't-"
"It wasn't what? Your fault?" Lita cried, swinging on the young man who looked rather like he wished just he'd kept his damn mouth shut. "Because I distinctly recall you saying, 'Don't worry, Li, it can't hurt you' and, unless I just developed a hearing problem, Bobby here says I am now impregnated with demon spawn!"
"But technically you're not hurt..."
Lita let out a menacing growl and the man's eyes widened as he stepped back. "She's had her shots, right?" he asked Bobby.
"Dean!"
"What?" the man asked, turning to his brother. "It's a perfectly reasonable question."
"Maybe if you stopped taunting her it wouldn't be a necessary one," Sam retorted through gritted teeth.
Lita let out an unhappy huff of air through her nose, purposefully flaring her nostrils. She practically felt Dean gulp and she could certainly smell his fear. That, at least made her feel a little better. Well, right up until she remembered her current predicament.
"Look, you're the one that went near it, how was I supposed to know that it could infect you with those...prong thingies?" Dean continued, his inability to control his mouth obviously not affected by his fear of the growling woman in front of him.
"Well..." Sam said and his brother turned on him, the look in his eyes clearly asking if he was crazy and why the hell wasn't he standing up for him. "You did tell her that it was safe."
"That's not my... I thought it was safe! Seriously, dude, my side, please."
"I'm not the one that impregnated the fox lady."
"Hey! Neither did I!" Dean cried and, for once, didn't make any 'foxy lady' comments. Which was never really a good thing to call a human that shifted into animal and it was likely a good thing he’d kept quiet now, because Lita was now a demon-impregnated, pissed off fox who wasn't feeling much like a lady at that moment.
"Bobby," she said, taking a deep breath and choosing to ignore Dean and his brother in favour of the older man. "Tell me you know how to get rid of it," she growled, her tone informing Bobby that this wasn't a request.
Dean made a noise that caused her to turn and narrow her eyes at him (she'd never forgiven the man for his initial assessment of her shifted form -- calling her 'cute' hadn't endeared him to her any more than her responding bite had endeared her to him). She didn't ask him to explain, not with words anyway, just narrowed her eyes, knowing that they were likely changing shape as she fought back the urge to snarl.
"Li," Dean said, his hands raised in surrender. (Foxes might not be known for being particularly vicious, but Lita wasn't your typical fox, not when you took into consideration that she was twice the size and, even when shifted, still had a human thought process). "We can get rid of it..."
"But?" she asked when he paused for too long.
Dean looked to his brother for help and Sam, taking pity on the older man, let out a breath and stepped forward. "We need to find whatever was used to lock the demon into this world. Packer Demons have their own bodies and they aren't generally seen this side of...well..."
"Hell," Dean supplied with a shrug.
"Yeah," Sam confirmed. "They generally need to be trapped here and to do that, someone has to call them."
"Like invoking a normal demon?" Lita asked with a resigned sigh.
"Exactly," Sam said with a nod.
"But," Bobby continued. "They're not tied to this side by people, but objects."
"Right and, let me guess, to get rid of this...spawn," she said, waving ineptly at her stomach. "I need to kill the demon and to kill the demon-"
"You need to find and destroy the object tying it here," Sam finished.
There was a moment's silence whilst Lita let the idea settle.
"See," Dean said with a loud smile. "Nothin' to it."
Lita didn't even bother glaring at him before she shifted and just bit him on the leg. Hard.
*
They'd been searching for about 35 hours when the need to sleep finally called an end to things. Lita curled up in the back of the Impala and ignored the Winchester in the front. If it had been Sam she would likely have sat in the seat next to him and chatted to help keep him awake, but as it was his cocky brother, Lita had decided the best way to keep things civil was not to interact with him at all.
Damn Bobby and his need to meddle, she thought, wishing her uncle hadn't decided Sam should go with him in the opposite direction, leaving her with the nice young man's irritating older sibling.
She wasn't sure why, exactly, everything about Dean Winchester had always driven her slightly insane with anger, but he was very good at it nonetheless. When she'd first tracked her uncle down after his impromptu visit to the hospital to wish her a speedy recovery, she'd been a little shocked to discover the world she lived in wasn't quite what she'd thought. Sure, she spent half of her life in the form of a small red-haired fox (although she was large in comparison to an actual fox), but werewolves, vampires, demons and the like had never been something she'd have remotely considered as real if she hadn't literally stumbled onto a hunt. She was lucky she'd been wearing a thick jacket with a large neck to it, or the vampire might have seen to rip off her neck brace before trying to bite her. As it was, the jerk to her head had done enough.
Luckily for her, Dean and his father had stumbled on her right before too much damage had been done (to her at least -- she was pretty sure the vampire might have broken a fang on her neck brace, but it was dust a few moments later, so it hadn't really mattered either way). She'd been so scared she'd shifted right away, heedless of her neck injury and how shifting might affect it (she'd managed to avoid doing it in the months following her accident and wasn't to know how much it would help). It had taken her a moment to recognise John and a little longer to recognise the faint hints of Bobby she could smell on their clothing. In fact, she was pretty sure that if her uncle hadn't seen fit to inform them of her ability, and she hadn't shown John her shifting before, she doubted Dean's first interaction with her in her fox form would have gone so well -- not that Dean likely had the same thoughts about it. In fact, after she'd bit Dean, John had laughed and gently picked her up into his arms, being extra careful with her neck, and carried her to their car as if she hadn't weighed the same as a healthy, young wolf. Dean had grumbled a lot as he collected her neck brace and clothing, had bitched about the bite the entire ride back to her uncle's place, and moaned at his father for not telling him about Lita, but he wasn't one to stand against his dad.
Her world was far from ordinary as it was, but demons weren't something she'd wanted in her life; being a fox was hard enough. To be honest, she'd yet to figure out any practical uses for her ability to shapeshift. Sure, she had a heightened sense of smell, saw pretty well in the dark (although, she had to be careful, as even her human eyes glowed in the dark when struck by direct light) and had an advantage of added speed, but there seemed to be no actual reason for it. She wasn't a predator, certainly not in the sense of a wolf, no matter how close or distant a cousin she might be. In fact, if there was only one thing she could ask her long-dead father, it would be whether he had ever found a use for it, or a reason behind it. She certainly couldn't ask her mother and her mother would never forgive her for contacting the European family on her father's side, so Lita was alone with her guarded secret. Well, as much as she could be with a demon hunter for an uncle. Although, her mother knew as much about her brother's life as he knew about her daughter's; which was to say, not a lot.
"I know you're awake," Dean said, his voice echoing oddly through the eerily silent car. It wasn't usual for him not to be blasting music through the speakers and Lita wished he hadn't chosen now to change that habit. "Lita," he said softly and her heart lurched. She was suddenly, painfully, reminded that she did actually know part of the reason he always managed to make her so angry.
She sighed and sat up, glaring at him when he glanced into the rear view mirror to look at her. She took another deep breath and pulled herself forward, crawling into the seat beside him. She was very aware of the last time she'd been alone in a car with him and even more aware of who was missing from his life now.
"I'm sorry about your dad," she said softly, part of her wanting to take the words back the second she'd said them. Not because she didn't mean them, but because she could sense the change in the air right away.
"Me too," he said softly a few moments later. If she hadn't had heightened hearing, she wouldn't have heard him, but Dean knew.
They drove in silence for a while, the winter air outside sending snowflakes drifting lazily in front of the windscreen. She loved Christmas and still had no real reason (not one she would acknowledge, at least) as to why she had decided to spend those holidays with her Uncle and his Demon chasing cohorts. News of John's death had hit her hard, though, despite only having known the man a few short years. She'd known Dean an even shorter time and only known Sam since she'd turned up the previous evening and stupidly volunteered to help. The knowledge that they were spending Christmas with her uncle, who was now without his oldest and closest friend, had spurred her into action and she'd booked a flight right away.
"How's Matt?" Dean asked suddenly, spitting out her ex-boyfriend's name in the same less-than-friendly manner he'd shown the man himself.
"I have no idea," she said, resisting the urge to groan. This was one conversation she so did not want to have. Especially on so little sleep. "Can we please not talk about this?"
"Fine, like I care."
"Yes, because you sound like you don't care," Lita snarled.
"Hey, don't get all growly on me because your taste in men sucks."
If only he knew, Lita thought nastily, still trying to push that thought out of her mind. "Look, you made your feelings on Matt very clear with the fist you threw in his face."
"Not clear enough if you were still with him a month later."
"Exactly what part of 'I don't want to talk about this' are you having issues with?"
"The part where you try to pretend it's got nothing to do with me," Dean retorted and she could smell the anger rolling off him.
"It doesn't have anything to do with you!"
Dean let out a growl that she was almost impressed with, but as he was already swerving the car to the side of the road, she was more concerned with the fact that she wanted to live and it wasn't looking all that likely what with his driving, the icy roads and the snow outside.
"Dean! What are you-"
Lita's mind went blank right about the time his hand curled into the front of her jacket and pulled. It was more of a mashing of lips than a kiss, but it didn't take long to slide into the latter. He all but ravaged her mouth and she wasn't exactly helpless to stop it. She just didn't really want to.
A moment later he almost threw her back into her seat.
"Don't tell me it's got nothing to do with me," he said softly, anger still radiating from him, and turned the engine back on.
*
"Looks like something you'd find on a Christmas tree," Dean said with a frown.
"It is something you'd find on a Christmas tree, you moron," Lita retorted. "It's a Christmas tree ornament."
"A satanic Santa?" Dean asked, smirking at her. He looked at Bobby. "You're not serious."
"Do I look like I'm laughing, boy?"
When Dean's face fell and he replied immediately with a 'No, Sir' Lita couldn't help but laugh out loud. She hadn't entirely forgiven him for his scene in the car, but given that she still had the phantom feeling of his lips on hers, she had decided to ignore it completely.
"So, what?" Lita asked, "I just smash it and I'm not pregnant anymore?"
"Well..." her uncle said slowly and she felt her hopes disappearing again.
"Not exactly," Sam said.
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."
She was going on 40 hours without sleep now. Having arrived back to find Bobby's house empty, they had set right back out again to look for her uncle and Sam. By the time they'd all arrived back with the Demon Anchor, Lita was ready to just have it all be over with already.
"What do I need to do?" she asked and knew she wasn't going to like the answer. Bobby wouldn't look at her and Sam kept glancing awkwardly between her and Dean. She really wasn't going to like the answer. "No."
"No what?" Dean asked. "He hasn’t even said anything yet."
"I don't want to know." Lita sighed. "I'm going to bed, we can look for another way after I've had at least ten hours sleep."
*
Dean was studiously ignoring his brother. Try as he might, Sam just couldn't guilt him into this conversation. No way in hell. It was bad enough that his dad had constantly chewed him out whenever Lita's name was mentioned, there was no way he was having the opposite conversation with his little brother. Sam would just have to live with it. He wasn't likely to actually bring it up himself.
"So," Sam said with a smirk. "You and Lita?"
So much for that idea, he thought. "What about me and Lita?"
"Was it love at first sight?" Sam asked melodramatically, clutching at his chest.
"He tried to shoot me," Lita supplied from the other side of the wall.
"I did not try to shoot you!" Dean yelled at the wall separating their rooms.
"Okay, he wanted to shoot me, but your dad wouldn't let him."
"I did not- Will you stop listening in! Isn't there some kind of...wolf etiquette or something about not using your super human hearing when you’re not supposed to?"
"I wouldn't know, I'm not a wolf."
"Well, I thought you were, which was why I wanted to shoot you! And hey, I said you were cute after that and you bit me!"
"Well, I'm not cute! Cute is a word for puppies, not foxes."
"She bit you?" Sam asked, chewing on his lip to stop from smiling. "The day she met you?"
"Because she's a psychotic animal," Dean replied with a glare, just daring his brother to laugh out loud.
"Is this a regular thing? Her biting you. I mean, is it foreplay?"
Lita's outraged noise was drowned out when Dean almost leaped at his brother. Sam hopped out of the way just in time, but all movement was stopped by Bobby's voice echoing through the house.
"Will you kids pipe down! God damn it, can’t a man sleep in his own home?”
*
"So, seriously, you and Lita?"
"Jeez, will you give it a rest already?" Dean said, sitting up and looking over at his brother's bed in the dark.
"I think she's asleep, it's four am, answer me."
"No."
"Dean, I'm gonna keep buggin' you, so you might as well get it over with."
"Why do you care?"
"Because you've been mooning over her since she got here and I just want to know if I need to get my best man's speech ready."
Dean threw his pillow at his brother. "You're not funny."
"Really? I think I'm hilarious."
"Drop it, Sammy."
"No. What happened between you two?"
"Nothing happened. Now give me back my pillow."
"No way, you're the one who threw it at me."
"Give me back my damn pillow, or I swear-"
"You'll what?"
"I don't know what he'll do," Lita said, just loud enough that they could hear her and they both froze. "But I get cranky when I don't get any sleep."
"Goodnight, Lita," Sam said quietly, looking at Dean with a wince. He threw his brother back the pillow and crawled back under his covers.
Dean let himself believe that would be the end of it.
*
"So, you and my brother?"
Lita looked at him with a lifted brow. "You seriously think you'll get more out of me than you got out of him last night?"
Sam shrugged. "More I think that you would have had more objection to my asking him last night if there hadn't been something there to ask about."
"Look, Sam," Lita said with a sigh. "I like you. Please don't try to change my opinion, because I hate being wrong about people."
"Like you were with Dean," Sam said softly, finishing off what he assumed was an unspoken thought. "Let me guess, he was an ass?"
"Is he ever not?"
Sam smiled. "Sometimes. Usually not. Especially when he cares about people. He's not very good at..."
"Being a nice human being?"
"Showing people he cares."
"He almost broke my boyfriend's nose."
"You have a boyfriend?"
"Had. At the time."
Sam nodded. "He doesn't deal with jealousy all that well, either."
"I don't think he was jealous, Sam, he was just...being Dean."
Sam laughed. "Lita, I really didn't think you were stupid."
"I have large teeth. Insulting me? Not such a good idea. Especially when you already know what I am, so I don't need to be subtle about it."
"I'm beginning to think you biting people is a sign of affection."
"Sam, I really didn't think you were delusional."
"Okay, okay. Look, I just think that you two should talk. You've clearly got something to talk about and...well... I'm not sure that I'm in the right position to help you out with your...uh...predicament."
Lita frowned. "You want to tell me how I'm meant to get rid of this Demon Spawn, Sam?" she asked warily.
"Not without back up, no."
"Sam."
"Lita."
"Tell me."
Sam sighed. "Fine, but you're not gonna like it."
*
"What the hell happened in here?"
Lita growled and spun around, ignoring the ruins of her room and focussing on the man at the door. "This is all your fault."
"Hey! I didn't do anything!"
"You told me it was safe!"
"How was I supposed to know what was gonna happen?"
"Then you shouldn't have said it was-"
"All right, all right, I'm sorry! Jeez, get a grip." Dean let out a howl of pain. "I didn't mean on me! Ouch, Lita, precious family jewels are not a play thing."
"Did you talk to Sam?"
"I really don't want to talk about my brother when you have your hands on my- ow!"
"Did you talk to him?"
"He said you wanted to see me. Lita can you please-"
"Fine."
Dean let out a pained mewling sound when she let go and stalked away from him and back to the other side of the room. He walked awkwardly to the end of the bed and sat down.
"Now, what the hell was that all about?"
"Sam can destroy the Anchor."
"That's... good, right?"
"But it doesn't get rid of this," she said waving her hands at her stomach.
Dean frowned. "Then how do we-"
"Do you know what a Packer Demon is?"
"Some kind of pleasure d-" His eyes widened. "Is that why he sent me in here?"
"Sent you? So coming near me is such a hardship."
"Damnit, woman! See, this is why you drive me crazy! You're twisting my words. And it was you who walked out on us!"
"Me? You punched my boyfriend, told me you cared about me and then left right after we-"
"I didn't go anywhere!" Dean cried, standing up to face her down. "You left in the middle of the night."
"Because I woke up to see you sneaking out!"
"What?" Dean frowned, then swore, throwing his arms up. "I was going out on a hunt! You knew we had to burn those remains! My dad came to get me and I came right back after and you were gone!"
The stood in silence, breathing heavily, each of them trying to absorb what the other was saying.
"Y-you didn't leave me?" she asked.
"No, Lita. You left me."
*
"Are we seriously going to just sit here all night?" Lita asked, glancing sideways to look at Dean, who was sitting next to her on the bed. She shifted and moved the pillows behind her a little higher up the headboard.
"Well, I'm more than happy to help you with your little, eh..." He smirked. "Problem. But-ouch!"
"Not funny. It's still your fault. But if you don't want to help me out, I can just go ask Sam."
"Over my dead body," Dean said with a growl, turning so quickly that she was trapped underneath him before she could blink. Given her own reflexes, it was a fairly impressive stunt, one that she was sure shouldn't turn her on as much as it actually did.
"I'm sure that could be arranged," she said with a smile, moving underneath him and making him groan.
"So," he said, leaning down and nudging her nose with his. "What exactly do I have to do to help?"
"What, you need a diagram?"
He chuckled. "Just a little pleasure, right, and then I'm on my way."
"It better be more than a little, or you'll be on your way in lots of little pieces. In a box."
"I'm fairly sure that's not meant to be a turn on," Dean said with a smirk. "But there's nothing little about me. And you're-"
"You talk to much."
She grabbed the back of his neck with her hand and fused their lips together. He responded instantly and Lita remembered just how good it felt to be with him. Part of her wished it had been under circumstances where she could be sure he really meant it, but for now, this was enough. She'd make sure it was, because getting over him once had been hard enough.
*
"So," Sam said, trying unsuccessfully to smother a smile. "How did it go?"
"You lookin' for a blow by blow, Sammy, because, really, there's such a thing as too much sharing."
"Very funny."
"I'm a regular comedian."
"A regular clown, more like it," Lita said entering the room. "So, you're leaving?"
"We got a hunt in Cleveland. Could be big," Dean said, returning to his almost-packed bag.
"You're not even staying with Bobby for Christmas?" Lita asked, trying to mask her feelings. Bobby had been looking forward to Christmas, she knew it, even if he'd never said it in so many words. And Lita? Well, maybe she'd started to look forward to it a little more herself.
Sam cleared his throat as Dean continued to pack, not looking at her. "I think I'll go...be somewhere else."
Lita crossed her arms and let the younger man pass without even acknowledging him. She watched Dean pack, knowing it was setting him on edge and just continued to look at him until he threw his bag to the floor and rounded on her.
"What? We have a job to do and holidays don't mean a damn thing to the undead, or demons, or anything else that we go after for that matter. What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to care!" she yelled, instantly wishing she could take her words back. Instead she swallowed and took a step back. "About Bobby," she continued, feeling the lie burn in her throat. She already knew he cared for Bobby. "Don't you think he wanted you here?"
"That's not what you meant," Dean said softly. He took a deep breath and stepped towards her, ignoring that she stepped away. Instead he backed her into the wall, placing one hand at either side of her head. "Lita."
"It doesn't matter," she said, shaking her head and pushing against his chest.
He stepped even closer, trapping her completely. "Yes, it does."
"Why?"
Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Because you matter. You know," he cleared his throat. "To me."
"Then stay."
"I can't. I can't let you...I.." Swearing, he stepped away and ran his hands over his face. "Look, this life? My life? Doesn't work the way everybody else's does."
"Dean, I turn into a fox."
"That's not what I meant. I go out there every day and I don't know if I'm coming back."
She nodded. "I know. I work in a dangerous job, too, Dean. It's not the same as yours, I get that, but it's hard and I travel a lot and I know that makes this," she waved a hand between them. "Whatever this is, hard. But..."
"Yeah," he said, letting out a breath when she couldn't continue. "But."
"You say you care about me."
"I do."
"Then stay. Just this once."
"Just for Christmas," he said, stepping towards her.
She smiled and stepped into his arms. "Just for Christmas."
Dean offered her a tentative smile. "Yeah, I guess I can do that."
"Bobby will be thrilled."
"Lita," he said raising an eyebrow and smirking at her. "I like Bobby, but I'm not staying for him."
"Good," she said and stepped onto her toes to kiss him. His arms tightened around her and, even if it was just for another two days, she could almost believe she was exactly where she was meant to be.
*
THE END
Meh, didn't end quite the way I wanted and I so want to play in this 'verse a lot more. But I was determined to actually give revivingophelia a finished fic!
Hope you like it, sweetie!
*