Babysitting - A Dean Winchester Love Story

Chapter 20

3 Years Later...

She was happy, happier than she had been for a long time. Whilst Cora was distraught in regards to Dean's death, she had decided to move on with her life; she couldn't live in a depressed rut forever. Cora had initially moved to Chicago to be nearer Dean's 'grave' but within the 3 years of her living there, she had actually met some incredible people - now she had friends, a life...more of a life than she had ever had.

A single hand ran through Cora's turquoise hair (her idea of moving on tended to involve changing something about her physical appearance) and she smiled widely as she listened to her friend Sophie, talk about her new favourite book. Cora had learned that she enjoyed watching people talk about the things they loved - whether that was a person, a hobby, a book etc. - because the brightness in their eyes, and the smile that they would try so hard to play down captivated her as she could see that they were truly passionate about the topic of interest.

"And I just love the character development; like, how Cassandra becomes this strong warrior of a woman yet she's not overly egotistical...and how Luke is secretly a Phoenix. I dunno, Cora, I just love everything about it." Sophie beamed at her friend who was watching her every move. "Shall we order something other than coffee? We have been sitting here for over half an hour..." Cora nodded and called the waiter over. After ordering their favourites: a bacon cheeseburger for Cora and a chicken Caesar salad for Sophie, they continued their discussion, "So how is everything with you and Andrew? He's not still stalking you, is he?" Sophie asked her companion. Avoiding spraying her food everywhere, Cora simply shook her head. "Good," Sophie added. "No offense, but he always creeped me out."

The pair laughed simultaneously. "And let me guess, you're still dating that fictional boyfriend of yours?" Cora teased playfully. "Of course. If he's real in my head, that's good enough for me."

The laughter and conversation went on for another hour...that's when she heard the engine. The low rumble of a familiar 1967 Chevrolet Impala was drawing closer and closer to the unsuspecting girl. Cora's head snapped towards the direction of the sound with distress plastered on her face.

Reaching tenderly forward, Sophie held her friend's wrist, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Can you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"The engine...the car engine."

"Honey, there's nothing there; no sounds, no cars...other than the ones parked outside of the diner. What's gotten into you?"

Perplexed, Cora said, "Nothing. Sorry, I must be imagining things...just ignore me." She smiled reassuringly at Sophie who withdrew her hand. Taking a sip of her lukewarm coffee, she whispered "Ok" to herself and decided to brush off Cora's bizarre behaviour.

---

"Sam, we're not gonna find him here; Cas has been M.I.A for months." Dean stated whilst avoiding walking into a passer by.

"Well this is the last place he was seen. Damn, I'm hungry." Sam wandered into the diner opposite where they parked the car, and was immediately immersed in a lively yet placid atmosphere.

"Hey, Sam. That chick over there is totally checking me out," Dean said, indicating to a young woman with vibrant turquoise hair.

"Are you sure? It looks like she's choking on her drink..."

"Well that's not the usual reaction," Dean said before rushing over to the girl. "Hey, are you ok?"

"Yeah. Fine." Cora said whilst shrugging Dean's hand off her shoulder. She didn't want to look him directly in the eyes - she didn't know what he was, "You just look like someone...look, never mind. I have to go. Sorry, Soph." She stared down at her confused friend with apologetic eyes and promptly left the diner.

"What the hell was that about?" Sophie muttered to herself.

"Is she," Sam pointed in the direction of the recently departed girl, "ok?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"You 'guess so'?"  Sam glanced at his older brother in bemusement as he interrogated the young woman further.  She went on to vaguely explain the situation with the car engine.

"Has she been doing that a lot, lately - hallucinating, I mean?" Dean asked.

"Why would I tell you anymore than I already have?"

"Because we're Feds." A self-righteous smile grew on Dean's face as he and his brother produced their FBI badges from their jacket pockets. "Look, Sophie - is it?" She nodded cautiously at Sam's question. "We just want to make sure that your friend is ok. Do you think, maybe, you could give us her address so we could go and check on her?" Sam smiled innocently at the young woman. Sophie absent mindly told the FBI agents Cora's address, failing to mention Cora's name in the process, as she was too distracted by Sam's charming smile.

"What was up with that blue-haired chick though?" Dean asked his younger brother as they left the quaint diner.

"I have no idea. But did you see the way she ran out? It was like she was running from hell hounds."

"I thought I saw some hanging around here," Dean scoffed.

After 25 minutes, the Winchester brothers reached their destination. They had arrived outside of an average sized house with a small rose garden placed elegantly under the front window. "Is it just me, or does this seem like a real apple pie lifestyle kinda house?" Shrugging in response to his older brother's comment, Sam lead the way to the front door. As Sam knocked on the door, it eased open at the slightest pressure, "Déjà vu?" Sam humoured his brother. Guns poised, they silently stepped into the house and made their way for the living room. As they reached the centre of the room, the brothers heard the familiar click of a loaded gun, behind them. They span round to face their opponent and were instantly faced with the blue-haired resident pointing a gun at their heads.

A single word managed to escape Cora's mouth as she stared, stunned, at the two men before her, "Dean?"