Another Life / Book Ten / The Life Series / Supernatural

The Chitters

I walked into the library of the bunker to see Dean sitting at the table, researching. "Baby, you even move since last night?"

"Sleeping is the new smoking," Dean told me.

"What?" I asked. "No, it's not. It's sitting. Sitting is the new smoking."

Dean shook his head. "That can't be right."

"Dean, we'll find Cas," I told him. "Okay? He's stronger than he looks."

"You know, we gambled Cas, and now Amara has him," Dean told me.

"For a reason," I told him. "Which means he's still alive."

"Amara's beef is with the big guys," Dean told me. "With God, with Lucifer. The small fries? Even an angel like Cas? Doesn't even register. And if it meant hurting Lucifer, killing Cas would mean nothing to her."

"It's been a week," I told him. "We still got not leads."

"You think I don't know that?" Dean asked, standing, turning toward the shelves.

"So--so, you and Sammy need to get back out there," I told him. "You need to get back to work. You keep moving. You keep working. I'll stay here with Aiden and keep researching. Look, we'll catch a break on Cas. We have to. It's--it's karma."

"You know, karma's been kicking us in the teeth lately," Dean told me.

I nodded. "Yeah." I picked up my laptop. "So, let's kick it back." I opened my laptop. "Check this out." I put the laptop on the table. Dean sighed, walking closer. "Libby Strauss. Uh, went missing near Gunnison, Colorado." Dean sat at the table in front of the laptop to look at the case information. "Now Libby's friend claimed she was carried off by a mutant creature with green eyes."

"Demon?" Dean asked.

"That's what I thought, but it gets better," I told him. "The friend chased after them, and she found Libby, only it wasn't Libby anymore because now she, too, is a green-eyed mutant."

"Demon swap suits?" Dean asked.

I shrugged. "Only one way to find out. Although, demon seems to be too easy. Look, you guys go. Keep me filled in. I'm pretty sure that if it's not a demon, I can still figure it out. All right?"

Dean sighed, giving in, nodding. "Yeah." He stood. "All right."

I walked closer, taking his hands in mine. "Hey. We'll find Cas. We'll save him. Okay? But until then, we have to keep working."

Dean nodded in agreement, still troubled.

I placed a hand on his cheek, kissing him softly, slowly for a moment, pulling away, nodding reassuringly.

   ~~~~~~~~~~    

I was still at home with Aiden, helping him take a few steps toward me, on the phone with Sam and Dean.

"So, green eyes and buzzing, and public orgies," Dean told me. "Oh, and get this. The green-eyed mutant didn't have anything down in that area. It was junkless. But other people that we think were turned by Junkless were having sex all over the place. Weed alone doesn't conjure up that kind of scenario. Isn't that right, Sam?"

"Dude, I was 18," Sam told him.

I smirked. "Sinner."

"Ness, it was college," Sam told me. "It was probably oregano, anyways."

I smiled in surprise, teasingly. "Rebel."

"Shut up," Sam told me. I smiled. Aiden laughed. "Look, I'm coming up empty, also. Uh, nothing on Junkless or the green-eyed shaker."