Summary: You and Sam were an item until you left. When Dean calls you for help on a case years later, you agree. The hunt takes an unexpected turn, and you and Sam are forced to reevaluate what you mean to each other.
Warnings: Lots of angst; there's a fight scene, a near-death scenario, mention of rape (no description, though)
A/N: This got away from me. *shrugs* The ending is great, in my completely unbiased opinion :)
************
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The name appearing on your phone stops you in your tracks in the middle of the parking lot. You feel your blood running cold as your finger hovers between the answer and reject buttons, your mind racing with so many possibilities it makes your vision spin.
You regret pressing the button the moment your finger hits it.
"Dean?" you murmur into the receiver.
"(Y/N)?" the familiar voice says. Deeper than when you last heard it, but familiar.
You grip the side of your car, shock threatening to knock you over. "How the hell did you get this number?"
"I know people," he says, voice higher in defense and arrogance. He pauses a beat before admitting, "Garth."
"Right," you sigh. "Bye, Dean."
"Wait, wait – hold on a minute. Hear me out, please," he calls.
When you don't answer, nor does he hear the click of the call's end, he continues. "Are you still on the west coast?"
You hesitate. Telling him would make you easier to track, and you don't believe you have it in you to handle a surprise visit today. Though, if they wanted to hunt you down, they would have found a way in the last year. Or the last five.
"I might be," you resolve.
"Sam and I've been tracking a demon in the area, but we can't make heads or tails of any of it," he says. "Demons are in your wheelhouse, aren't they?"
Sam. Even his name brings you back to the days of passion and longing and yelling at each other, leading up to a final night of passive aggression and a closing door. It brings you to all the reasons you should hang up now.
"I don't know, Dean. Is there really no other hunter in the area?" you try.
"No hunter in this country does what you do," he states.
Though you take other monster cases when you happened upon them, you have dedicated your life to hunting demons, learning their weaknesses and how to track them.
