Closure (A Supernatural Fanfic)

10 - Exposure

Sam

Jody looks between Nova and me, back and forth. 

"What?" Nova says.

"Nothing. I just...what's taking them so long?"

Just as she says that, Dean and Cas walk in through the door. Dean has his game face on, eyebrows lowered, lips set, and he's walking with a confident stride. I know that look. It's always that look just before a hunt.

Dean stands behind me, and I turn around. I look towards him, and slowly stand up. Nova stands as well, and walks closer to me. "What's going on?" She asks.

"Crowley's got the bastard. We get the honors of offing him."

She looks startled at the news, as am. "They found the demon? And they're just now telling you?"

I look at her. "It's Crowley. He only tells us things if he thinks it'll benefit him."

" So...what? You're just gonna go?"

"We have to," Dean says. "We need to end this."

"You just came back," she says, looking to Dean, and then me.

When she looks to me, I can feel my heart skip a beat and my face grow warm. I ignore it.

"We'll be back, soon enough. It's just a one and done deal," I say to her.

She stops. She sighs. Tears well up in her beautiful eyes.

"What if it's a trap?" she asks.

"We've gone in one of those traps before, we kicked ass, we left."

"But--"

"Nova. We need to end this," Dean says. "This is the bastard that killed Chandler. And James. Now, I don't know how you feel about Chandler, but I know you cared for James. You've looked out for his family for years. Well, Chandler was my friend. I knew him as a good guy. He was a good guy who made a dumbass mistake to be with a girl he loved. You can't go out there to finish it--"

"Yes, I can."

I look at her, and say firmly. "Not when you're this far along. You need to stay home. Please? For me?"

Nova stops, and sighs. Her lip is quivering, and tears spill down her face.

"Just...come back to me safe, alright?" She says.

"Hey, we'll be fine, we've been in Crowley's lair plenty of times," Dean says. "Nothing we can't handle. Hell, this is easy for us."

"I've lost too many people. I can't lose you two, too."

My breath catches in my throat, and I grab ahold of one hand, and use my other arm to turn her to face me.

"Listen. Nova. We're gonna be just fine. This isn't the first time we've done something like this. Just in and out. Crowley is a vindictive, unreliable dick, sure, but he's not gonna hurt us. He's tried, it's never gone well for him."

My hand is resting on her cheek, which is soft unlike anything I've ever imagined. Her tears fall and slip underneath my hand, warm and wet. She looks to me, and reaches in for a hug.

"Okay. But if you get yourself killed, I'll never forgive you," she says.

"You just...take care of yourself. Don't worry about us. We got this," Dean chimes in.

I stand up with Nova still in my arms, and she stands with me. She turns to Dean, who's arms are already wide open, ready for her.

I look to Jody. I can see the realization dawning on her face. She looks to me, wide eyed.