comment_fic 451-455: SN, SN/Leverage, Charmed, WC
Title: When morning comes, I will finally tell
Fandom: Supernatural
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Carol Ann Duffy
Warnings: AU
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 360
Point of view: third
Prompt: Samuel Campbell & Dean Winchester, Dean follows through on his promise to kill the old man.
Dean is tired of being betrayed. Tired of looking over his shoulder, waiting for the knife. Family is supposed to be there, loyal and helpful, ready to face down the world. Family isn't supposed to be wielding the knife that severs the spine.
And Samuel, Mama's daddy, that competent hunter Dean met once, not too long ago in the distant past-goddamned Grandpa Campbell is working for a demon.
Using Sam as a weapon at a demon's beck and call.
Dean is so fucking tired of demons. And he may be a year out of the game, but he hunted for twenty-seven years before that, and he spent forty years learning how to make people hurt. Shit, he almost became a demon.
And Grandpa Campbell may've hunted demons, but he sure never learned how to understand them. And whatever he thinks Crowley will give him in the end... well. Samuel's a fool. And he's using Sam in his foolishness.
And this Sam isn't the Sammy that Dean damned himself to Hell for, but Sammy has to be out there somewhere, and someday he'll come home.
And Dean's spent twenty-seven years putting Sammy first. He only spent a year out of the game because Sammy wanted him to.
And Grandpa Campbell, Mama's daddy, he's a threat. Dean knows how to deal with threats.
And, hell, Sam won't even blink this time. He already tried to kill Samuel, but Dean stopped him. And Sam only subsided because Dean told him to.
So, yeah. Sam's out people-watching. Castiel is doing whatever he does. And Samuel is looking at Dean with tired eyes.
"Just do it," he says, guilt weighing every word.
And Dean could make it hurt. He wants to make it hurt. He didn't get the chance to torture Azazel or Gordon or Lucifer, and barely got to play with Alistair, and here, he finally has the chance...
He shoots his grandfather between the eyes, severs his head, and then salts and burns the corpse.
"Dean," Crowley says from behind him, "color me impressed."
Without even looking at him, Dean walks to his car and drives (home) to his brother.
Title: I'd give anything
Fandom: Supernatural/Leverage
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: AU
Pairings: Dean/Eliot
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 335
Point of view: third
Prompt: Leverage/Supernatural, Dean/Eliot and Hardison, He's never watching the Halloween horror movie marathon with these guys again.
parts 1-6
So Parker is hanging out with the Harvelles this Halloween, and Nate and Sophie are doing some couple thing, and Alec just babbled at Eliot until Eliot's boy walked in and said, "Fine, you can hang with us tonight. If you stop talking."
Alec stopped and smiled at him, and the grin he got in return was only slightly terrifying.
'cause Alec has read the guy's record. His whole record, including the one the authorities don't know about, and man... even without Eliot's help, Alec's fairly sure he could've liberated Croatia by himself, and Alec's very very glad Dean Winchester is on their side. If he was a bad guy? There might not even be a world left to save. If Azazel had ever gotten ahold of him...
Alec shudders and Eliot gives him an inquisitive look. "Nothin', man," he says. "So, what're we doin' for Halloween?" He wants to be a Dalek this year.
Eliot rolls his eyes. "Dean's picked out some movie for us to watch while ignoring trick and treaters."
Alec pouts at him and Eliot grins. "You invited yourself, Hardison. Don't complain about it."
o0o
Dean sets up all the Halloween movies, ready to be watched one after another. While Alec splutters at him-because, seriously?-Dean just gives him a look. The same look Eliot gives to ghosts and Parker gives to abusive men.
Alec goes silent instantly because that's the look Dean gives people right before he breaks their hands for being annoying. He's got another look for the ones he kills, and Alec really doesn't want that look. He's pretty sure that, despite their history, Eliot wouldn't choose him over Dean.
"Me and Sammy used to watch these movies as kids," Dean says. "They're hilarious."
Eliot rolls his eyes again and Alec gingerly sits down.
o0o
He's never watching anything them again. And he's sure as hell never inviting himself over for any holiday that's just the two of them. He'll go see the Harvelles with Parker instead.
Title: divinity
Fandom: Supernatural
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: pre-series
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 445
Point of view: third
Prompt: John + wee!chesters, Sam & Dean find a stray black kitten.
It's a tiny ball of fluff, too young to be obviously male or female, and Dad's off at work, so Sam carries the kitten inside. Dean's training in a field not far from the apartment complex and will be back soon, and Sam opens a can of the tuna Dad likes so much to mix with the last of their milk, and puts the bowl in front of the kitten on the counter.
The kitten meows in a heartrending, tiny voice. Sam gently shoves it toward the bowl. "C'mon," he says. "You gotta be hungry, little guy."
o0o
By the time Dean's home, the kitten's eaten maybe a fourth of its meal and Sam's worked out how they can keep it. He's also decided its a girl and named her Spooky because she's all black and Halloween is tomorrow.
"Sam, we can't keep a kitten," is the first thing Dean says after he walks in and sees her.
"Yes, we can!" Sam says and proceeds to tell him how. It involves constant hiding and sneaky trips to the vet, and Dean listens to the whole thing before shaking his head.
"It's not fair to her, Sam," he says gently, running a finger along Spooky's tiny spine. She purrs and rubs against him, so he carefully scoops her up to hold her against his chest.
Sam smiles, sure that his plan is already working.
o0o
Dad comes home after midnight. Sam's still wide awake; he's been keeping Spooky company. Dean, even though he's tired, helps Dad to bed, while Sam hides Spooky in his jacket.
In the morning, Sam wakes up in a panic because Spooky isn't on his pillow anymore. He stealthily searches the apartment, including Dad's room, but Dad isn't in there.
Dad's in the kitchen, a tiny black fluffball in his hands. "Hey, Sammy," he says. "Friend of yours?"
Sam stares wide-eyed, mouth dropping open.
"Dean and I talked," Dad continues, stroking a finger down Spooky's back. "So long as one'a you takes care of her, you can keep her until it's time for us to move on."
"And who'll take her in?" Sam asks, walking over to pet her ears.
Dad shrugs. "Part of the responsibility will also be to find her a nice family."
o0o
They stay for five more months. Turns out, Spooky is actually a girl. A local animal charity checks her out, makes sure she's healthy. They also spay her.
One of Dean's girlfriends convinces her parents they need a cat and then the Winchesters drive out of town.
Spooky vanishes the next day, and for the next twenty years, Sam sees a black cat everywhere he goes.
Title: notes from futures past
Fandom: Charmed
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: changed future
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 435
Point of view: third
Prompt: Original Timeline Chris & New Chris, When Christopher Perry Halliwell was 11 he found the journal of Chris Perry. It had a note addressed to him on the first page.
A notebook is hidden under the floorboards in Chris' closet. He finds the loose floorboard during a game of orb and seek with Wyatt and Mel, and leaves the notebook there until after supper, while Mel is doing girl things with Mom and Wyatt's trying to get out of cleaning the kitchen (his punishment for lying about hiding in places where Mel can't get to).
The notebook is plain, just the everyday kind that can be bought anywhere. A piece of paper is taped onto the first page and the handwriting on both is familiar, like he should know it. Like maybe he did know it once, but has since forgotten.
Chris, the note says, this is a warning. It could have been, and might still be, but I doubt it. Don't worry.
But don't read this until after your fourteenth birthday. Trust me, Chris. I'm a you that might have been and if your fourteenth birthday passes with no problems... then I succeeded.
You can't change anything, not yet. You don't have the power, and won't for awhile.
So just be a kid. Hide this until you're fourteen and forget about it. And don't mention it to Mom or Dad.
Trust me, Chris. And have faith in your brother.
The note was signed Chris Perry in handwriting that Chris knew as his own.
He glanced at the date on the first entry: Oct 5, 03. Over a year before his birth.
Wyatt, he knew, would read the notebook despite the warning. And Mel would take it to Mom without reading.
Chris puts it back under the floorboard.
o0o
The day after he turns fourteen, while Mom and Dad are downstairs and the aunts are getting ready to go home with all his cousins and Wyatt's still sleeping and Mel is watching cartoons, Chris settles into bed with a journal written by his future self in the past.
The last entry is another note, and this one says,
My Wyatt isn't yours. Yours is this little boy, playing with blocks a few feet away, and he's innocent and good. So if your fourteenth birthday was happy and nothing happened, don't look at Wyatt differently.
He's my big brother. Our big brother, Chris. And despite everything, he did love me.
I had a premonition the other night. Your parents will have another child, a daughter. Mine didn't.
So I think I succeeded.
Be happy with your family, Chris. Love them.
Especially Wyatt.
Chris closes the notebook, hides it back beneath the floorboards, and goes to hug every member of his family.
Especially Wyatt.
Title: I feel like the neighbor's girl, who will never be the same
Fandom: White Collar
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Dar Williams
Warnings: future!fic
Pairings: none stated
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 345
Point of view: third
Prompt: Peter/Neal, Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
Neal has never kept a journal in words. It'd be too easy for someone to find it, read it, and have him at a disadvantage. And after the FBI caught him and torn through everything he had, he was glad he'd never written anything down.
But he has sketchbooks. Dozens of them. Each page is unique, even the ones that have the same subject. He's never had the creativity to paint his own works, but sketches... those, he's always drawn in abundance. Anything he wants, that catches his fancy, that whispers create me.
One sketchbook is Kate, one Mozzie, one the people who donated DNA to him, one of Paris and Rome and New York. One of places he wants to go, places he'll never go again, places he's visited and loved.
The FBI, he knows, has looked through them all. They're in an evidence lock-up somewhere, and he could probably get them back. He's been a good little pet-thief, has followed the rules (mostly), and he's more than repaid his debt to society by catching people who are far worse than him.
But all of those sketchbooks, they were drawn by a man who no longer exists. A man who was caught and kept in a cage.
And he may be leashed now, but he'll be released soon. And all the things he's sketched since convincing Peter to give him a chance... then they'll be the works of man who no longer existed. A man who grew, who changed, who became someone new.
Because he won't be leashed anymore. He'll be free to go anywhere, to do anything. And he'll know how to escape the FBI, all their tricks, all their secrets. He could be the greatest criminal in history.
And sitting on June's roof, a sketchbook across his lap and pencil in hand, watching New York, he thinks about what he wants. This man he is now, the man he'll be next week when the shackle around his ankle is unlocked-what does he want?
And he puts the pencil to paper.