In Your Arms Again

Sitting on the hood of the Impala with a warm beer cradled in her hands, Elle watched as the sun began to set and swiped at the tears that were rolling down her face. The setting sun was a sure sign that the world hadn’t stopped moving, but for her, time stood still, and her heart broke at the thought of life without him. Hearing someone approaching her from the direction of Bobby’s house, she glanced up and saw Sam making his way towards her looking sullen.

“Hey,” he said, taking a seat beside her and accepting the beer that Elle held out to him, “Bobby has a job for us.”

“When do we head out?” Elle replied without question, needing to get away from her grief for a while and vent some of the pent-up emotions she was feeling.

“I figured we should get some sleep and head out in the morning,” Sam told her, earning a nod from Elle and sliding off the hood as he launched the beer bottle into one of the junk piles.

Lying in bed until the sun peeked over the horizon, Elle sorted out a selection of weapons into a bag and put them in the back of the battered Corvette that Bobby was loaning them.

“Be careful out there,” he mumbled, patting the roof as Sam started the engine and pulled away.

It took them almost a day to figure out that they were dealing with a shapeshifter and a further twelve hours to track it down, but finally they found it’s hide out. Entering the abandoned warehouse, Elle removed her gun from her belt and cocked it.

Spotting movement behind one of the shelving units, she raised her gun and fired a single warning shot. Giving chase as the shapeshifter took off running, Elle glanced back to see Sam hot on her heels and took a shot that hit the shapeshifter in the stomach, sending it to the ground. Moving closer as the creature pushed itself to its knees, Elle raised her gun and froze as it look up at her.

“Dean,” she whispered, feeling her eyes fill with tears and flinching as Sam finished off the job with a bullet to the heart.

“Elle,” Sam called softly as she stared at the dead shapeshifter wearing Dean’s face, moving over to her and standing in front of her, “Hey… it’s not him.”

Giving him a short nod, she turned to follow him out to the corvette and glanced back one last time as she reached the door. Getting back to Bobby’s, Elle grabbed her bag and went straight up to the room she had been using.

Resting back against the wood, she let her bag drop to the floor and closed her eyes as her tears began to fall. The walls she had built to keep the emotions away collapsed under the weight of her pain and she sank to her knees, unable to hold it back any longer.

Sitting on the edge of the bed once she had calmed down, Elle felt exhaustion wash through her and laid back as darkness pulled her into its depths. Waking up a few hours later to someone knocking on her bedroom door, she got up and opened it to find a teary-eyed Sam waiting on the other side.

“What’s wrong?” Elle asked, watching as he opened his mouth to speak and closed it again, “Sam?”

“I need you to come downstairs,” he mumbled, his voice thick with raw emotion, “Cas is here.”

Hesitating for a fraction of a second, Elle descended the stairs without a word and braced her self against the newly raised onslaught of emotions she knew was about to hit her. Rounding the corner that would take her into the living room, she froze and gasped as she found herself staring into the hazel-green eyes she had missed so much.

“Hey Elle,” Dean greeted with a small smile.

“I…” Elle stammered, feeling as though she couldn’t breath and doing the only thing she could… she ran.

“Elle,” Dean shouted as he followed, grabbing her arm gently and spinning her around to face him, “I know that this is a shock, but I need you to talk to me…”

“How Dean… you’re dead,” Elle argued, “I watched you die.”

“I know, but I’m here… I’m right here.”

“I…” Elle started as tears rolled down her cheeks, falling silent and throwing herself into Dean’s arms, “I thought we’d lost you.”

“I’m so sorry, baby,” Dean whispered in her ear as he held her tight, “I never wanted to do that to you or Sam.”

“I’m just glad that you’re back,” Elle stated after a long pause, focusing on his warmth and the reality that he was truly alive.

Pulling back slightly, Elle looked up at the man she had fallen in love with and smiled as he used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away her tears. Closing her eyes as he kissed her, she allowed the world around them to fall away and fell into the moment.

“I love you,” Dean told her as he broke away, stroking his thumb across her cheek and ghosting his lips over hers.

“I love you too.”

“We better head inside, before they send out a search party,” Dean added, keeping one arm wrapped around Elle’s shoulders and kissing her on the side of the head as he led her inside.