My Winchester

The Date

After the shopping trip, we stopped at a diner for a burger. Dean talked about Sammy's rabbit food and stories from his childhood. I just listened for the most part, letting him talk as I ate my food.

"What's next on the agenda?" I ask him when he finishes a story.

"Well we were going to do some other stuff, but now that you got me wrapped up in this game, I think we'll just head back to the bunker," Dean replies, slightly muffled by his mouth full of fries.

I nod, popping the last of my bacon cheese burger into my mouth. We head home shortly after that.

I made sure to keep my bags covered when I brought them into the garage; I didn't want Dean to sneak a peek.

I set up the alcoholic gift basket first so that I could put it in the fridge to chill. I had a lot of fun wrapping everything. It made me miss my classes back home.

It was July now, and if my life hadn't have changed then I would be preparing to move away to the dorms. In the fall, I would have been starting my college classes; I would be painting and drawing and crafting in order to get a degree to do something that I love.

And now what waits in my future is more pistols and supernatural inhabitants.

I tried to push that to the back of my mind. I pushed everything to the back of my mind.

And I crafted.

I wrapped ribbons and bows and paper. Even though Dean would probably just rip it all off without a second glance, I put as much effort into it as possible.

Now that I think about it, Dean probably never actually received gifts from anybody. Maybe Sam gifted him a few times, but their lives didn't exactly revolve around money.

Reminded of money, I thought about the cash I spent at the store. That gun wasn't too cheap. I was getting low on my funds as it is, and I should probably discuss with the boys about getting a job or something.

I'm beginning to realize that even without the deaths and the struggles of saving the world, the hunter life isn't easy.

"Carmen? Are you ready yet?" Dean hollered from behind the door at about three in the afternoon.

"Almost!" I shout back.

"Okay, well, put them in the car when you're done. We'll exchange on our date," he replies, and I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. I couldn't help but smile just a little.

I had an old gold framed mirror in the trunk of my car. My mom had bought it at a yard sale once but forgot to bring it inside. I'm not sure why she liked the thing so much; the frame was too wide around the mirror and was just plain gold. It came in handy for me now though.

I miss my mother so much.

It sort of hurt when I had to cut the frame off the mirror. The memories came flooding in as I shaped the metal with a bench saw. There were tears in my eyes as I began to engrave the word Winchester into the metal.

Earlier today, I thought that maybe something else would come of me and Dean. Now, though, it seems like it's just all too much. I had to stop and wipe the tears from my eyes after I finished the first word. I couldn't screw this up. Dean deserved this, whether I couldn't seem to be able to forgive him or not.

I engraved a few more things into the metal. I felt bad as I did it, but I took my engraver and wallowed out a hole into the side of the pistol, so that the metal plate would sit flush against the rest of the gun. It took a lot of patience, but I didn't screw it up, and ended up with a beautiful piece.