Stuck With You - NC17 - Chloe/Dean - Part 4/5
Title: Stuck With You
Category: Smallville/Supernatural [Crossover]
Rating: NC17
Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama
Pairing: Chloe/Dean
Summary: Love at first confinement.
Previous: Part I - First Meetings, Part II - We Meet Again, Part III - Resistance Is Futile,
Stuck With You
4/5
IV - Meeting the Family
Sam's flashlight bounced off the dusty brick walls, this way and that. Cobwebs and the dilapidated infrastructure of the house became more noticeable the further they walked. "Careful for booby traps," Sam warned quietly, glancing at his brother over his shoulder. "Lemming's had a history of building tunnels and getaways in all of his houses."
"Didn't help him much. Bastard still died here," Dean replied, glaring at his surroundings.
"Still..." He stared at him pointedly. "They could still be working. One wrong step and..."
Dean made the whistling noise to signify a long drop. "I get it, Sammy. I have done this before."
"Well, you've been distracted lately..." He sighed, frowning to himself, eyes scanning for the smallest of details. "I'm surprised you even let us take this job. You're usually glued to the laptop trying to find a lead on your Lady Love."
"Lady Love?" he scoffed. "Dude, way to make it sound lame!"
Sam snorted, half-smiling to himself. "Maybe because it is kind of lame, Dean."
"You know, if you ever met her, you'd probably like her." His brows lifted for emphasis. "You're kind of alike... Except she's a hot genius and you're a geek."
Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm starting to think she doesn't exist."
He scoffed. "Yeah, I made her up. Because I'm just that screwed up."
"Watch you step!" Sam hurriedly grabbed his shoulder just in time and yanked him back.
Dean shrugged him off, ignoring the near-fatal step. "She's real, all right. You saw her picture on the web. She worked for the Daily Planet."
"Yeah..." He smiled grimly. "Until she was fired and mysteriously disappeared off the grid..."
Dean shrugged, frowning. "Maybe she's working on something big."
"It's been three months," Sam said quietly. "She was looking into some pretty heavy stuff. There's a chance that-"
"Don't," he interrupted, whirling around. "She's not dead, she's not caught, she's out there, all right?"
Sam sighed.
"All right?" Dean hollered.
"All right. Fine. Whatever." He shook his head, walking past. Shining his flashlight upward, his brow furrowed. "Hey, look at that, it's-"
"A secret doorway," a curious feminine voice cut him off.
Both Winchester's turned suddenly.
"Chloe!" Dean exclaimed, laughing. He slapped his brother's chest. "I told you she was fine." He turned back, trying to look casual. "What are you doing here?"
She smiled slightly. "Probably something along the same lines as you. I don't kill them, I investigate." Her eyes rose up to the door sitting high on the wall. "And that is where my story is." She turned her head back to look at him once more. "I'm guessing Lemming's ghost is still haunting this place if you're here."
He grinned. "Yeah but we'll take care of it."
She smiled. "You always do."
Sam rolled his eyes, clearing his throat.
"Oh, yeah, right. Uh, Chloe this is my brother Sam..." He motioned to him with his thumb. "The much less handsome Winchester, as you can see."
"Sam," she repeated. "I've heard a lot about you."
Sam nodded. "Trust me, I never stop hearing about you."
She chuckled. "It's nice to finally put a face to the man." She turned to Dean. "He's not as geeky looking as you described," she teased.
He smirked. "He has his moments. It's a Jekyll and Hyde thing, comes out when you least want it to."
"If the lovefest is over, can we back to work?" Sam wondered impatiently.
"Oh sorry," Chloe lifted her hands in surrender. "Didn't meant to get in between brother bonding-hunter time..."
"No, no..." Dean shook his head, taking a step forward.
Both of their hands reached out to stop him. Simultaneously, they shouted, "Wait, Dean, no-"
The trap sprung, the floor falling out from beneath them but the old hinges didn't work as well and so the doors fell like a slide. Both Chloe and Sam were tossed forward into the dark hole, grabbing on to what they could, nails scraping across the floor. Their weight and struggling only managed to force the hinges into moving, though, and they fell, yelling loudly, the noise echoing around them. Sam reached out, hoping he might find something to grab onto. His hand hooked onto a ledge and he slammed into the wall painfully. As Chloe fell past, he grabbed her arm and she too smacked into the wall with a thud.
"Sam!? Chloe?!" Dean yelled from above worriedly.
"Yeah," Sam called back, panting. "We're... We're okay..."
They could hear his muffled cursing. "Well where are you? Any way to get back up?"
"Just hold on. We... We're..." Sam looked around. It was too dark to see anything. "Chloe? Is there anything you can grab onto?"
He could hear her hands moving around, trying to find something. "Swing me to the right."
His brow furrowed. "What?"
"Just do it."
Arm straining, Sam slowly began using her weight to swing her up higher to the right, back and forth, his muscles straining to the limit. He grit his teeth and swallowed the grunt of pain, forcing his arm to keep moving despite how it felt as though the muscles of his bicep were ready to snap. Finally, she let go of his hand and his breath caught, eyes wide. The first thing that went through his mind was that if he dropped her and she was injured or dead, Dean would never recover. Thankfully, he could vaguely see her form latch onto the wall.
"Got it," she assured.
He nodded, breathing once more. "Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"Throw me your lighter."
"What?"
He sighed. "Your lighter. I can't see anything down here."
"All right, all right..." There was a long pause before. "Catch!"
Sam watched the glitter of silver fall and reached out in time to catch it, lighting it up with an easy flick of his thumb and looking around. "Kinda looks likes a well."
"Makes sense," Chloe said. "Lemming's added on to his property and back then wells were normal. When he built this part of the house, he probably put it right over the well; he wouldn't need it anymore when water started pumping right into the house."
Sam nodded understandingly. "So he used it to trap victims or even to get rid of people who came looking..."
"Exactly."
He looked down. "Which means the bottom of this thing is filled with bodies or really disgusting water..."
"Or both."
He frowned. "We already fell most of the way... There shouldn't be too much farther to go... There's a chance the bottom is only a few feet down."
"Or it's a long ways down," Chloe said logically.
"Only one way to find out." He readied himself to jump down.
"Before you break a leg from sheer stupidity," she said, forcing him to pause. "Why don't we try dropping a rock?"
"Uh, that would work too," he admitted sheepishly.
"Great." Chloe picked at the wall a moment before turning and dropping a piece of brick. It was only three or four seconds before they heard it hit the bottom, with no splash accompanying it. "I think we're safe to let go."
"Let's hope." Sam hopped down, bending his knees and landing safely. "You need help?"
"I'm fine." She jumped back and landed in front of him. "Dean?" she called upward. "You got a rope in that beautiful car of yours?"
"You know it, sweetheart."
Dusting her hands off, she grinned. "Be a hero and get us out of here."
"On it." They could hear him leaving.
"How," Sam wondered, eyes wide, "do you get him to do things without arguing?"
"Sorry, it's a woman thing." She shrugged. "He thinks if he's extra nice and he doesn't argue, he'll get something out of the deal. And unless you're planning on giving him a pie every time, you're out of luck..." She lifted a brow.
He laughed, nodding. "Sorry about earlier, I know I was kind of abrupt..."
"Don't worry about it. Nothing like a near-death experience to bring people closer." She put her hands in her jean pockets, eyes scanning the room. "So he talks about me a lot, huh?"
Sam grinned. "Constantly."
She shook her head. "Yeah, well, my cousin's heard her fair share of Dean gossip, I'm sure." She shrugged. "You meet someone interesting it's hard not to talk about them."
"Yeah, I don't think he just found you interesting... Dean's not really a... pine from afar type of guy. In fact, he's more of a 'you'll do for tonight...'" He winced. "That came out wrong... Uh, I just mean to say he's been different with you, you know?"
"Different because he talks about me a lot or...?" Her brow furrowed.
Shifting back and forth on his feet, Sam tried to figure out how to explain his brother in a better light. "Okay, with our line of work, liking someone is pretty out of the ordinary. There's no time for relationships or futures or anything like that. And with Dean, I think growing up this way just sort of made him jaded to the whole relationship idea. So instead of letting himself really care for anyone, he kept it simple. He wouldn't fall in love because he never stayed around long enough. There were women, lots of women..." His eyes widened. "But they were just distractions for a night or two..."
"All right... I hope this gets better, because you're listing a lot of reasons I shouldn't like your brother..."
"No, no," he said, holding up his hands and wincing in the darkness. "See, this is where it changes. Dean is... Well Dean's complicatedly simple..." His forehead wrinkled. "He knows his life is weird and he knows most of the things that he'll do or what'll happen in the future are going to be screwed up, but he likes to think about it like it's much easier than that. Like he's assimilated to this life just fine and he doesn't want more, but... He does. I mean, I've seen it in him. These moments..." He smiled lightly. "Where he sees that maybe he could have a family or maybe he could have a real girlfriend and he's... He wants it. I know he does. But he's deluded himself into thinking he can't. And then..." He lifted his hands, sort of pointing toward her. "Then he met you. And I don't know what happened when you two first met but something changed in him. I mean..." He shook his head. "He was lighter and happier and when he saw you again and then again, it was like..."
"Sam?"
He was babbling, but he couldn't stop. "Like he was starting to see that maybe he really could, maybe this was his chance. I... I know this is a lot to take in and there's a good chance that you don't feel the same way, but Dean is a great guy. He can be gruff and he doesn't like talking about his emotions. He'll use a sarcastic quip whenever things get too deep and he'll turn up the music to avoid talking about his problems, but... He'll protect you with all of himself and I know that if you let him, he would love you just as strongly. And-"
"Sam?"
"And I really think that if he could just be with you, properly, then maybe he'd let go of all this, you know? I mean, yeah, he could still hunt and save people, but it doesn't have to be everything. He could have more and-"
"Sam?"
"Be more. Just the way he talks about you and the way he looked when he saw you, I mean-"
"SAM!?!"
He stopped talking, looking at her.
She laughed lightly. "So you're a romantic geek, is that it?"
He smiled, flustered. "Little much?"
"Uh, maybe... I don't... I don't know what to think, really..." She shrugged, turning her face away.
Sam nodded. "Well, how do you feel about him?"
"That... is a loaded question." She sighed. "Dean is... He's a stranger, isn't he?" Her brow furrowed with confusion. "I mean we've only really met three times and every time we do, we seem to be in trouble. We're in jail or locked in some bizarre house or..." She threw her hands up. "Or I fall down a well with his brother..." She clucked her tongue. "We either have really bad luck or incredibly weird lives."
"Probably both." Sam nodded. "And from what Dean's told me it seems like you two know each other pretty well."
"That's the unusual part." She turned toward him, eyes thinned. "I've told him things I've never told anyone and I'm not worried about it. I trust him and that... that is huge for someone like me."
"And him." Sam crossed his arms over his chest. "Dean doesn't trust easy... Or at all." His brows furrowed. "But he trusts you."
They stared at each other a long moment, letting it all sink in.
And then something suddenly hit Sam on top of the head. "What the-"
Dean laughed from above. "Get yer asses up here already..."
"Uh, can you climb a rope?" he asked Chloe uncertainly.
She frowned. "If I have to..." she replied.
He smiled slightly. "Why don't you climb on my back and I'll climb the rope... We'll be out of here in no time."
She looked around before sighing. He bent his knees for her and she frowned. "I'm not that short!" But she still wrapped her arms around his neck and jumped up, knees pressed tight against his sides.
"You're sure this is secure?" Sam called upward.
"Course I am!" Dean replied, affronted.
Taking a deep breath, Sam started climbing, thankful that the rope held out the whole time. His hands burned and his arms were more than a little strained, but he managed to pull him and Chloe up until they were near enough that Dean could reach out and easily pluck Chloe from off Sam's back and then take his brother's arm, yanking him out of the hole and onto the stable wood floor.
There was a moment while Sam lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling as he tried to catch his breath where he noticed something out of the corner of his eye that he'd scarcely seen. Dean had Chloe in his arms, her head on his chest, and he was hugging her tight without any reserve for his emotions. Usually, he'd make a joke to lighten the mood but he was caught up. Sam smiled to himself. Maybe his brother wasn't such a hard ass as he liked to think he was. And despite Chloe's protests, she was holding on pretty tight to Dean right then. Her eyes closed and her hands clutching his shirt like she knew that with him there, she'd be safe.
Speaking of safe, he looked around, waiting for something, anything, else to happen. Frowning, he said, "You know, for a haunted house I expected Lemmings to at least show up when we tripped the door..."
"How sure are you that it's haunted?" Chloe wondered, opening her eyes and peering at him as she drew away from Dean to sit up properly.
Dean and Sam exchanged a look. "Ah... fifty-fifty... We were just passing through, thought we'd stop and make sure."
Chloe rolled her eyes, standing up and brushing her knees off. "Right... Well I'm going to climb up into the bizarre door while you two finish your scoobying." She smiled at Dean. "Interested in giving a girl a boost?"
With a grin, he nodded, clapping the dust off his hands as he climbed onto his feet.
Sam smiled knowingly to himself as Dean took Chloe's hand while they walked to the door, obviously going to blame it on wanting to keep her safe and close if anybody said anything. With a little maneuvering, Dean managed to get Chloe up onto his shoulder, his hands wrapped around her ankles to hold her steady. She fiddled with the door a bit before tugging a pin her hair and sliding it into the lock hole.
Dean let go of one of her ankles to check his watch. "What's your best time?"
"Faster than you can start counting."
"Yeah r-"
Click.
"Where'd you learn to pick so fast?"
She grinned down at him and winked. "Practice."
Smirking back, Dean looked thoroughly impressed. While she peered inside the opened door, Dean looked over to Sam to make sure he was still okay. Distracted or not, it seemed his natural instinct to keep an eye on 'little Sammy' was still going strong. And whether Sam wanted to admit it or not, he was a little comforted that not even a hot genius could take all of Dean's attention.
"Dead end," Chloe said, voice echoing as she stared into the abyss of the door. Reaching an arm out, she stuck it inside, feeling around. "There's a latch though..." She looked around. "Hey Sam... You see that lopsided light on the far wall?"
Glancing across the room, he noticed the old-fashioned light holder that appeared to have fallen askew from the wall. "Yeah..."
"Even it out when I say..."
"Uh, are you sure?" Dean asked uncertainly, his brow lifted.
"Yeah, just... gimme... a second here... to... Ugh!" There was a booming sound all around, creaking in the floors and the snap of what sounded like metal grinding against metal echoed through the house. "All right, do it now."
Sam looked back at her before finally taking a breath and reaching out to turn the light upright. His entire body went rigid in anticipation. There was a clinking noise and then... nothing.
"I don't get it," Dean admitted.
"She found the off switch," Sam said smiling.
"Off switch?"
"To all the booby traps." He turned back, nodding his approval. "We don't have to worry about falling into any pit of death wells anymore."
"Nice... See? Told you she was a genius." With a smirk, Dean knocked Chloe's feet out from under her and caught her in his arms before she could even scream. She glared up at him but the purse of her lips showed she was trying not to smile.
Shaking his head, Sam called out, "Can we finish this job before you two get all soft on me?"
Clearing his throat, Dean dropped her back to her feet. "Dude, I don't get soft... Now let's go find this dead sonuvabitch already..." He rubbed his hands together with a grin. "I want me some pie after this."
Chloe and Sam exchanged looks before following Dean through the rest of the house.
An hour later, they were sitting in a beat-up diner, sipping coffee while Dean ate the last of a cherry pie.
"Well, that was a bust times two," Chloe announced, stirring more sugar into her mug.
"Seriously, sometimes not having to kill something is a good day for us..." Dean said through a mouthful.
She smiled slightly. "Yeah, well, you don't get paid for your job."
"As far as we knew, neither did you," Sam interrupted. "Last we looked, the Daily Planet said you were missing."
Frowning, she glanced up at them wearily. "Yeah, well, find-yourself-roadtrips don't pay for themselves. But giving away where I was at any given time wasn't exactly smart. So I decided staying under the radar was a better idea. I sell stories to the highest bidder now, under a pseudonym, of course. And when I can, I make sure my leather and spandex toting hero friends get the scoop on where the Big Bad is hiding now."
"See Sammy..." Dean plucked his fork from his mouth with a pop! "I told you she was all right... Nothin' to worry about."
Sam shook his head. "You were the one worrying, Dean... I just wanted you to be prepared for any kind of outcome."
"Yeah well..." He shrugged. 'The outcome was good, so we're good..." He frowned at his brother, a sign that the conversation needed to end and with a slight nod, Sam changed subjects.
Crossing his arms, Sam leaned on them against the table and turned his head toward her. "So where's your next story, any ideas?"
Sighing, she shook her head. "Not yet... I'll probably spend half the night on my laptop, looking for the weird and unexplainable... Whatever sates my curiosity this time," she said, smiling.
Sam chuckled. "Sounds a little like us... Except we probably have less fun doing it."
"Your job involves a whole lot of killing ugly monsters and exorcising demons..." Her eyes widened for emphasis. "I just sneak through abandoned buildings and read confidential documents when nobodies looking."
He grinned. "I guess both our jobs come with their own perks and downsides then."
"You can say that again."
Dean looked back and forth between the two, glaring at his brother slightly. "So what went on in that well anyway?"
"No dead bodies, thankfully. I've had my full of those for a lifetime," Chloe said, leaning back into the seat and blowing on her coffee.
Sam knew that wasn't what his brother was asking and he sighed with irritation. "Nothing happened," he assured, lifting a brow.
Dean stared at his brother for a second, as if evaluating just how honest he was being before finally muttered, "Better not."
"Am I missing something here?" Chloe wondered, looking back and forth between the two.
Sam frowned. "Dean's worried his crush might have transferred her feelings..."
Dean glared darkly at him.
"Transferred her..." Suddenly, she laughed. "You were worried I made out with your brother in an abandoned well where dead bodies could be stored?" She shook her head with amused disbelief.
Frowning, he snapped, "Yeah, well, you don't have the best track record..."
Suddenly, her amusement faded entirely. "Right..." Dropping her coffee back to the table, she grabbed her purse and stood up from the booth. "Smooth, Dean, really. The next time we run into each other, do me a favor and pretend we don't know each other... I wouldn't want my rampant sexual freedom to drown you or whoever else might be in the vicinity..." Tugging her coat on, which looked suspiciously like Dean's leather jacket that Sam hadn't seen in a few feek, she glanced back. "See ya around, Sam."
Smiling awkwardly, he nodded.
And without another word, Chloe left the diner, hopping into her car and leaving behind a brooding Dean Winchester.
"Wow, when you really like 'em, you sure know how to ruin it..." Sam said, brows lifted.
"Shut up."
"You're not gonna chase her down? Vow your love? Plead for forgiveness?"
Dean glared at him, pushing the plate of pie away and staring out the window.
There was still more than half a slice of cherry pie left and all Sam could think was either his brother was deathly ill or suffering from a broken heart all his making. He never thought he'd see the day and he hoped it didn't last long.
"On the bright side..." he said rather cheerfully. "You survived your first fight..."
Dean didn't take the bait and soon after, they were back in the silent Impala, not even the raging beat of Metallica to drown out Dean's obvious anger. It was going to be a long drive.
[Next: Part V.]
Category: Smallville/Supernatural [Crossover]
Rating: NC17
Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama
Pairing: Chloe/Dean
Summary: Love at first confinement.
Previous: Part I - First Meetings, Part II - We Meet Again, Part III - Resistance Is Futile,
Stuck With You
4/5
IV - Meeting the Family
Sam's flashlight bounced off the dusty brick walls, this way and that. Cobwebs and the dilapidated infrastructure of the house became more noticeable the further they walked. "Careful for booby traps," Sam warned quietly, glancing at his brother over his shoulder. "Lemming's had a history of building tunnels and getaways in all of his houses."
"Didn't help him much. Bastard still died here," Dean replied, glaring at his surroundings.
"Still..." He stared at him pointedly. "They could still be working. One wrong step and..."
Dean made the whistling noise to signify a long drop. "I get it, Sammy. I have done this before."
"Well, you've been distracted lately..." He sighed, frowning to himself, eyes scanning for the smallest of details. "I'm surprised you even let us take this job. You're usually glued to the laptop trying to find a lead on your Lady Love."
"Lady Love?" he scoffed. "Dude, way to make it sound lame!"
Sam snorted, half-smiling to himself. "Maybe because it is kind of lame, Dean."
"You know, if you ever met her, you'd probably like her." His brows lifted for emphasis. "You're kind of alike... Except she's a hot genius and you're a geek."
Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm starting to think she doesn't exist."
He scoffed. "Yeah, I made her up. Because I'm just that screwed up."
"Watch you step!" Sam hurriedly grabbed his shoulder just in time and yanked him back.
Dean shrugged him off, ignoring the near-fatal step. "She's real, all right. You saw her picture on the web. She worked for the Daily Planet."
"Yeah..." He smiled grimly. "Until she was fired and mysteriously disappeared off the grid..."
Dean shrugged, frowning. "Maybe she's working on something big."
"It's been three months," Sam said quietly. "She was looking into some pretty heavy stuff. There's a chance that-"
"Don't," he interrupted, whirling around. "She's not dead, she's not caught, she's out there, all right?"
Sam sighed.
"All right?" Dean hollered.
"All right. Fine. Whatever." He shook his head, walking past. Shining his flashlight upward, his brow furrowed. "Hey, look at that, it's-"
"A secret doorway," a curious feminine voice cut him off.
Both Winchester's turned suddenly.
"Chloe!" Dean exclaimed, laughing. He slapped his brother's chest. "I told you she was fine." He turned back, trying to look casual. "What are you doing here?"
She smiled slightly. "Probably something along the same lines as you. I don't kill them, I investigate." Her eyes rose up to the door sitting high on the wall. "And that is where my story is." She turned her head back to look at him once more. "I'm guessing Lemming's ghost is still haunting this place if you're here."
He grinned. "Yeah but we'll take care of it."
She smiled. "You always do."
Sam rolled his eyes, clearing his throat.
"Oh, yeah, right. Uh, Chloe this is my brother Sam..." He motioned to him with his thumb. "The much less handsome Winchester, as you can see."
"Sam," she repeated. "I've heard a lot about you."
Sam nodded. "Trust me, I never stop hearing about you."
She chuckled. "It's nice to finally put a face to the man." She turned to Dean. "He's not as geeky looking as you described," she teased.
He smirked. "He has his moments. It's a Jekyll and Hyde thing, comes out when you least want it to."
"If the lovefest is over, can we back to work?" Sam wondered impatiently.
"Oh sorry," Chloe lifted her hands in surrender. "Didn't meant to get in between brother bonding-hunter time..."
"No, no..." Dean shook his head, taking a step forward.
Both of their hands reached out to stop him. Simultaneously, they shouted, "Wait, Dean, no-"
The trap sprung, the floor falling out from beneath them but the old hinges didn't work as well and so the doors fell like a slide. Both Chloe and Sam were tossed forward into the dark hole, grabbing on to what they could, nails scraping across the floor. Their weight and struggling only managed to force the hinges into moving, though, and they fell, yelling loudly, the noise echoing around them. Sam reached out, hoping he might find something to grab onto. His hand hooked onto a ledge and he slammed into the wall painfully. As Chloe fell past, he grabbed her arm and she too smacked into the wall with a thud.
"Sam!? Chloe?!" Dean yelled from above worriedly.
"Yeah," Sam called back, panting. "We're... We're okay..."
They could hear his muffled cursing. "Well where are you? Any way to get back up?"
"Just hold on. We... We're..." Sam looked around. It was too dark to see anything. "Chloe? Is there anything you can grab onto?"
He could hear her hands moving around, trying to find something. "Swing me to the right."
His brow furrowed. "What?"
"Just do it."
Arm straining, Sam slowly began using her weight to swing her up higher to the right, back and forth, his muscles straining to the limit. He grit his teeth and swallowed the grunt of pain, forcing his arm to keep moving despite how it felt as though the muscles of his bicep were ready to snap. Finally, she let go of his hand and his breath caught, eyes wide. The first thing that went through his mind was that if he dropped her and she was injured or dead, Dean would never recover. Thankfully, he could vaguely see her form latch onto the wall.
"Got it," she assured.
He nodded, breathing once more. "Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"Throw me your lighter."
"What?"
He sighed. "Your lighter. I can't see anything down here."
"All right, all right..." There was a long pause before. "Catch!"
Sam watched the glitter of silver fall and reached out in time to catch it, lighting it up with an easy flick of his thumb and looking around. "Kinda looks likes a well."
"Makes sense," Chloe said. "Lemming's added on to his property and back then wells were normal. When he built this part of the house, he probably put it right over the well; he wouldn't need it anymore when water started pumping right into the house."
Sam nodded understandingly. "So he used it to trap victims or even to get rid of people who came looking..."
"Exactly."
He looked down. "Which means the bottom of this thing is filled with bodies or really disgusting water..."
"Or both."
He frowned. "We already fell most of the way... There shouldn't be too much farther to go... There's a chance the bottom is only a few feet down."
"Or it's a long ways down," Chloe said logically.
"Only one way to find out." He readied himself to jump down.
"Before you break a leg from sheer stupidity," she said, forcing him to pause. "Why don't we try dropping a rock?"
"Uh, that would work too," he admitted sheepishly.
"Great." Chloe picked at the wall a moment before turning and dropping a piece of brick. It was only three or four seconds before they heard it hit the bottom, with no splash accompanying it. "I think we're safe to let go."
"Let's hope." Sam hopped down, bending his knees and landing safely. "You need help?"
"I'm fine." She jumped back and landed in front of him. "Dean?" she called upward. "You got a rope in that beautiful car of yours?"
"You know it, sweetheart."
Dusting her hands off, she grinned. "Be a hero and get us out of here."
"On it." They could hear him leaving.
"How," Sam wondered, eyes wide, "do you get him to do things without arguing?"
"Sorry, it's a woman thing." She shrugged. "He thinks if he's extra nice and he doesn't argue, he'll get something out of the deal. And unless you're planning on giving him a pie every time, you're out of luck..." She lifted a brow.
He laughed, nodding. "Sorry about earlier, I know I was kind of abrupt..."
"Don't worry about it. Nothing like a near-death experience to bring people closer." She put her hands in her jean pockets, eyes scanning the room. "So he talks about me a lot, huh?"
Sam grinned. "Constantly."
She shook her head. "Yeah, well, my cousin's heard her fair share of Dean gossip, I'm sure." She shrugged. "You meet someone interesting it's hard not to talk about them."
"Yeah, I don't think he just found you interesting... Dean's not really a... pine from afar type of guy. In fact, he's more of a 'you'll do for tonight...'" He winced. "That came out wrong... Uh, I just mean to say he's been different with you, you know?"
"Different because he talks about me a lot or...?" Her brow furrowed.
Shifting back and forth on his feet, Sam tried to figure out how to explain his brother in a better light. "Okay, with our line of work, liking someone is pretty out of the ordinary. There's no time for relationships or futures or anything like that. And with Dean, I think growing up this way just sort of made him jaded to the whole relationship idea. So instead of letting himself really care for anyone, he kept it simple. He wouldn't fall in love because he never stayed around long enough. There were women, lots of women..." His eyes widened. "But they were just distractions for a night or two..."
"All right... I hope this gets better, because you're listing a lot of reasons I shouldn't like your brother..."
"No, no," he said, holding up his hands and wincing in the darkness. "See, this is where it changes. Dean is... Well Dean's complicatedly simple..." His forehead wrinkled. "He knows his life is weird and he knows most of the things that he'll do or what'll happen in the future are going to be screwed up, but he likes to think about it like it's much easier than that. Like he's assimilated to this life just fine and he doesn't want more, but... He does. I mean, I've seen it in him. These moments..." He smiled lightly. "Where he sees that maybe he could have a family or maybe he could have a real girlfriend and he's... He wants it. I know he does. But he's deluded himself into thinking he can't. And then..." He lifted his hands, sort of pointing toward her. "Then he met you. And I don't know what happened when you two first met but something changed in him. I mean..." He shook his head. "He was lighter and happier and when he saw you again and then again, it was like..."
"Sam?"
He was babbling, but he couldn't stop. "Like he was starting to see that maybe he really could, maybe this was his chance. I... I know this is a lot to take in and there's a good chance that you don't feel the same way, but Dean is a great guy. He can be gruff and he doesn't like talking about his emotions. He'll use a sarcastic quip whenever things get too deep and he'll turn up the music to avoid talking about his problems, but... He'll protect you with all of himself and I know that if you let him, he would love you just as strongly. And-"
"Sam?"
"And I really think that if he could just be with you, properly, then maybe he'd let go of all this, you know? I mean, yeah, he could still hunt and save people, but it doesn't have to be everything. He could have more and-"
"Sam?"
"Be more. Just the way he talks about you and the way he looked when he saw you, I mean-"
"SAM!?!"
He stopped talking, looking at her.
She laughed lightly. "So you're a romantic geek, is that it?"
He smiled, flustered. "Little much?"
"Uh, maybe... I don't... I don't know what to think, really..." She shrugged, turning her face away.
Sam nodded. "Well, how do you feel about him?"
"That... is a loaded question." She sighed. "Dean is... He's a stranger, isn't he?" Her brow furrowed with confusion. "I mean we've only really met three times and every time we do, we seem to be in trouble. We're in jail or locked in some bizarre house or..." She threw her hands up. "Or I fall down a well with his brother..." She clucked her tongue. "We either have really bad luck or incredibly weird lives."
"Probably both." Sam nodded. "And from what Dean's told me it seems like you two know each other pretty well."
"That's the unusual part." She turned toward him, eyes thinned. "I've told him things I've never told anyone and I'm not worried about it. I trust him and that... that is huge for someone like me."
"And him." Sam crossed his arms over his chest. "Dean doesn't trust easy... Or at all." His brows furrowed. "But he trusts you."
They stared at each other a long moment, letting it all sink in.
And then something suddenly hit Sam on top of the head. "What the-"
Dean laughed from above. "Get yer asses up here already..."
"Uh, can you climb a rope?" he asked Chloe uncertainly.
She frowned. "If I have to..." she replied.
He smiled slightly. "Why don't you climb on my back and I'll climb the rope... We'll be out of here in no time."
She looked around before sighing. He bent his knees for her and she frowned. "I'm not that short!" But she still wrapped her arms around his neck and jumped up, knees pressed tight against his sides.
"You're sure this is secure?" Sam called upward.
"Course I am!" Dean replied, affronted.
Taking a deep breath, Sam started climbing, thankful that the rope held out the whole time. His hands burned and his arms were more than a little strained, but he managed to pull him and Chloe up until they were near enough that Dean could reach out and easily pluck Chloe from off Sam's back and then take his brother's arm, yanking him out of the hole and onto the stable wood floor.
There was a moment while Sam lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling as he tried to catch his breath where he noticed something out of the corner of his eye that he'd scarcely seen. Dean had Chloe in his arms, her head on his chest, and he was hugging her tight without any reserve for his emotions. Usually, he'd make a joke to lighten the mood but he was caught up. Sam smiled to himself. Maybe his brother wasn't such a hard ass as he liked to think he was. And despite Chloe's protests, she was holding on pretty tight to Dean right then. Her eyes closed and her hands clutching his shirt like she knew that with him there, she'd be safe.
Speaking of safe, he looked around, waiting for something, anything, else to happen. Frowning, he said, "You know, for a haunted house I expected Lemmings to at least show up when we tripped the door..."
"How sure are you that it's haunted?" Chloe wondered, opening her eyes and peering at him as she drew away from Dean to sit up properly.
Dean and Sam exchanged a look. "Ah... fifty-fifty... We were just passing through, thought we'd stop and make sure."
Chloe rolled her eyes, standing up and brushing her knees off. "Right... Well I'm going to climb up into the bizarre door while you two finish your scoobying." She smiled at Dean. "Interested in giving a girl a boost?"
With a grin, he nodded, clapping the dust off his hands as he climbed onto his feet.
Sam smiled knowingly to himself as Dean took Chloe's hand while they walked to the door, obviously going to blame it on wanting to keep her safe and close if anybody said anything. With a little maneuvering, Dean managed to get Chloe up onto his shoulder, his hands wrapped around her ankles to hold her steady. She fiddled with the door a bit before tugging a pin her hair and sliding it into the lock hole.
Dean let go of one of her ankles to check his watch. "What's your best time?"
"Faster than you can start counting."
"Yeah r-"
Click.
"Where'd you learn to pick so fast?"
She grinned down at him and winked. "Practice."
Smirking back, Dean looked thoroughly impressed. While she peered inside the opened door, Dean looked over to Sam to make sure he was still okay. Distracted or not, it seemed his natural instinct to keep an eye on 'little Sammy' was still going strong. And whether Sam wanted to admit it or not, he was a little comforted that not even a hot genius could take all of Dean's attention.
"Dead end," Chloe said, voice echoing as she stared into the abyss of the door. Reaching an arm out, she stuck it inside, feeling around. "There's a latch though..." She looked around. "Hey Sam... You see that lopsided light on the far wall?"
Glancing across the room, he noticed the old-fashioned light holder that appeared to have fallen askew from the wall. "Yeah..."
"Even it out when I say..."
"Uh, are you sure?" Dean asked uncertainly, his brow lifted.
"Yeah, just... gimme... a second here... to... Ugh!" There was a booming sound all around, creaking in the floors and the snap of what sounded like metal grinding against metal echoed through the house. "All right, do it now."
Sam looked back at her before finally taking a breath and reaching out to turn the light upright. His entire body went rigid in anticipation. There was a clinking noise and then... nothing.
"I don't get it," Dean admitted.
"She found the off switch," Sam said smiling.
"Off switch?"
"To all the booby traps." He turned back, nodding his approval. "We don't have to worry about falling into any pit of death wells anymore."
"Nice... See? Told you she was a genius." With a smirk, Dean knocked Chloe's feet out from under her and caught her in his arms before she could even scream. She glared up at him but the purse of her lips showed she was trying not to smile.
Shaking his head, Sam called out, "Can we finish this job before you two get all soft on me?"
Clearing his throat, Dean dropped her back to her feet. "Dude, I don't get soft... Now let's go find this dead sonuvabitch already..." He rubbed his hands together with a grin. "I want me some pie after this."
Chloe and Sam exchanged looks before following Dean through the rest of the house.
An hour later, they were sitting in a beat-up diner, sipping coffee while Dean ate the last of a cherry pie.
"Well, that was a bust times two," Chloe announced, stirring more sugar into her mug.
"Seriously, sometimes not having to kill something is a good day for us..." Dean said through a mouthful.
She smiled slightly. "Yeah, well, you don't get paid for your job."
"As far as we knew, neither did you," Sam interrupted. "Last we looked, the Daily Planet said you were missing."
Frowning, she glanced up at them wearily. "Yeah, well, find-yourself-roadtrips don't pay for themselves. But giving away where I was at any given time wasn't exactly smart. So I decided staying under the radar was a better idea. I sell stories to the highest bidder now, under a pseudonym, of course. And when I can, I make sure my leather and spandex toting hero friends get the scoop on where the Big Bad is hiding now."
"See Sammy..." Dean plucked his fork from his mouth with a pop! "I told you she was all right... Nothin' to worry about."
Sam shook his head. "You were the one worrying, Dean... I just wanted you to be prepared for any kind of outcome."
"Yeah well..." He shrugged. 'The outcome was good, so we're good..." He frowned at his brother, a sign that the conversation needed to end and with a slight nod, Sam changed subjects.
Crossing his arms, Sam leaned on them against the table and turned his head toward her. "So where's your next story, any ideas?"
Sighing, she shook her head. "Not yet... I'll probably spend half the night on my laptop, looking for the weird and unexplainable... Whatever sates my curiosity this time," she said, smiling.
Sam chuckled. "Sounds a little like us... Except we probably have less fun doing it."
"Your job involves a whole lot of killing ugly monsters and exorcising demons..." Her eyes widened for emphasis. "I just sneak through abandoned buildings and read confidential documents when nobodies looking."
He grinned. "I guess both our jobs come with their own perks and downsides then."
"You can say that again."
Dean looked back and forth between the two, glaring at his brother slightly. "So what went on in that well anyway?"
"No dead bodies, thankfully. I've had my full of those for a lifetime," Chloe said, leaning back into the seat and blowing on her coffee.
Sam knew that wasn't what his brother was asking and he sighed with irritation. "Nothing happened," he assured, lifting a brow.
Dean stared at his brother for a second, as if evaluating just how honest he was being before finally muttered, "Better not."
"Am I missing something here?" Chloe wondered, looking back and forth between the two.
Sam frowned. "Dean's worried his crush might have transferred her feelings..."
Dean glared darkly at him.
"Transferred her..." Suddenly, she laughed. "You were worried I made out with your brother in an abandoned well where dead bodies could be stored?" She shook her head with amused disbelief.
Frowning, he snapped, "Yeah, well, you don't have the best track record..."
Suddenly, her amusement faded entirely. "Right..." Dropping her coffee back to the table, she grabbed her purse and stood up from the booth. "Smooth, Dean, really. The next time we run into each other, do me a favor and pretend we don't know each other... I wouldn't want my rampant sexual freedom to drown you or whoever else might be in the vicinity..." Tugging her coat on, which looked suspiciously like Dean's leather jacket that Sam hadn't seen in a few feek, she glanced back. "See ya around, Sam."
Smiling awkwardly, he nodded.
And without another word, Chloe left the diner, hopping into her car and leaving behind a brooding Dean Winchester.
"Wow, when you really like 'em, you sure know how to ruin it..." Sam said, brows lifted.
"Shut up."
"You're not gonna chase her down? Vow your love? Plead for forgiveness?"
Dean glared at him, pushing the plate of pie away and staring out the window.
There was still more than half a slice of cherry pie left and all Sam could think was either his brother was deathly ill or suffering from a broken heart all his making. He never thought he'd see the day and he hoped it didn't last long.
"On the bright side..." he said rather cheerfully. "You survived your first fight..."
Dean didn't take the bait and soon after, they were back in the silent Impala, not even the raging beat of Metallica to drown out Dean's obvious anger. It was going to be a long drive.
[Next: Part V.]