Another Life / Book Ten / The Life Series / Supernatural

Beyond the Mat

Dean was in the library at home, looking at my laptop.

I was drinking coffee, walking toward him. "Hey, have you seen the, um..." Dean picked up a bottle of pills from the table, handing them to me. "Ah. Yeah. Thanks."

"Yeah, bottoms up," Dean told me. I took the pills, walking closer. "You remember 'Top Notch Wrestling'?"

"Yeah," I answered. "My dad used to take me to the wrestling shows when I was a kid."

Dean nodded. "Right. Well, my dad took me and Sammy, too. Came across an obituary last night. Larry 'The Hangman' Lee died."

"Oh, no," I told him.

"He was my dad's favorite," Dean told me. "Any time that noose would come out, Dad would be on his feet. It was one of the few times I ever saw him actually happy."

I sighed. "Yeah."

"Anyway, the, uh, funeral's less than a day's drive," Dean told me. "I say we go pay our respects."

"Uh, don't you think our plates are a little full?" I asked. "I mean, it's bad out there, Dean."

"Yeah, Ness, I know that," Dean told me. "We've done nothing but mainline lore for a week, okay? We've got jack on another hand of God and Amara, and we've got even less jack on how to save Cas."

"If he wants to be saved," I told him.

"He does... even if he doesn't know it yet," Dean told me. 

"Then you and Sam go," I told him. "Me and Aiden will be here when you get back. I'll get back to the lore."

Dean sighed. "Ness, you're burnt. We all do? Okay, we all need to get out of here. Let's go stretch our legs."

I looked at Dean curiously. "You want to bring Aiden to a funeral?"

"No," Dean answered. "Of course not. But there's a memorial show after the funeral, and I was thinking that we could go together. All right?"

I sighed, nodding. "All right."

  ~~~~~~~~~~  

I was already at the memorial show with Aiden, sitting down in the front row with him in my lap.

The announcer named Rio was in the ring, announcing the match. "The Brooklyn Beast returns against Rush in an epic Iron Man match up. All right. Let me hear you make some noise." Sam and Dean walked toward us with drinks and snacks, sitting down. "Are you ready?"

I looked around. "You know, I remember the Top Notch shows being grander, you know? Top notch."

"Yeah, well, you drink enough, it'll be just like old times," Dean told us. Rio exited the ring. She saw Sam, smiling, waving, walking away, leaving. Dean and I looked at Sam in disbelief. "Rio? You dog."

"Oh, shut up," Sam told him. "Dude, we met at the wake. She's nice."

"Did you tell her you used to have a poster of her over your bed when you were a kid?" Dean asked.

"No," Sam answered. I chuckled. "Get this. Guy at the wake told me they're only making 25 bucks tonight."

"That's it?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sam answered.

"Now, that hardly seems worth it," Dean told us. "Yeah, think about that. Town after town, putting your ass on the line for next to nothing. No money. No glory. Wow."

"You realize you just literally described our jobs," I told him.

Dean considered this.

Other patrons sat in the seats behind us, a man and his son accidentally bumping into us.