Wake Me Up When the Bad Life Ends / Book Seven / The Life Series / Supernatural

A Little Slice of Kevin

At Rufus' cabin, I was using the laptop, drinking a beer.

Dean walked in. "Hey."

"Hey," I told him. Dean was holding a six pack and a paper bag, looking spooked. "You look like you've s--Well, I was gonna say, 'You look like you've seen a ghost', but you'd probably be stoked. Uh, you okay?"

Dean didn't sound so sure himself. "Yeah, I'm cool." He walked closer with the six pack and the bag. "Yeah, 'cause I'm not the one--"

"Oh, okay, okay," I told him. "I get it. I exaggerated about forgiving and forgetting, and you still have yet to tell Sam what really happened. We both have our problems."

Dean sat down across from me, putting the pack and the bag on the table. "Ness."

"Dean, I--I told you exactly what happened the second I saw you," I told him. "I didn't try to run from it. I didn't try to pretend it never happened. I'm not drowning myself in booze or violence or anger. I told you I was okay, not because I was trying to bury it or pretend it never happened, but so we both could move on. I say I'm handling all of this pretty damn well."

"And I'll have to agree," Dean told me. "But you're not okay."

I sighed, shaking my head. "No. But I will be. Trust me." Dean gave in, nodding, looking at my laptop. "What's up?"

"Well, this kid went missing from a preschool," I told him.

"That sucks," Dean told me. "And?"

"And at the same time he vanished, a surprise tornado hit, lasted maybe 20 seconds, then, uh... boom, back to perfect weather," I answered.

Dean nodded. "Hmm. And they pooh-pooh climate change."

I chuckled. "Yeah." Dean stood, putting the beer into the fridge. "Well, similar wackiness has happened over the past few weeks in other places. Uh, Tulsa, a bus driver vanishes and a river gets overrun with frogs. New Mexico, a mailman disappears, the earth splits open."

"All right," Dean told me. "So, uh, you thinking demons?"

Dena walked over to me, looking at the laptop over my shoulder.

"Yeah, possibly," I answered. "But... I mean, this stuff was major." We looked at the articles about missing persons. "These folks have nothing in common. No religious affiliations, different hometowns, all ages. Why would demons want them?"

"Why do demons want anything?" Dean replied. I looked at Dean, kissing him. Dean smiled. "Uh, so, we on this?"

"Depends on what you mean," I told him. "The case or... this?"

"You're gonna make me choose?" Dean asked.

I smiled, chuckling, pulling Dean closer.

~~~~~~~

After dark, Dean and I walked up to a house, posing as FBI.

I knocked.

A young woman appeared in the entryway.

I held up my FBI badge so she could see it through the glass pane in the door.

The young woman opened the door, but didn't undo the chain.

"Mrs. Hagar?" Dean asked. "Agents Malloy and Hardy. We want to speak to you about Aaron Webber's abduction."

"Like I told the police, one minute I was taking Aaron to get cleaned up, and the next minute... I woke up in a park three blocks away," Mrs. Hagar told us.