REVIVE ▸ d. winchester [2] ✔

Chapter 43

Jackie hadn't yet taken the time to figure out what she expected to find on the other side of the large steele door that stood in front of her. It was only once Dean guided her through the garage, away from the impala and towards the entrance to the bunker that she realized this. She was beginning to become curious, especially once Dean turned to her with his hands on a large metal handle.

"Ready?"

She nods, urging him forward. Dean shifts the handle upwards and uses a shoulder to push the door open, then steps inside.

The first thing Jackie notices is how high up they were. As she steps forward herself, her feet land on heavy metal flooring. Through the cracks, she can see the floor far below her. Black metal railing matches the landing, and it gives way to a far more expansive area. 

Immediately below the balcony is a circular room. Its walls are lined with all sorts of technology, things she could hardly identify herself. A table sits in the middle, a light glow coming from its surface and giving the room a soft luminosity. While the decor in the space certainly gave away the age of the building, she knew one thing for sure: This was no average man cave.

The smaller room flows into the next space through a large doorway. From what she could see, quite a few more lights were on. They radiated off the walls and lit up the faded brick interior. Her eyes flew past countless shelves that held perhaps hundreds of books, each of them telling of the history and the legacy of the Men of Letters. 

But while she was sure the topic would be interesting, at the moment, she was far more intrigued by the two tables laid out in the center of the new room. Dark oak flooring seemed to match with the furniture, yet she wouldn't be able to make that distinction until the surfaces of those tables were cleared. Even from afar, she could make out the disarranged mess of papers and books and the discarded beer bottles lying on the table tops. But to her heart's content, the culprit was sitting right beside it all, and pair of laptops spread out in front of him. 

As usual, Sam was lost in his work. His dishelved hair matched the way he had carelessly rolled up the sleeves of his flannel, and the way he leaned over the table, slumped forward into the screen of his computer. Dean and Jackie's presence was unbeknownst to him, leaving Jackie to stare at him as if he were an aparation of her mind that her eyes were meant to make some sense of. 

Dean closes the door behind the two of them, leaving a metal clank ringing out into the bunker. With this, Sam finally sits up, his head turning towards the door. 

His and Jackie's eyes meet immediately, but neither of them move. Sam's mouth opens slightly, and despite him knowing of Dean's plan to bring her back this morning, and despite Sam having his own role in the plan, a part of him had refrained from believing it would actually work. So for him to see the girl standing alive and well at Dean's side, he was in disbelief. 

Sam wasn't the only one alerted to the presence of Jackie and Dean. Once a gentle bark met Jackie's ears and a soft, curious face peeked around the corner of a bookshelf, she could no longer stand still. She found her feet moving down the steps of the tall, metal staircase, and just as she hit the last step, she was met with a mess of black, tan, and white fur.

Zeke wouldn't stop whining. It only took him a few large bounds to reach the girl, and once he did, Jackie had to brace herself from the force of his paw's hitting her chest. The joy of the dog was uncontrollable. His tail wagged every which way and his cries did not let up even as Jackie kneeled to the floor with him. 

"Hi, boy," she said through a smile, her hands roughly gliding through Zeke's fur as he left kisses all over her face and hands. His cold, wet nose didn't leave an inch of her skin untouched as he took in the scent of his beloved and greatly missed companion.