How Are You Alive (Dean Winchester Love Story Book 4)

Chapter 53

Chapter 53

When I was young, I fell in love
We used to hold hands, man, that was enough
Then we grew up, started to touch
Used to kiss under the light on the back of the bus
Oh no, your daddy didn't like me much

Eastside by Dylan Scott

We enter a comic book store and take out our badges. "Uh...can I help you?" The man behind the counter asks. "Sure hope so. Agents DeYoung and Shaw, last couple of days?" I ask. "Like what?" He asks. "Well, some other tenants reported flickering lights." Dean says.

"Uh, I don't think so. Why?" He asks. "What anout moises? Any skittering in the walls? Kind of like rats?" I ask. "And the FBI is investigating a rodent problem?" He asks, skeptical. "What about cold spots? Feel any sudden drops in temperature?" I ask. "I knew it! You guys are Larping, aren't you?" He smiles.

"Exuse me?" Dean asks. "You're fans." He says. "What is Larping." I ask Dean looking up at him. "Like you don't know." He scoffs. "Live action role play! And pretty hardcore too." He laughs. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about." Dean says. "You're asking questions like buildings haunted. Like those guys from the books. What are they called? Uh..."Supernatural." Two guys and one girl, use fake IDs with rock aliases, hunt down ghosts, demons, vampires. What are their names? Uh...Stevie, Dylan and Dirk? Uh, Sally, Dane, Smitty?" He says to himself.

"Skye, Dean and Sam." I say. "That's it!" He smiles. "You're saying this is a book." I ask, confused. "Books. It was a series. Didn't sell a lot of copies, though. Kind of had more of an underground cult following." He chuckles as he leads us to a table labeled 'Bargain Bin' "Let's see. Um...Ah. Yeah." He says as he finds the book he was looking for and hands it to Dean and I. "That's the first one, I think." He says. 'Supernatural by Carber Edlund' I flip the book over and read the back. 'Along a lonely California highway woman in white lures men to their death' My eyes widen. "Give me that." Dean says in disbelief, he takes it from my hands and looks at the front cover then the back cover. "We're gonna need all the copies of Supernatural you've got." Dean demands.

~MOTEL ROOM -NIGHT~

3RD POV

Dean is reclining on the bed, flipping through a book and frowning. Skye and Ruby are seated by the window, Skye scrolling through her laptop and Ruby sitting on the table reading one of the books scanning through it, and Sam leaning sitting at the edge of the bed reading another book.

"This is fucking insane. How's this guy know all this stuff?" Skye asks. "You got me." Ruby says. "Everything is in here. I mean everything. From the racist truck to...to Skye and I have sex. She is full-frontal in here, dude." Dean snarls. "How come we haven't heard of them before?" Sam asks.

"They're pretty obscure. I mean, almost zero circulation. Uh, started in '05. The publisher put out a couple dozen before going bankrupt. And, uh, the last one...'No Rest For The Wicked' ends with Dean going to hell." Skye says as she turns her laptop for everyone to see.

"I reiterate. Fucking insane." Skye adds turning her laptop back towards her and starts scrolling through the website again. "Check it out. There's actually fans. There's not many of them, but still. Did you read this?" Skye scoffs. "Yeah." Sam says. "Although for fans, they sure do complain a lot. Listen to this...Simpatico says 'the demon story line is trite, cliched, and overall craptastic.'" Skye reads. "Yeah, well, fuck you, Simpatico. We lived it." Dean scoffs. "Yeah. Well, keep on reading. It gets better." Sam says.

"There are 'Sam girls'" and 'Dean girls'" and 'Skye boys'" and 'Skye and Sam fans"

"What the fuck?! Nuh uh. Not happening. Nope. Zip. Nodda. None of that bull shit." Dean growls. "Skye's mine." He snaps, fuming out the mouth in anger, breathing heavily, and fists clenched.

"Calm down baby, I'm your's don't worry." Skye says, calming him down. Dean walks over and kisses the top of her head. Dean's eyes open and looks at the laptop, his eyes catching 'slash fan'. "What's a slash fan?" Dean asks. "As in...Sam-slash-Dean. And Skye-slash-Ruby. Together." Skye says.

"Like, together together?" Dean asks. "Yeah." Skye says. "I'm Skye's side hoe haven't you heard." Ruby teases Dean. "Love you boo." She says to Skye. "Love you too boo." Skye replies adding onto the teasing. "Shut up." Dean mumbles and Skye and Ruby laugh. "That's what you're concerned about Dean? Really?" Sam chuckles. "You know that they are slashing you and I together." Sam says. "Dean chokes on his beer.

"They do know we're brothers, right?" He coughs. "Doesn't seem to matter." Skye laughs. "Oh, come on. That...That's just sick. We're brothers." Dean says and shuts the laptop. "We got to find this Carver Edlund." Skye says. "Yeah, that might not be so easy." Ruby says. "Why not?" Skye asks. "No tax records, no known address. Looks like 'Carver Edlund.' is a pen name." Sam says. "Somebody's gotta know who he is." Dean says.

~PUBLISHER'S HOUSE - DAY~

Skye, Dean, Sam, and Ruby are meeting with the publisher of 'Supernatural'' series. A young, attractive woman in a long sweater type dress and ankle high heeled boots. She appears to be eager, a little nervous and somewhat skeptical of their intentions.

"So you published the Supernatural books?" Skye asks. "Yep. Yeah. Gosh. These books...You know, they never really got the attention they deserved. All anybody wants to read anymore is that romance crap. You know..'Doctor Sexy, M.D' you know the more sexier, lots of drama type romance." Please." She scoffs. "Right. Well, we're hoping that our article can...shine a light on an underappreciated series." Skye says. "Yeah, yeah, because, you know, if we got a little bit of good press then maybe we could start publishing again." She smiles.

"No, God no. I mean, why...why would you want to do that? You know, it's uh, such a complete series, what with Dean going to hell and all." Dean chuckles nervously. "Oh, my god! That was one of my favorite ones, because Dean was so...strong...and sad. And brave. Skye was so devastated that she lost Dean and angry at the same time for him selling his soul for her. And Sam...I mean, the best parts are when they'd cry. You know, like in...in heart, when Sam had to kill Madison, the first woman since Jessica he really loved. And in when what the Shapeshifter pretending to be Dean did to her in Skin, and when Dean had to call John and ask him for help." She says emotionally, turning away. "Gosh...if only real men and women were so open and in touch with their feelings." She says.

"Real men and women?" Skye asjs. "I mean, how often do you cry like that, hmm?" She says turns back to Skye, Ruby, Dean and Sam. "Well, right now, I'm crying on the inside." Dean says. "Is that supposed to be funny?" She glares. "Lady, this whole thing is funny." Ruby says, rolling her eyes, bored. "How do I know you four are legit, hmmm?" She asks, offended.

"Oh, trust me. We, uh...we're legit." Sam says. "Well, I don't want any smart-ass article making fun of my boys and girl." She says defensively. "No! Never." Skye says, stammering.

"No, that's.." "We...we are actually, um...big ans." Sam says, cutting Dean off. "Hmm. You've read the books?" She asks. "Cover to cover." Ruby sighs. "What's the year and model of the car?" She asks. "It's a 1967 Chevy Imapla." Both Skye and Dean say at the same time, then looking at each other, smiling. "What's April 27th?" She asks. "Easy. Skye's birthday." Dean chuckles, winking at Skye. "January 24th is Dean's." Skye winks back at Dean. "Sam's score on the LSAT?" She asks.

"One Seventy-Four." Sam says. "What was Ruby before she died?" She asks. "A witch." Ruby smirks. "Dean's favorite song?" She asks. "It's a tie. Between Zeps 'Ramble On'' and 'Traveling Riverside Blues'' Skye says.

"Okay. Okay. What do you want to know?" She asks.