𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 || 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

Chapter 35 ~ Meet Mr. Miracle

Episode: Season 15 - Inherit the Earth Pt. 2

It didn't go as planned.

Which feels like the story of our lives basically.

Dean and Sam attempted to negotiate with Chuck after we left - to no avail. They even offered to kill each other (a fact I was more than angry about when I heard) but even that didn't change his mind. No, instead, he had chosen to watch the story play out, see what would happen to us now that we had absolutely nothing. Wow, great guy, right?

We really didn't know what to do after that - we had no plan, no idea of what our next actions against Chuck would be. If any at all. Not until Jack came to us anyway, one night when Sam, Dean, and I were sitting in the kitchen talking, trying to make a decision. He said he felt something, a presence somewhere.

Going to check it out sounded like the best option - maybe the only viable one - at the moment so we did, the kids wedged on each side of me as I sat in the backseat of the Impala while Dean gunned it down the road at high speed. On a side note, that fact alone made me more than a little apprehensive - not that there were any other vehicles to crash into but still...Dean's recklessness was getting worse nowadays. I got it, sure, everything that had happened up until this point was worse than I could put into words. But the thought of his impulsive, erratic behavior causing him harm made me worry without ceasing.

When we finally made it to the gas station, it was on wobbly feet I climbed out. The place was deserted as expected, Sam immediately trudging over to the pump to get gas for us. Roman, Yasmin and Jack all wandered off to explore while I headed to the restroom. At least I knew there wasn't going to be a line. I cringed at myself then for the bad mental joke.

I was just about to twist the knob to go in when a shout from Dean made me turn. My eyes nearly popped out of my head at the sight. There nestled in his arms was a scruffy, floppy-eared big white dog.

I gaped as Dean just laughed at my expression, petting the dog he held onto so tightly, "How did Chuck miss him?"

He shook his head, grinning, "I have no idea... Who thought finding a dog would feel like a miracle?"

Dean bit his lip then, a thought clearly churning in his mind when his green eyes lit up. Rolling my eyes playfully, I followed him back to the Impala, not able to stop myself from rubbing 'Miracle' behind the ears.

"Sammy! Check it out!" Dean called out excitedly to his little brother.

Sam's eyes widened in disbelief, "You found a dog?"

"Yeah! I guess Chuck didn't get everything. I mean, maybe there's people he missed, you know? By the way, this guy's coming home with us,"

"You're gonna let a dog sit in the Impala?"

"Hey, relax, I'm not giving him shotgun," Dean rolled his eyes before pausing, "Unless you're cool with that?"

"Well, good. Because then, he and I would have to have words," I said, brushing past the brothers, "As I recall, I've been hunting with you two for what? 20? 25 years? And still no shotgun for me!"

Dean patted the dog affectionately, telling him briefly before setting him on the backseat, "Don't worry about that, she'll warm up to you. Maybe I'll let you sleep in our room."

A smile tugged at my lips as I watched him loving on the little animal like he was. It was nice to see this sweet side of him again, a side that had lied dormant for too long during all of this Chuck mess.

"You know, believe it or not," he told Miracle, "You're the best thing that's happened in the last few days. Yeah, you are... Good boy."

Something horrible happened then, something neither of us expected. But nevertheless it did. With a horrified look that I knew to be on my face, I watched the dog disintegrate and disappear before my very eyes. Just like smoke, like a puff of dust in the air. Just...gone. Glancing up, just across an open field, Dean and I spotted Chuck. He saluted us with a silly, stupid but somehow still malicious grin plastered on his face before one blink of our eyes and he was gone as well.

Dean didn't say a word until the kids had fallen asleep on the way back. And even then, it was in hushed, angry tones to his brother. I guess he was hoping I was asleep, too - maybe to spare me from how much anguish Chuck's antics had been causing him.

What he didn't know was that my eyes were wide open, staring at him through the smudged rear-view mirror overhead.

He was wrong - it wasn't only him that his pain was hurting.

Dean's pain hurt me, too.