IC Contact

[refrigeratormom]

Hi, this is Mary Winchester. I can't come to the phone right now, so leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you just as soon as I can. Thanks!

[Pause.]

...Beep.

[Yes, she said the word "beep." Don't sass.]

Comments

Call

[fairymicrowaver]

Hey, mom. I'm going to go see Dad and make sure he's doing ok. I'll be back later, [There's a pause.] ...love you.

Call

[refrigeratormom]

[Nnnn oh Dean, her heart. It pierces right through the endless mantra of FML and makes her smile a little.]

I love you too.

...That's the first time I've said that to you since- since. Before. When you were little.

[But that was four months ago when she put a little child to bed. Learning to connect that love to a man three years her elder took time. She never got the guts to tell him before. It warms her inside to finally get it out.]

Call

[fairymicrowaver]

[Since he was little. If he shuts his eyes he can remember it. Before everything went up in flames and their lives wound down the path of hunting. He swallows, his eyes bright.]

...Yeah. I mean, I know this isn't going to be easy. But we'll be ok, somehow.

Call

[refrigeratormom]

[What a strange reversal this is, him having more hope than she. Her voice is a little thick when she answers.]

Somehow. Yeah. [She isn't sure she believes it anymore.] Dean, what- what your father posted. I didn't mean to purposely hide anything from you.

Call

[fairymicrowaver]

You could have frigging told me, this is like-

[There's a pause and he sighs.] Never mind what it's like.

Just. What the hell is going on, mom?

Call

[refrigeratormom]

[He can't see it (though maybe he can hear it) but she flinches hard, sucking in a breath hard. He sounds so much like John, talks like him, gets annoyed like him (but not angry, she hasn't see that since she met him in 1973).]

Look, I didn't exactly lie to you on purpose. You had just arrived, I thought maybe I should let the alternate universe Canadian mob dystopia sink in a little before dumping you into our marriage problems, okay? I'm sorry.

[Beat.

Okay, possibly a slight overreaction.]

Call

[fairymicrowaver]

[The sucked in breath makes him pause and he pinches the bridge of his nose. For a moment, he's reminded of all the problems he had with Lisa that were his fault.]

Ok. I deserved that. Sorry, I'm just confused. After you died, Dad tried to paint this perfect...this perfect marriage. But I remember it wasn't.

[Dean swallows and shuts his eyes.]

I just wanted to let you know that I'm here to talk to. ...I actually have experience with this. Mine didn't turn out so well but, that was my fault.

Call

[refrigeratormom]

Oh, Dean, thank you- and I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have.

[Shouldn't have broken down like that, shouldn't have yelled at you, shouldn't have made you responsible for my problems. She can't forget how he was before, how easily he shattered. She can't put that on him.

Once again, she has to be strong.]

You don't have to be the adult here. I...

[But she doesn't have the words to keep going. Stringing one thought to the next takes more effort than she has right now. He was married? The two years he lived at home were that eventful? ]

Can you just explain to him that it's only been a few hours? I had every intention of showing you how to use your NV during breakfast.

Call

[fairymicrowaver]

[He's a bit surprised how she's so quick to tell him he doesn't have to be the adult. He is one. That's just a fact to him.]

It's ok. You're stressed. Just take it easy.

And yeah I can do that. I...I've got a lot to talk to him about. [Just has to be strong for her. Hell, for all of them. She needs support and he's here to give it. It's enough to have her back.]

This thing works like a cellphone, right? Shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

[refrigeratormom]

[He is, but she still puts pressure on herself to try to be his mom. To try to be the strong mother for someone three years older than her. It's enough to drive a person crazy.]

Okay, yeah. [Take it easy. She can do that, right?] It's like a... um. A cell phone and a computer.

[So unsure. Cell phones are mysterious witchcraft and computers are supposed to be the size of wood sheds.]

[fairymicrowaver]

I've already used both of them before. This will be an easy dodad to adapt to. Probably easiest damn thing in this place.

[He shuts his eyes for a moment and takes in a breath of air.]

Anyways, what's going on, I'm here. I know we're all reeling from what points we're from but, yeah. That's what I wanted to say.

[refrigeratormom]

I... [Pause, a bit breathless.] Okay. Thanks.

Just make sure he's okay?

[Yeah, Dean outright said that's why he's going to see John, but through the anger and resentment... she still needs to know.]

And I'll see you when you get back...? [Are you coming back?]

[fairymicrowaver]

That's the plan, mom.

[He blinks at the tentative question and smiles just a little.]

Yeah, I'll see you when I get back.

[refrigeratormom]

[He can't see her but the slight blush is probably evident in her voice.]

Okay, I'll see you. I love you.

[...Sob so weird.

So they say the nice things, hang up and later, he comes home. He'll find her in the middle of doing two things she often does when she's stressed, only one of which he knows about: baking and cleaning guns. There's still flour on her shirt, something or other in the oven, and a slew of ingredients on the counter. She's at the kitchen table, cleaning one of her guns, with the parts to another strewn over the table.

And yes, she gave him a key- did it last night, in fact. She's had copies made in the event that someone with a copy vanishes.]

[fairymicrowaver]

[It's weird to come back to an apartment and know his mom is waiting up for him. But, there's a good feel to it not unlike a child having their faith restored in the world. Dean inserts the key she gave him into the lock and steps inside, shutting the door behind him. He shivers from the cold he just stepped out of, shaking his hands a few time to warm them up and grins at what she's doing.]

I see you've been busy.

[refrigeratormom]

[She looks up at his arrival, not startled but... surprised to see him looking so stable, so centered and untroubled by the world.]

Yeah, I guess I have. [Her smile, already weak, tightens.] You look like a different person.