Equals (Crowley Fanfic)

Warmth in the Chill

If I had been a fan of cheap romance novels, I would have been very disappointed the next morning. Not because it wasn't good; It was better than I had expected. Somehow, I didn't feel made whole by the magic of love, nor did I feel that a man's touch had made me more of a woman.  I did feel right, despite my own worries: but not in the sense that I had been wrong before, but that I was more right now. Crowley held me in a comfortable, but cautious embrace and was pretending to be asleep.

"I know you're awake." I teased.

"I know." He responded with a satisfied smile without opening his eyes. I stifled something between a chuckle and a giggle when he spoke. Everything was so quiet and the sun's bright, but not overbearing light flooded the room.

"I still can't believe that I didn't realize before..." I trailed off, knowing that I didn't need to finish for him to understand.

He opened his eyes and looked at me as if he were in a daze. "You are so lovely." he muttered almost absently as his eyes trailed across my face.

"So, I'm the Queen of hell?" I hid my embarrassment with a sarcastic tone.

"Of sorts, yes." His fingers traced shapes into my back as he spoke, "You don't have any authority, at least... not now." I was going to keep questioning him about hell and about what exactly I had stepped into, but I recognized the symbols that he had been gently tracing into my skin. It was a protection charm, the most poetic protection charm I'd ever (... I don't think this counts as reading) read.

"I can read Norse runes you know." I giggled. His chuckle rumbled against me.

"I know." He completed the charm. I started laughing so hard that I rolled onto my back and curled up on my other side into sniggering ball. He wrapped his body around me and tickled my neck with ghosts of kisses. I might have hidden in his arms for a day, a week, an eternity. Eternities aren't nearly as long as they should be when you're still breathing. The phone rang. I pretended that I hadn't been thinking wishful, sleepy thoughts. I got out of bed and answered, thinking that it would be Jenny.

It was definitely her number.

"h-Hello sunshine..." She stammered, I put her on speaker and signaled Crowley to listen.
"You shouldn't have left this... l-little toy all by her-self.... She's q-quite fun" her voice broke into a sob, "If-f you want to see h-her again, bring us the demon- and the stone." She was now sobbing uncontrollably. I head a smack of knuckles against soft skin.

"Don't disappoint the hounds," after that she suddenly began to yell, "Anna don't do it! Get away from where you are! Don't come af-" muffled shouts continued and a distorted voice spoke.

"You have one week. Unless we catch you first." the line went dead. I sat there. My mind felt like the buzzing dial tone.

"Can you hear me? We need to get out of here!" I wondered why Crowley's voice was so strained for a moment until I resurfaced into reality. The world's sounds returning like I had been underwater.

"Yes. Grab what you need lets go." It wasn't until I was in a rush to get ready that I realized how little clothing I had been wearing. New rule: always dress decently enough to be on the run even if it makes you a party pooper.

"Forget everything else, where we're going, you won't need it. Drink some." I had barely dressed when Crowley grabbed my hand and pressed a flask into it.

I took a swig, "Whiskey? Why?" I asked.

"Scotch. For sanity." He mumbled before taking a sip himself and snatching my hand.
The world melted and blurred. It felt kinda nice to have something warm and real to hold onto while the world was whizzing around me, and the scotch wasn't half bad either.