I'm Not Strong Enough to Stay Away

My phone rang just as we were driving into Small Town, Southern California. (It’s bad that I don’t even know the name of the town, isn’t it?) “Yeah?” I said into the mouthpiece.

“Pull in at that Bed and Breakfast,” Sam told me, and I relayed the orders to Ella, snapping my phone shut.

We pulled in and they parked right beside us. Ella jumped out immediately, then ran around to my side and started tapping on the window. “Hurry up, hurry up!” she said excitedly.

“Where’s the fire?” I asked amusedly as I did as she said.

“I’m just real happy we’re back together!” she explained, smiling brightly and hugging me.

“Okay, Elle, really,” I said, hugging her back briefly. “I’ve been good for a while now. You don’t have to hug me at every stop we make.”

“I know…” she said, releasing me. “But I can’t help it!”

I laughed a little and said, “Go get our bags, you weirdo!”

We met Sam and Dean at the door to the quaint building. “What’s with all the hugging?” Dean asked Ella. “And do I get one?”

Ella giggled girlishly and said, “Course ya do!” Dean caught her as she was pulling away and kissed her for way longer than necessary.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably and Sam looked away, blushing the slightest bit. “What?” Dean asked, smirking.

“Get a room!” I snapped playfully as I reached for the doorknob, but someone on the other side beat me to it.

“Oh, hi!” the person said gleefully. It was a young woman of about my age, with straight brown hair and large green eyes. She was stunningly pretty, and I could easily see Dean screwing things up with Ella for her. I made a mental note to keep an eye on him. “I thought I heard someone out here!” she gushed. “I’m Britt, by the way!”

“Um, hi,” I said, much less enthusiastically.

She smiled at me briefly, then turned her eyes to the Winchesters (of course—no girl in her right mind could ignore them). She looked Dean up and down appreciatively, her eyes resting on his model-esque lips for the shortest second.

Her eyes then moved to Sam, and they widened slightly. A sultry smile crossed her lips, and she shook her hair back over her shoulder. “Hi, there,” she said. “What’s your name?” 'Oh, great,' I thought, already planning Britt’s death. 'She touches him, she dies. It’s decided. He’s mine!' I froze, shocked at my own thoughts. 'Wait, wait, wait. What the fuck am I thinking?!'

“Um…” Sam said, shoving his hands in his pockets awkwardly.

“We need two rooms, please,” Ella interrupted sweetly, giving me a warning glance. Britt stared at Sam expectantly, completely ignoring Ella. “Um, ‘scuse me?” Ella tried again. “Hello?”

“Oh, sorry,” Britt said, frowning slightly. “Sure, follow me!” Her annoyingly happy persona reappeared and she pranced back inside.

Dean raised his eyebrows at Sam confusedly, and Sam shrugged. I was actually feeling pretty proud of Dean at the moment. He hadn’t drooled over Britt at all, and whether it was because of my threat from so long ago or because he actually wanted to be with Elle, I was impressed.

And I know, I know, I should’ve taken comfort from the fact that Sam had avoided answering her and had squirmed under her unabashed stare, but I was still insecure. He’d kissed me once, and we hadn’t talked about it. I couldn’t claim him. Not yet. 'Claim him? Okay, really? What’s wrong with me?!'

Britt handed Ella a key and pointed her down the hall, telling her to keep walking to the end, then pointed the boys in the complete opposite direction. 'Of course,' I thought scathingly. 'Keep us separated. That’ll work.'

I followed Ella into our room and threw down my bag angrily. “Ugh!” I exclaimed. “I know you’re not supposed to judge on first impressions or whatever, but ugh!”

“Ya just don’t like all the attention she’s givin’ Sammy,” Ella said slyly, giving me a knowing smile.

“No, I don’t! But that’s not the only reason!”

“Then what’s the other reason?” Ella asked skeptically.

“Okay, you’re right,” I admitted, sinking onto the other bed. “I don’t like it at all. Even though he ignored her. Still. Ugh!”

Ella giggled a little, then said, “You and him act different ‘round each other all of a sudden.”

“How so?” I asked, careful to keep my voice neutral.

“Y’all are all uncomfortable around each other now. Plus, ya always blush when y’all see each other. Y’all used to seem so… I dunno, natural, easy, whatever.” 'Wow. I really underestimated her observational skills.'

“I have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about, Elle,” I said innocently, shaking my head.

“You’re lyin’,” Ella accused, hands on her hips. “What happened with you two? Did Carl rape ya or somethin’?” she gasped, eyes wide with fear.

I rolled my eyes at her ridiculousness. “No, Elle, I was not raped by a possessive ghost.”

She sighed in relief, then asked, “So what happened, then?”

I sighed deeply. 'I’m gonna regret this.' “You know when he stabbed me?” She nodded, getting excited. “And then he took me to the hospital, and then when I finally convinced him to go, he… he kinda… kissed me.”

I closed my eyes and covered my ears against her squeal of delight.

“It’s about time!” she exclaimed. “That’s just awesome! I mean, even besides the thing about y’all kissin’, ‘cause now you can’t get mad at me for sleepin’ with Dean or—!” She slapped her hands over mouth in alarm, obviously not having meant to let that slip out.

“You did what?!” I asked, shocked. “When?!”

“Um… in Virginia…” she said meekly. She grinned at me embarrassedly and shrugged. “I’m sorry, I just… I couldn’t help it! He’s just so amazin’! And he was amazin’ in bed, too, let me tell ya—“

“Ah, no, no, no, no, no!” I yelped, covering my ears again. “Don’t wanna hear it! Nope!” She smiled apologetically and I took my hands off of my ears. “So lemme get this straight,” I said slowly. “While I was rotting away in a panic room, you were getting it on with Dean?”

“Basically…” she said quietly. “Please don’t hurt me!”

I had to laugh a little at that. I could tell she really was sorry, not sorry for doing it, but sorry for enjoying herself while I was indisposed. “I’m not gonna hurt you,” I said finally, rolling my eyes. “But kissing—not snogging, just kissing—Sam is nothing, nothing, compared to screwing his brother. You do realize that, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“So I can still be mad at you.”

“I know…. Are ya?”

I sighed. “No, I’m not. Irked—and a slight bit disgusted, maybe—but not mad.”

“Yay!” Ella squealed.

“But you are not to say anything about Sam and me to anyone, especially Dean—even if he tries to seduce it out of you!” I said forcefully, then, with a wry grin, asked, “Got it memorized?”

“Did ya really have to bring Axel into this?” she asked plaintively. “Ya know how emotional I get when it comes to him!”

“I apologize,” I said solemnly. “And now, a moment of silence for our dear Axel.” I bowed my head with a mischievous grin and Ella slapped my arm playfully.

“You’re such a dork,” she said, shaking her head in mock disappointment.

“You’re the one who still cries over a videogame character,” I reminded her.

“Shush, you!”

Just then, there was a knock on the door. I opened it, expecting Sam and Dean, but was surprised—and annoyed—to see that it was Britt. “Yes?” I prompted.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m making dinner since you and your friends are my only guests tonight. It’ll be ready in a few hours. I hope you’ll come!” she said, smiling brightly.

“Um, thanks,” I said, and she flounced away. “I guess…” I shut the door and turned back to Ella. “I still don’t like her,” I said.

Ella rolled her eyes. “Get over it. Her thing for Sam shouldn’t worry ya. I’m more worried ‘bout Dean bein’ stupid.”

“He won’t do anything,” I promised. “I’ll keep him in check.” Ella giggled and nodded. “Still, though, I don’t think it is just about Sam. Something about her is almost sinister,” I said thoughtfully.

“Or she’s just too peppy for ya,” Ella suggested.

“I put up with you, don’t I?” I retorted.

“Yeah, but you’re obligated to do that,” she laughed, and I couldn’t help but to smile.

“D’you wanna go?”

“Not really, but I’m starvin’.” Her stomach growled to enforce the words and she grinned. “See?”

“What if she poisoned the food or something?” I said. “We have Pop Tarts; we can share with the boys! That way no one has to die!”

Ella rolled her eyes. “You’re such a conspiracy theorist! Is this a government thing, too?”

“It could be!” I exclaimed. “They know about my powers and they want to abduct me and experiment on me! They know!” I jumped on one of beds and hid my head under a pillow for a minute, then finally busted out laughing.

Ella joined in, falling down beside me. “It’s okay!” she gasped out gleefully. “Sammy’ll protect ya!”

At that moment, there was another knock on the door. I leaped up to open it, still laughing, and this time it was the Winchesters. They gave me weird looks and I immediately started laughing even harder.

“You feeling okay?” Dean asked, keeping his distance from me.

I couldn’t speak from laughing so hard, so I just nodded and sat back down on the bed.

“So… are we going?” Sam asked slowly.

“It’s a date!” I panted, finally catching my breath, but at the look on Sam’s face, I busted into a fresh round of hysterics, Ella joining in. It’s so great to have her back, I thought happily, momentarily forgetting my bad feeling about Britt.

~Supernatural~Supernatural~Supernatural~

I knocked softly on the boys’ door, then twisted the knob and found it unlocked. I stepped inside and saw Sam sitting on one of the beds, his laptop open beside him.

He looked up when I came in and smiled slightly. “Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Is Dean here?” I asked.

“No, why?”

“Good.” I sighed in relief, then went and sat down beside him. “I do not wanna be around him right now.”

“Why?”

“Ella told me what they did…” I shivered and Sam laughed. “Plus, she started to tell me how good it was…. In a word: ew.”

“Yeah, okay, I don’t blame you for avoiding him.” I laughed lightly and then fell silent, thinking about what I was going to say. He picked up on my mood immediately. “What’s wrong?” he asked concernedly.

“Um, we need to talk. About…” 'Oh, this is gonna be awkward.' I laughed uncomfortably and said, “I really don’t know how to say this…”

Realization dawned on him and his eyes widened slightly. “Yeah?”

“At the hospital… what was that?” I asked.

“What d’you mean?”

“What I mean is…” I sighed deeply and bit my lip. 'Here we go. Maybe if I just rush through it, it won’t be as awkward. Man, this is gonna make me sound like an overly analytical teenager.' “Did it mean anything?” I said finally, then, of course, kept talking.

“Or was it just because I was possibly gonna die? I mean, I get it if that’s the reason or if maybe it was because we obviously kinda have something or maybe I’m just delusional and we don’t, but if it did mean something, I really wanna know because I really do like you a lot and I kinda sorta hate myself for it because I don’t like getting attached to people and I’ve never felt like this before so I don’t really know how to react to this, so could you please clear that up for me, seeing as I’m really super confused and—“

Before I had time to react, Sam grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. He pushed my hair back over my ear and kissed me, softly at first, then rougher as I responded.

My only thought was, 'Okay, our first kiss was nothing compared to this.' My hands subconsciously fisted around his shirt, holding him to me.

We pulled apart finally, breathing hard. “Whoa,” I said brilliantly, then, realizing I was almost on top of him, I blushed and moved away quickly. “So… I’m gonna say it meant something, then?”

Sam chuckled, then opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but Dean busted in right at that moment. “Hey!” he said happily, giving us both a huge grin. “Who wants food?”

Sam and I glanced at each other briefly, and I smiled. 'Okay, now I can claim him. Yes, Britt, now he’s officially mine.'