In to the Shadows

"Mommy!"

"Cole!"

He took a running start and jumped off the front porch steps, straight into my arms. I hugged him as if my life depended on it. Riley hollered a greeting at Chloe, but Chloe wasn't having any of that. She came straight to me. The look on Riley's face was heartbreaking.

"Auntie Hayley!"

"Chlo!" I gave her a quick hug before passing her off to her mom. "You better give your Mama a hug. She's missed you."

She pouted but started giggling when Riley poked her stomach. "Missed you, Mommy."

Riley grinned, pecking her forehead. "I missed you too. But guess what?"

"What?"

"We got you guys," she paused for dramatic effect. "PRESENTS!"

Chloe squirmed from her arms much like Cole did mine and they both started celebrating. "Presents! Presents! Presents!" They exclaimed.

I chuckled. "What're you celebrating for?" I questioned. "We could've gotten you socks and undies for all you know."

They ceased any and all celebratory dancing. Chloe gave me a look I remember giving my Dad growing up as Cole shot me the signature Winchester look. There was no denying that Cole was Dean's. He had Winchester blood coursing through his veins and no matter how much I tried to change it, I couldn't. Don't get me wrong, I was glad that Dean was my sons father, but then again I wasn't. Winchester was a name that you in the hunter world heard and automatically thought 'Oh shit, it's a Winchester. Watch out for them, Winchester people. They're bad news.' I didn't want people thinking that about my son. I didn't want people thinking that about my niece either.

"You ain't get us undies and socks," Chloe replied matter-of-factly. Cole nodded, agreeing. "I wear underwear, Mama, not undies. I ain't a girl."

"Well, sucks to suck," I started. "Because we got you undies and socks!" I pulled out two bags and handed them to each kid. Not only didn't we get them undies and socks, but we also got them a shirt and a toy from a truck stop. Cole got a toy car and Chloe got a doll.

Cole let out an excited shout. Chloe's followed shortly after.

"Kiki! Mommy got us toys!"

"I don't want to hear about anything unless I got something too!" She shouted from somewhere in the house. Riley handed Chloe a bag and told her to give it to Kiley. A few seconds later we got a shouted 'thank you' from her.

"So can we agree that we won't be going away for a while?" Riley asked, looking at me over her shoulder. We had sent Cole inside and moved back to the car to get out stuff. She handed me my duffle bags and grabbed hers, then shut the trunk. "Agreed."


"You got this way and I'll go that way," Riley pointed. I nodded, tugging my beanie down the slightest bit. She pushed the brim of her hat up as she licked her lips. "Meet back here in thirty minutes."

"Aye aye Cap'n!" I saluted her before turning on my heels and walking away.

Last night, Riley and I were having our normal late night discussions over Ben & Jerrys and cookies. We knew it was just days away from Dads birthday and we had yet to get him anything. So we gave Kiley babysitting duties and headed to the nearest mall. We found ourselves in Sears. We stopped at a fork in the rode or aisle I guess you would say, and went opposite ways. Riley went left, while I went right.

He wouldn't want clothes. At least I don't think he would. I'm pretty sure he's had the same clothes for the last twenty years. But then again he was your typical hunter. I bypassed the men's clothes and kept walking. Next came shoes. He was specific about his shoes and never let anyone buy him any. So those were thrown out the window. Kids clothes were an obvious no. Appliances were a negatory. He kept us alive for the first seven years of our lives by feeding us bologna, cheeseballs, and applesauce. After that, we learned how to make our own food; Ramen noodles or macaroni and cheese with cut up bologna. Those were the two meals we lived on up until we started making our own money.

A tv maybe?

"Is there anything I can help you with, Miss?"

I jumped at the sudden noise. A salesman stood to my left with a clipboard in hand. His name tag read Steve. I shook my head. "I'm just looking. Thank you though," I replied.

I went down each aisle and scanned across every tv. They had smart tvs and wall mounted tvs and 3D tvs and so on. It all made my head hurt. Having tvs or cars or cellphones that were smarter then people was terrifying. That may be the 80s kid in me, but I grew up on Etch-A-Sketch and Lite Brite, not iPads and laptops. Our tvs had big boxes on the back of them and when they went fuzzy you slapped them until the picture cleared up. We didn't have The Backyardigans or Little Einsteins, we had Raggedy Ann and Andy and Alvin & the Chipmunks.

The tv section was quite big, as was the whole store, and you could easily get side tracked. Which is what happened to me. I got turned around, but not in the tv section. I had somehow made my way to the tool section and found myself in a little pickle.

I was lost.

I was lost in Sears.

I was lost in Sears.

My head turned from left to right as quickly as possible. I'm surprise I didn't give myself whiplash. I turned in circles much like a child would if they were lost. And here comes the panicking. I'm twenty five and I'm panicking about being lost in a department store. But it was perfectly plausible. I mean, I had never been to this store at the Sioux Falls mall, or the mall in general, and it was a massive store. There were more then enough reasons for me to be panicking about being lost in Sears. So I did the only thing I could think of.

I called Sam.

Sam wouldn't laugh at me. He was the nice Winchester.

"Hello?" He answered.

"I know you're on a hunt and in a completely different state, but I need your help. I'm lost in the middle of Sears. And I'm starting to panic. I can't find Riley and I'm afraid to call her or Dean because they'll laugh at me for getting lost in Sears of all places. And I need your help," I rushed out. "I'm freakin out. Freakin out man!

He let out a low chuckle. "Okay, first of all you need to calm down. Take a few deep breaths." I did as he said. "Okay, now tell me where you are."

I took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm in the tools, by the workout equipment."

"Turn completely around to where you're facing the outdoor furniture." I turned around. "Now walk to the furniture and turn left, then when you get out into the appliances follow tile walkway. You'll be in the kids clothes after that, then you keep going straight and you'll end up in the women's section. From there you should see the entrance and be all good."

I let out a sigh of relief when I made it past the threshold and out into the actual mall. "Thanks Sammy."

"No problem, Hayls," he replied. "How are Chloe and Cole doing?" I sat down on one of the benches and mentally thanked Sam for staying on the line to keep my mind off of my almost panic attack. He was the thoughtful one of his family.

"Um, they're doing pretty good," I answered. "They were glad when we got back."

"That's good. Do they, uh... do they—"

I held back a laugh. "Yes, they miss you guys. You don't have to worry about them not missing you. You're stuck with 'em."

"Hayley?" Riley hollered. Looking up, I spotted Riley standing in the middle of the store looking every which way. "Over here!" I hollered back, waving my free arm around. She shuffled her way over and plopped down beside me with a receipt in hand.

"I'll talk to you later, yeah?" He bid me goodbye and we both hung up. Now Riley could question as to why I was sitting outside the store. "Why're you sitting out here?" She questioned.

I shrugged, messing with the ends of my hair. "No reason."

She shot me a look. "Lies."

"Nuh uh!"

"Yes huh!" I went to respond but she best me to the punch. "Max, I need you right now. It's important."

In the blink of an eye Max was in front of us. He was in his normal clothes; white vintage band shirt, black leather jacket, skinny jeans, and combat boots. His hair however was different. It was cut short and he had facial hair. He looked handsome. Like, handsome enough that I'd date him. Holy crap, I'd totally date an angel. He was downright gorgeous.

"Holy shit, Max," I spoke. "You like fine." He smirked, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Riley snorted at my straightforward-ness. "Thanks, darlin'," he replied.

Darlin'? How adorable.

"What's the emergency?"

Riley smirked at me, before turning to answer him. "I want to know why Hayley was sitting out all by her lonesome and not in the store finding Dad a present."

Max looked from her to me, silently asking if I was okay with him telling her. I shook my head. "I can't tell you," he stated simply.

Her mouth dropped. "That's a load of bull!" She exclaimed.


Weep for yourself, my man,
You'll never be what is in your heart
Weep, little lion man,
You're not as brave as you were at the start
Rate yourself and rake yourself
Take all the courage you have left
And waste it on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head

But it was not your fault but mine
And it was your heart on the line
I really fucked it up this time
Didn't I, my dear?
Didn't I, my...

Tremble for yourself, my man,
You know that you have seen this all before
Tremble, little lion man,
You'll never settle any of your scores
Your grace is wasted in your face,
Your boldness stands alone among the wreck
Now learn from your mother or else spend your days biting your own neck—

"Mama!" Cole shouted. "Daddy's on the phone!"

"Bring it here! I'm in the laundry room!"

He slid into the laundry room and tossed me my phone before high tailing it back out of the small room. With a roll of my eyes, I held the phone to my ear with my shoulder and kept switching the laundry.

"Hello?"

"Hey Hayley. Listen," Dean started. "I won't be coming with Sam. Something came up."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean 'something came up'? You promised Cole you'd take him camping in the backyard."

He let out a sigh. "I can't, Hayley. He'll get over it. He's a Winchester."

Maybe it was the tone in his voice or the way he said it, but it set me off. Dean just found out he's a father and he promised his son something, and here he is, turning around and breaking that promise like it didn't matter. No one did that. Uncle Bobby didn't even do that. My Dad didn't even do that. Max didn't even do that. But for Dean to deny his own son something that he had been looking forward to for weeks was the worst thing he could do. It was the last straw for me.

I let out a scoff. "Excuse me? What's more important then spending time with your son?" I questioned. "He's three years old, Dean. When you break a promise, it ruins him. He's only a kid and he doesn't understand that he's a Winchester. He's never been treated like anything other then a kid his whole life. He's not going to be raised like we were. And he's a Shadows. Not a Winchester."

I was fuming. I was so sucked into yelling at Dean that I didn't realize Max had appeared and was sitting on the dryer.

"I have to go see Lisa and Ben. Something's wrong. And you know what—"

"No, you know what," I started. "Don't worry about it. I'll ask Max to do it or something. Don't ever worry about it. I will raise our son. Go off with your family and continue to live your apple pie life." I hung up before I broke down and tossed my phone to the pile of dirty clothes.

Max chuckled. "Problems in paradise?"

I scoffed, hastily wiping tears from my eyes. "Paradise my ass."

"Does Hell sound better?"

"Not at the moment," I answered. "You know I love you, right?"

"I'll do it," he replied. "Get me everything and I'll do it. Little dude is going camping whether that deadbeat dad of his is here or not."

And I hugged him. I hugged my guardian angel and had a good short cry. Max would be one of the few people I could always count on. And there was no way I could thank him or repay him for doing all he's done. He went above and beyond. So all I could really do was say thank you.

"Thanks Maxxy," I mumbled, pulling away and wiping my eyes. "You have no idea how thankful I am."

He shot me a grin. "Don't worry about it, kid. I'll always be here for you guys."