Diary of a Hunter

~3rd Person POV~

"I'm sorry, Dad and Bobby. I shouldn't have taken her and I just, things got ugly but she doesn't want to make a big deal about it," Dean said.

"Oh really?" Bobby replied, unconvinced.

"She said it," Dean said back.

John Winchester sighed, "Alright well we're coming home right now. It's a two day drive but we're coming home now. Make sure she's alright, Dean. I don't want to have to hear anymore about anything like this ever again."

"Take care of her, Dean," Bobby said. Dean could tell that Bobby was serious. Meredith was practically his daughter.

"Dean?" a voice asked. Dean turned around to see Meredith standing in the kitchen door way. "Is it Bobby? Did you tell him?"

"Yeah, I did," Dean replied. Meredith made a face at Dean and Dean shrugged back at her like 'well what was I supposed to do? Keep it a secret?'

"Is that her? Can I talk to her?" Bobby asked.

"Sure," Dean replied, handing the phone to Meredith.

"Hey, Bobby," Meredith said into the phone.

"Oh my God, thank God, you're okay," Bobby said, as soon as Meredith was on the line.

"Yeah… listen you two shouldn't worry. It didn't get to the point where it was bad and I'm not having nightmares or anything about it and I don't need to go to a therapist or anything. I just need to move on," Meredith started.

"You don't want to tell someone or press any charges?" Bobby asked, confused.

"No, I don't want this to have to follow me. It's in the past and I'd like to leave it there," Meredith replied.

"Are you sure about this?" Bobby asked.

"I'm positive," Meredith replied with a confident smile on her face.

"Alright, I'll see you when you get home. Be careful this weekend though. Damn it, we never should've left," Bobby swore.

"It's fine, Bobby. Dean already punched the crap out of him anyways," Meredith chuckled, looking over at Dean. Dean shrugged.

"Ok, I'll see you when we get home," Bobby said.

"You too. Love you," she replied.

"Love you too," Bobby said back.

~End 3rd Person's POV~

I know it may seem like I'm putting on a brave face, but I'm not. After last night's sleep and clear thinking this morning, I've decided to put it behind me so that I can move on in my life. It'll be hard to see Stephen around but I know Dean will give him hell for it. And that didn't mean that I was going to give up that easily. Not pressing charges didn't mean I wasn't going to seek out my own kind of justice...

"Anything special you want to do today?" Dean asked. Dean took another bite of his cereal and I sat next to him, my legs on the chair below me as I sat on the table.

"No and you don't have to take care of me!" I exclaimed, giggling a little. I then picked up Dean's cereal from off of the table and into my hands. I took the spoon and ate some of his cereal.

"Hey, give that back!" Dean exclaimed chuckling a little and trying to take the cereal back from me.

"One more bite!" I pleaded, a little laugh escaping me.

"Get your own!" Dean replied. The two of us laughed and Dean grabbed the cereal from me. "And what're you doing, sitting on the table like that? We do have chairs, you know?"

"Fine, I'll get my own," I said, scowling fakely and getting up to get my own bowl of cereal. I stood up on my tiptoes and got a bowl from the cabinet. The open cereal box was on the kitchen table along with the milk so I returned to my seated position on the table next to Dean.

"Jesus Christ, Meredith," Dean said, seeing the bruises on my thighs.

"It's not a big deal," I said back, shyly pulling down the hem of the shirt I had slept in.

"Where else?" Dean demanded.

I sighed, "Just one here on my arm, my back and my ribcage. It's not a big deal, okay?" I asked, evasively.

"Yeah, it is a big deal, okay?" he said, in the same way I said my sentence.

I sighed, "Dean-."

"Let me see," he demanded.

"No!" I protested. "Are you crazy?"

"Let me see!"

"No!" I snapped.

"Meredith!" he groweled.

"Dean," I shot back, mocking his tone.

"Mer, just let me see," he asked, softly.

I inhaled deeply before allowing him to examine the bruises on my back and ribcage.

"Fuck..." he said, his fingertips running over my skin, sending chills down my spine.

"Happy now?" I asked sarcastically. "Look, I know that it seems weird that they day after that I'm bouncing back and you know, I must be really sick and twisted to bounce back from something like that the day after but you can't live in the past or you'll never move forward. I need to move forward Dean. I'm not being haunted by it or anything. I just need to leave it behind. And no, I'm not alerting the authorities about it because I'm ashamed. I-, I just think it'd be best if...we left it alone and... if we handled it on our own."

That caused Dean to smirk, "What'd you have in mind?"

"We'll talk about it later," I answered, before smile bean to curl upon my lips. "Plus, you just wanted an excuse for some under the shirt action, huh, Winchester."

"I did not!" Dean exclaimed, laughing.

"You did," I replied, nodding.

Dean smiled, his hands running from my hips to my ribcage before settling at my waist as he held me lightly, "It's good to see you smile, Mer. Are you sure you're okay? You're not just faking this whole 'moving forward' thing?"

"Dean, you took care of me last night and you're a good friend of mine. I wouldn't lie to you about it after everything we've been through," I replied, sincerely.

"But you need time to heal," he argued.

"And I'm getting that time to heal. I am healing as we speak! I just don't want to be one of those melodramatic soap operas where there person is sexually assaulted and then can't function properly. I'm doing this my own way. Who says people have to heal via tons of ice cream and a lot of moping and bitching?" I replied.

Dean smiled, "You are the strongest girl I know."

"Oh, you stop," I joked.

Dean chuckled, "No really, you are."

I smiled weakly, "Well I've lost a lot and been through a lot. After a while you just realize that moping and whining never gets you anywhere. All my life that's how I've grieved so I'm trying something new now."

"Good for you," Dean said. "I still can't wait to hear about what you have planned for Stephen. That bastards going to get it. I could rip his lungs out!"

"That's-, that's not necessary... I don't have anything planned. I just, well, just know he won't get away with it. We'll figure something out," I reassured.

"You're devious," he smirked.

"I know," I chuckled.

There was another silence between us as the two of us made our way back to the breakfast table.

"Sorry I ruined your date with Teresa. Still a virgin?" I asked, raising my eyebrows, teasingly.

"Shut up," Dean said. "You're a virgin too, so it's not like you can say anything about it!"

"Yes, but I don't lie about not being a virgin!" I replied.

"Hey, I need to buy more clothes… I hate to ask but will you come to the mall with me? I don't really know what to get," Dean started, changing the subject.

"And I do?" I asked back skeptically. Dean glared at me. "Yeah, fine, whatever. If I must go shopping with you…"

~~~

"Okay this is it right? No more shopping because I am exhausted and desperately want to go home!" I whined as Dean and I finished shopping together.

"Yes," Dean said.

I chuckled, "You know, you're a lot harder to shop for than I thought. See, I just thought you'd go with the first thing we found but you were highly selective."

"Well I'm sorry I didn't want to buy a bunch of white shirts!" Dean exclaimed, playfully defensive.

"I'm kidding! Plus you look good in plaid flannel and we got A LOT of plaid flannel," I said.

"Yeah, I do, don't I?" he asked, cockily. I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"Alright, let's go home," I said.

"Wait, just one more thing," Dean said, grabbing me by the wrist.

"What?" I groaned.

"Hey, you're a girl. Aren't you supposed to like shopping?" Dean asked.

"First, that's sexist. Second, I do like shopping, just not for this long and not for men's clothing. I mainly just buy underwear and music," I shrugged. It was honest but I knew that it would spark Dean's enthusiasm.

"That is something I could get behind. I think there was a Victoria's Secret down there and we could go in one of their dressing rooms," he smirked.

"Quit it," I giggled, pushing him away from me. "What is it you really wanted to ask anyways?" This had actually been a lot of fun. Shopping with Dean had gotten my mind off of things.

"This photo booth thing could be fun," he suggested, pointing to a small photo booth where people went in and it just took pictures and then printed them out on a strip of film paper. I shrugged.

"Yeah, sure, why not? Like you said, it could be fun," I said. Dean and I paid and then went into the small photo booth. "How do we even fit into this?"

"It's small, I know," Dean commented as we squished into the photo booth. There was a flash and the camera began taking pictures. The first couple of them were us just smiling and then they became silly. Dean and I began making funny faces.

"That is the best I've ever looked," I joked.

"Yeah, that was a really attractive face, Summers," Dean teased.

"Hey," I said, nudging him playfully.

Dean and I both laughed and there was another flash. We both leaned in, our foreheads touching. There was another flash. Dean glanced down at my lips and I at his. It was now or never. I leaned in farther, our lips centimeters apart from each other. Another flash. I finally closed the gap and kissed Dean. He kissed me back, pulling me closer to him. One flash. Another flash. Another flash. Dean's lips moved against mine rhythmically. The kiss was amazing. It left me with no thoughts of my mind: clarity. His hand went to my face, cupping it. He pulled me closer to him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. His other arm went around my waist, pulling me closer than ever to him. My legs draped over his lap. Last flash.

"Your time is up," the machine said. Dean and I pulled away from each other, breathing hard. Dean Winchester, the boy I had had feelings for, for a very long time, one of my best friends, and someone who cared for me, had just kissed me in a photo booth. Dean and I had just made out in a photo booth.

Instead of saying something, Dean and I just exchanged glances and smiled. I untangled myself from Dean and got up. He followed me out of the photo booth and I took the photos as they printed. I glanced at the strip.

"These are some photos," I chuckled. I bit my lip and then looked at them, folding them in half and then sticking them in my back pocket.

Dean laughed, "You're not even going to let me see them?"

"No," I replied, rolling my eyes playfully.

His hand neared my back pocket but I swatted it away, "Nice try."

"Damn. Alright, let's get you home. You've been whining about going home all day…" Dean said.

"I have not!" I protested.

"Yeah you have," Dean replied, wrapping his arm around me.

I rolled my eyes playfully as the two of us walked out of the mall. I bit my lip. I had this warm fuzzy feeling inside. I could tell that this was just the beginning of a really good.