Wonderwall

When I finally came to, the house was dark and quiet and I figured it was sometime during the middle of the night. I laid on the couch for a while just staring up at the decrepit ceiling above me, not wanting to wake anyone up.
I no longer had the throbbing pain coming from inside of me and I felt a small bit of nostalgia as I lay still on the sofa. I had come so close to death’s doorstep that I was certain there was no hope to returning, especially after hearing Bobby’s, the supposed expert on spells, opinion on the matter. But now, after feeling the strong beat of my heart against my chest, I knew that I was going to be okay, whether I was completely normal or not. I was alive, strangely, and although I had thought I cherished life before my near-death experience, nothing could ever compare to the way I felt at this moment.

When I was asleep, for what I presumed to be a few days, I had gone through my life like one would go through their own home movies. I was able to look back on every possible memory I could scathe up from the gravities of my mind, even the ones I swore to never return to. I had watched everything occur from an ominous point of view and was able to come to the realization that no matter how pointless and horrible the event had seemed at the time, it had somehow brought me to where and who I am today. It was an incredibly cliché comprehension that had occurred, but, nonetheless, I was still happy to have gone through it.

The most important part about my epiphany, though, is not just learning the purpose behind my past, but it’s the details that were exposed to me involving Dean and I’s relationship. I had thought, before this experience, that we would be better off staying friends and that avoiding him at all costs would solve all of our issues. I now know that this was entirely false and it brought me back to a lesson I had learned back in school from my myths and legends class. The legend states that in East Asian culture, the Chinese had once believed in something known as the red thread of destiny. It was said that two people who were destined for each other were forever bonded together by a red thread tied around their ankles. At times, due to life’s unpredictable ways, the string would become tangled, stretched, and even knotted; but never severed and the two lovers would then, eventually, find there way back to one another. When I had first heard of this legend I had found it quite ridiculous and the mere thought of belonging to someone had made me laugh. But now, looking back on the entirety of my life, I had realized that I had been bonded to someone all along; Dean Winchester. My feelings for him, whatever they may be, were real and it was ignorant of me to store them away like that, as if they weren’t worthy of recognition. I was lucky to have anyone in my life at this point and to be fortunate enough to have someone as remarkable as him, was absolutely unfathomable to me. I’ve made countless mistakes in my life, usually due to my lack of trust in the world and the absence of the ability to open up to anyone at all. I’ve pushed away basically every person that’s ever cared about me in my life and I wasn’t about to do the same with Dean. Realizing this, I decided to make a promise to myself that no matter how much I wanted to run, no matter how hard I wanted to shove him away, I wouldn’t; not now, not ever.

After slowly drifting back to sleep, I was awoken for the second time by a cold hand being pressed against my forehead, causing me to flutter my eyes open.

‘Good morning, sleeping beauty. Have a nice nap?’ Dean smiled down at me, his face glowing with the light of sunshine. For the first time in a while, I was able to see his freckles quite clearly; all of them sprawled randomly over his face.

I stretched my arms above my head, sitting up on the sofa, ‘How long was I out for?’

‘Two days,’ Sam answered, walking into the room with a plate of food, ‘Here, you’re probably starving.’ He handed me the dish with a small smile and I was glad to see the tension gone from the both of them.

‘Ugh, dude. If you’re going to feed her at least give her something good,’ Dean scowled down at my plate, shaking his head in disgust.

‘What’s wrong with peanut butter and banana sandwiches?’ I asked, my mouth already full with food. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until Sam had mentioned it, at which point my stomach began to growl loudly and I felt ridiculously empty.

‘What isn’t wrong with them?’ Dean kept making faces at me while I ate, like I was munching on some sort of unspeakable dish. But, even with his taunting, I finished the sandwich within a few minutes and soon felt my hunger ceasing.

‘Hey, you finally decided to join us, huh?’ Bobby then walked into the room, giving me a smile.

I didn’t know what else to do when I saw Bobby and with an over powering sense of owing him my life, I sprung from the couch and wrapped my arms around him, engulfing him in the biggest hug I could possibly give, ‘I don’t even know how to thank you, but I promise, one day, I’ll think of something.’

He laughed, squeezing me just as tight as I had been, ‘I’m just glad you’re okay. Or else Dean here would’ve probably flew of his handle if you weren’t. I swear, I practically had to drag that boy away from you just to get em’ to eat.’

I let go of Bobby and looked over at Dean, who was aimlessly glancing down at the floor and pretending not to listen.

‘Is this true, Dean?’ I placed my hands on my hips and gave him a playful smile.

‘Huh? Oh, uh, well, I…I didn’t want to leave you alone or anything and-‘ He was stuttering like I had always done when I was nervous and not wanting to hear anymore of it, I cut him off by jumping into his arms.

‘Thank you,’ I stated, moving my head from his shoulder to look him in the eyes. He looked shocked, but relieved at the same time, a smirk beginning to form on his lips.

‘Don’t mention it,’ He answered, not breaking our eye contact. His eyes were gleaming at this point and he bared all of his perfect white teeth in a goofy smile. We stayed like this for what seemed like a second, all wrapped up in each other’s arms and our romantic staring contest, but it was obviously much longer and awkward then I had anticipated it to be.

Bobby cleared his throat, ‘You idgits need a moment?’

I blinked, leaving my hypnosis state, my face becoming hot. I backed away from Dean, much more slower this time, and began to nervously laugh, ‘Oh, uh, nope. I was just, thanking Dean for taking care of me.’

Dean rubbed at his neck, an amused smile on his face.

‘Yeah, uh-huh,’ Bobby walked away, shaking his head and muttering ‘idgits’ again under his breathe.

‘So, did you guys find anything on your dad while I was out?’ I asked, changing the subject.

‘Bobby said something about him being in Nevada a couple weeks back, but besides that, no. We got nothing.’ Sam answered, his eyes never leaving the pages of the book in his hands.

‘We’ll, we got a whole lot more than nothin’ now, ladies’ Bobby walked in, handing Sam the laptop in his hands.

Sam’s eyes rapidly scanned over the screen, his gaze becoming wide and enthused, ‘Are you sure about this, Bobby?’

‘Have I ever steered you wrong, boy?’

‘What is it?’ Dean asked, walking over to stand behind Sam. He leaned loosely against the chair as he read, his face with the same expression as Sam’s.

‘What the hell?’ Dean rubbed his hair and mouth again, a tell tail sign that he was anxious.

‘Will someone please explain to me what’s on that laptop?’ I asked, all three of them turning to look at me.

Bobby handed me the computer and I was surprised at how normal the information on it seemed. I expected to see something much more shocking, explaining everyone’s surprised reaction to it, ‘Weather reports? What’s so important about the weather?’

‘The weather tells more than you think, Iris. See that there?’ Bobby pointed to an area around Chicago that was expecting an electrical storm, ‘That’s nature telling us that some nasty demon is going to be there.’

‘Demon?’ I asked, spinning around to face the boys, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Demons? As in the things in all those exorcist movies?’

‘Exactly. Whenever those son’s of bitches rise out to cause whatever mayhem they have in mind, you can usually tell by the weather. And I bet you any money that your dad is on his way there now, boys.’

‘You think, do you think it could be-?

‘I’m not sure, Sammy. I haven’t been tracking this thing down like your dad has, but it does seem like his sort of pattern.’

‘Who is he? This thing you’re talking about,’ I asked

‘Azazel,’ Dean answered, his voice stern.

‘Wait, that thing your dad mentioned in his diary? He’s a person? I thought it was a name of some monster or something.’

‘He’s a demon, actually. He’s what killed our mom.’

I felt myself jump back a bit, my eyes becoming wide. I fought the urge to drop my mouth in shock and stood silent, moving my gaze to the floor, ‘I, uh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I just though-‘

‘Hey, what are you apologizing for? Sam and I should be the ones saying sorry. I mean, we should’ve told you by now,’ Dean placed his hand on my shoulder, giving me a small smile.

‘Dean’s right. It just, it must’ve slipped our minds with us being so busy and all,’ Sam chimed in with Dean, which rarely ever happens since the two of them always have vastly different opinions on everything.

I nodded, looking back up at them, ‘So, are we going to gank that bastard or what?’

‘It’s not that easy, Iris. As far as we know right now, demons are un-killable and can only be sent back to hell with a ritual. Especially with a demon as clever as Azazel, it’s going to much harder to lure him into a devil’s trap, which is the only way we can get them to stay still for the exorcism,’ Sam explained, placing his hands in his pockets.

‘Not true, Sam. There is the colt, you know that gun that-‘

‘Bobby, stop bringing up that damn nonsense about that stupid gun. It’s a myth, there’s no way it could actually exist,’ Dean rolled his eyes, ‘I mean, really. Has anyone ever actually seen it?’

‘Look, boy. I may be old, but I sure as hell ain’t crazy; And if there’s one thing that I know for sure it’s that that gun really does exist and it really does work,’ Bobby was becoming annoyed, pointing his finger in Dean’s face.

‘Alright, alright. No need to get hostile, guys,’ I walked in between the two of them before they had the chance to do something stupid, ‘Bobby, do you have any idea where we could find it? This demon-killing gun you’re talking about?’

‘Last I heard it was in Carthage, Missouri, but, hell, that thing could be anywhere nowadays.’

‘Well, until we can actually get some leads on this thing, I say we take a trip down to Chicago to see if we can find your dad. That is why were doing this whole thing, isn’t it?’

‘Iris is right, Dean. We can get Azazel later, when we’re better prepared, but right now we need to find dad,’ Sam agreed, looking over at bobby, ‘You in?’

‘I think I’ll sit this one out, boys. I’ve got to take care of things here. You know, with all the other hunters calling in for help.’

Dean nodded, ‘Right then, lets get packing and head on out. I’ll call Cas when were on the road.’

Sam and I followed instructions, both rummaging through the junk in Bobby’s house to find basic supplies. I decided to stuff my duffel bag with a few bags of salt, shotgun rounds, and a couple of heavy-duty flashlights, since we were all out of those. Sam packed books on tracking demons and other lore, along with John’s diary. Dean, on the other hand, grabbed mostly food, which didn’t come as any surprise to me with him having a bottomless pit inside of him.

After thinking that I was all set to go, I began walking out to the car, duffel bag in hand, to place my belongings into the trunk. I lifted the hatch and threw my stuff on top of the secret compartment, slamming it shut.

‘Are you sure your okay?’ I turned around only to slam into Dean, bags of food in hand.

‘Me? Uh, yeah I’m fine,’ I stated, smiling up at him.

He reached behind me and opened the trunk, throwing the food in there and then slamming it shut once again. He didn’t break eye contact with me as he did this, causing my stomach to drop in its place.

At first, I thought maybe he would say something or that maybe I would even say something after the staring became too awkward, but instead we were surrounded by a comfortable silence.

He began to lean closer to me, as he did before, resting his hands against the rear of the Impala and causing me to stumble against the car. He smiled, his forehead now placed upon mine and I could vividly smell the cologne coming off from his worn leather jacket. I closed my eyes, basking in the moment, and wrapped my hands into his hair, hoping that the small distance between us would soon be closed.

‘Hey, did you guys pack the-oh, uh, god, uh’ Sam walked out from the front door, interrupting Dean and I once again.

‘Son of a bitch,’ Dean backed away from me, glaring at Sam, ‘Really, Sammy? Again?’

‘I’m so sorry, I was just, uh-‘ Sam stuttered, averting eye contact with Dean and I.

‘Being a little pervert?’ Dean sounded annoyed, which was typical with Sam and him.

‘What? Dean, no. I was just-‘

‘Looking for a free show?’

‘No? Dean, I was trying to see if-‘

‘You could catch us in action again?’

‘What the hell, dude! I’m just trying to load the friggen car!’

‘Yeah, okay, bitch,’ Dean rolled his eyes, turning back to the Impala.

‘Jerk,’ Sam spat back, causing Dean to focus his attention back on his brother.

‘Sasquatch,’

‘Man-boy.’

‘Big bird,’

‘Guys, guys! Hey! Knock it off. It was an honest mistake, alright? Nothing to get so worked up about,’ I stopped the two of them from continuing their, for lack of a better word, bitch fit and walked into the house, leaving them outside on the porch.