Hayden & Dean (The Sequel) - A Tethered Love

Chapter 28: A Walk and a Talk

The funeral ends and everyone is invited over to my dad's house for a brunch. Everything gets set up while we are out and it's beautifully done when we get inside. Pictures of my mother throughout her life are scattered across the entire house and her favorite drinks are being served, of course. Everyone mingles, like it's just a regular thing and I find it hard interacting with anyone. I get mostly condolences and a few questions about myself but for the most part people socialize together, keeping things a bit more cheery for their own comfort.

I stay on the outskirts of the celebration of my mom's life, still feeling a bit indifferent with the whole situation. I watch my father, as he mingles and laughs at memories his friends bring of their life together. "How are you doing?" Dean comes over and asks me.

My attention is brought back to him and I smile when I meet his eyes "I'm okay. Paul asleep?" I ask.

Dean nods, willing to take care of him so Lizette could be apart of the brunch and not have to work during it. He nods, pulling me in for a hug "you want to take a break from all this? Go for a walk?" He suggests.

"That would be great, actually. But what about Paul?" I ask him, knowing we can't leave him without someone to watch him.

Dean looks over my shoulder and gives someone a head nod. I turn around and see he is looking directly to Charles. I give him a inquisitive head nod to thank him in return and return my gaze back to Dean, who explains "he wants to help out anyway he can."

I give him a gentle smile in return and nod, starting to walk out of the brownstone "so, when did you and Charles get so chummy?" I ask as we hit the cold streets of New York.

He takes my hand, pulling my body closer to his as we start to walk East "I wouldn't say we are chummy, just two guys with a mutual desire to please the same women."

"Mutual desire?" I ask, curious what he is trying to get at.

He shakes his head and puts it simply "keep your friends close, your enemies closer."

I chuckle, pushing him with my hip a little "he is not an enemy Dean."

Dean laughs back and responds "maybe not, but he did try to kiss you."

"Water under the bridge. He's just a friend, and he's helped me a lot through this whole thing. You need to be nice." I half heartily tease him.

"When am I never not nice?" He teases back to me and we both chuckle. "You know, I am really sorry about your mom, Hayden. It's a shame you two weren't able to fix things before she passed."

I take in what he said, wondering how to say back what I really want to say. I know Dean lost his mother when he was an infant and I know we were raised totally opposite from one another but the one thing we do have in common was not having a mother growing up. "Yeah, I know I should feel more upset over losing her but I'm actually just more upset for my dad. And I know that sounds terrible but she wasn't there for me ever. At least my dad has been trying with me, with you and with Paul. My mother didn't even care." Dean just listens to me as I explain how I feel to him "Is it terrible for me to say that I can't wait for all of this to be over so we can go home and try to move forward. Paul just got the mark off and our lives are still crazy."

Dean nods, as if saying that's what he wants to and then he wraps an arm around me "of course things will go back to semi-normal Hayden, but what about your father? Are you just going to leave him behind?"

"What do you mean?" I question back, not sure why he would use the words he did.

He returns "you told me your dad went back to work? Are you just going to leave New York and come back to Kansas and pretend he's okay? He is all alone now here."

"Are you suggesting we ask him to move in with us?" I ask what I think he's asking, wanting to get to the point.

Dean shrugs and answers "well, maybe not in with us since the cabin is pretty small and we can't very well explain how we came to own a bunker. But you could talk to him about what he wants to do, if he wants to get a place close by. Or maybe we could come here more often, stay with him."

"Dean Winchester, are you wanting a relationship with your father-in-law?" I try to hide my smirk.

He answers "Your father is the only grandparent Paul has. I want them to know each other. I've been praying lately" He gives me a knowing grin to stop me from opening my mouth "and I think it's important for our family to be surrounded by as much family as possible."

I ask him a question, one I hope he answers truthfully "and why is that?"

He looks down to the ground for a moment, he slowly lifts his head up and answers "because who knows how long I'll be around."

"Dean.." I try to stop him from going on.

He doesn't let me "Hayden, come on. I don't exactly live the safest lifestyle. And I want you to be around family if something happens to me." He now has both my hands and we are facing each other "I won't be around forever, H."

"Where is this coming from?" I ask him, trying to hold back tears. I can't help but think the worst, that he is sick, or that something or someone is after him.

He wipes the tear away that escapes my eyes and smiles "everything is alright. I promise. This is coming from everything we've been doing the past two days. This is what real couples talk about, isn't it? We need some kind of plan in case something happens to one of us."

I nod, more tears escaping. This time I wipe them away "we do, and I will talk to my dad tomorrow. Alright? But don't talk about you not being around, okay? I need you."

"I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon." He promises. "Let's head back, okay. We can talk more later." I nod, liking the idea of getting out of the cold air and off this topic of conversation.