Getting up (6/?)
Fic: Getting Up (6/12)
Authors: muses-circle and Pen37
Series: Slayer!Chloe
Beta: Clarksmuse
Fandoms: Supernatural, Smallville, Buffy/Angel Verse
Pairing: Chloe/Dean
Rating: Pg-13
Wordcount: 1,733
Summary: Chloe has left the relative safety of the Winchester's company. But she may regret it when she's stalked by a former Slayer who is now of the fanged persuasion.
Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 4, Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 7, Ch.8, Ch. 9, Ch. 10, Ch. 11, Ch. 12
As soon as the sun was high enough to chase the shadows back into their proper place, Chloe deemed it safe to leave the tree. They returned to the van, to find a police cruiser and a tow truck in the process of moving Andy's vehicle.
“You guys should probably just go on your way,” Andy told them. “It's a nice day. Find a donut shop and enjoy yourselves.”
The officer and tow-truck operator looked at each other, shrugged and nodded in agreement. Then they got into their vehicles and left.
“That's how that works?” Chloe looked intrigued.
Andy nodded. “I just kind of make a suggestion, and people go along with it.”
“And you've never thought about . . .” she trailed off as she looked into his guileless face. “Never mind. Your power is probably in the right hands.”
He shrugged and looked back up the hill toward the rubble of the old church. “Are they still there?”
Chloe got into the van, and then stared through the windshield at the rubble. “They're in there. We're being watched right now.”
“Creepy.” He shivered as he started the van. “So where to?”
“I need to find a phone,” Chloe muttered. “If you'll take me as far as Kansas City, I can probably manage fine from there.”
“Buzhuh?” Andy said. “I thought I was Shaggy to your Daphnie?”
Chloe sighed. “Andy, you're nice and all, but we just met. And I don't know if you were paying attention last night, but there's a vampire hunting me. It's probably not safe --”
“I'm running from my brother,” Andy blurted out.
Chloe blinked, and then raised an eyebrow. “Okay random.”
Andy sighed and leaned his head against his window. “I used to have a life, you know? Good friends. Nice girl. Then this guy showed up. He was kind of annoying. Turns out, he's my brother. And he took everything away.”
He shut his eyes and compressed his lips in a way that left no doubt in Chloe's mind what he meant by that.
When Andy opened his eyes, they were liquid with unshed tears. “He's like me. People do things if he asks them.”
Chloe cleared her throat. “I take it he doesn't ask for hugs and puppies.”
“He wasn't going to stop, so I ran. Way I see it, he's not going to stop. But maybe - I don't know. I can't seem to make you do things. So maybe he can't either.”
Chloe smiled at him tightly. It was kind of ironic, but she was probably one of the few people who could understand where Andy was coming from. Hadn't she lost everything too? And while it looked like not much phased him, this had apparently shaken him very badly.
And it wasn't like she had anywhere else to go, anyway.
“Okay,” she nodded slowly. “I'll help you, if I can. But you've got to listen to me. What I do is dangerous. I don't want you getting hurt. When the time comes and I say go, you leave me. Got it?”
Andy nodded. “Okay. Yeah. I can do that.”
“Good.” Chloe nodded.
“So, Kansas City?” Andy asked as he started the van.
Chloe thought about that. It would give them a little distance from the vampires and the Winchester brothers, assuming that they hadn't moved on in their search for the demon. And the distance would give her time to plan her next move. Maybe call Spike and see if he knew anything about the vampire (period) slayer (period). She nodded slowly.
“Hey,” Andy said suddenly. “Don't they have a big paper in Kansas City?”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Just drive, polar-bear-van-guy.”
* * *
“Dude, she’s not back yet. Don’t you think she’d be back for her stuff, at least?” Dean paced the tiny, stuffy hotel room like a caged animal. It had been over twenty-four hours since Chloe had taken off and left them at Missouri’s house. Where was she? Why hadn’t she returned? What was so wrong that they couldn’t work things out? The questions burned in Dean’s mind and threatened to turn him into a ticking time bomb of unwanted emotional responses. He had to remain on his game. If Chloe was gone . . .
He immediately blocked that thought. That kind of mentality got you nowhere; it was the worst kind of self-fulfilling prophesy that none of them could afford to have. Not that Sam hadn’t already jumped to that conclusion the second they’d returned to the hotel to inquire if Chloe “Smith” had been seen in the last few hours. And when the girl at the front desk told him Chloe hadn’t returned, Sam had turned on the lost-puppy look, fed her some line about how they thought something was wrong with their traveling companion and managed to snake an extra room key.
So Dean and Sam had walked into Chloe’s room, only to find her duffel bag spilled open and her clothes stuffed into its mouth. As if she’d been trying to pack in a hurry to make a silent escape, even before the three of them had left for the Ride home.
To make matters worse, Sam had already begun trying to access information on Chloe’s laptop. As if he had given up hope for her return completely.
Dean felt a little bit of spiteful vindication when Mr. Research Skills couldn't crack the thing. Clearly she knew her way around a computer. From the grunting noises of frustration, Dean guessed Sam had run into several roadblocks.
Good. That meant she’d have to come back in order to get Sam into her computer, if she wanted that.
“Dean.” Sam’s voice shook him from his thoughts. The tension behind his brother’s seemingly calm voice told Dean that Sam was ticked off at the entire situation. That because Chloe wasn’t there, Sam had assumed the worst: that she’d up and left, and it was all Dean’s fault.
Sam keeps forgetting that it’s his fault, too. “Don’t feed me that ‘she’s gone’ line, Sam,” he replied without skipping a beat. Pausing by the window for a moment, he whispered, “She just needs some extra time to cool off. You know how she gets.”
“Yeah, she gets twitchy and wants to pack it up and leave,” Sam snapped in a growling voice. “And that’s what she’s done, dude. She’s gone. And the sooner you get that, the better off you’ll be.”
“Wow, what a way to give up on a friend,” Dean snapped, and felt his brother’s irritated glare. “You want to think Chloe’s gone? Fine. I think something’s happened to her.” He wasn’t sure what - exactly - but he didn’t like the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that said maybe Sam was right. After all, hadn’t Chloe been distant and completely closed off since they left Cleveland?
“Sure, Dean. Something’s happened. You couldn’t keep your stupid mouth shut. You pushed her too far. And now she’s gone.”
Dean gritted his teeth in fury at the sound of Sam’s accusing tone and turned back to regard him with a superior air. “Hey, you were the one who lied to her, who insisted on taking notes about her fighting styles, her strength and speed, just . . . everything,” Dean complained and tossed up his hands. “So I say we stop screwing around and go back to Lawrence.”
Sam gave Dean a worried look, and Dean wondered what was going on in his brother’s brain. Because the guy clearly had something on his mind other than Chloe’s Houdini act. And whatever it was, he needed to tell Dean pretty quickly before he imploded.
“Dude, there’s something I need to tell you,” Sam started, but before he could say another word, his cell phone chirped impatiently.
A glimmer of hope in Dean’s breast flared up as he watched his brother’s face alight with recognition at the caller ID. Maybe it was her, he thought. She was calling Sam because she wanted to ream him out for a change -
“Hey, Missouri,” Sam said into the phone and tossed Dean an apologetic look. Dean felt the hope disappear behind the icon-clad curtain that held his emotions firmly in check. Missouri calling might not have been a big deal: after all, she did know they were still in the area. Probably using that freaky psychic thing she had.
“She says to stop thinking bad thoughts about her,” Sam whispered to him out of the blue. Dean must have registered surprise over that, because Sam merely smirked and went back to his conversation with the older woman. Dean pretended not to listen to the one-sided conversation, but he couldn’t help it. There might be a chance that Chloe had contacted Missouri. Maybe the psychic knew where the Slayer was. Maybe . . .
“That was Missouri,” Sam said a few moments later after he’d ended the call.
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Dean said with a roll of his eyes. “What did she want?”
“She’s . . . heard from Chloe.” The caution in Sam’s voice told Dean that this might not be the thing he wanted to hear. In fact, Sam’s entire demeanor suggested caution and wariness, as if after hearing what Missouri’s news was, Dean might blow a couple gaskets.
At this point, Dean wasn’t willing to admit just how close he was to doing such a thing. “Well, come on, dude. Spit it out. Where is she? She okay?”
“Depends.”
When Sam didn’t say anything, Dean strode to Sam and glared at him. “On what?” he emphasized and grabbed his brother’s shirtfront. “Depends on what?”
“Your definition of ‘okay’.” Sam brushed Dean away from him and turned his back towards the door.
“We have to go to Missouri’s house. She got something today from Chloe. In the mail.” He turned around, and Dean saw the final resignation in Sam’s eyes. Whatever it was, Sam seemed to get that his theory - Chloe being gone - had been finalized.
Grabbing his coat, Dean wasted not a second in locating his keys and striding out the front door towards the Impala. Whatever news Missouri had of Chloe, he wanted to know. The suspense was killing him, and if Sam’s idiotic fears were confirmed . . . well, he didn’t want to think about the consequences. It was a pain he’d rather never dwell on.