A/N: Someone tell me I'm dreaming, this isn't the last chapter is it? I've had so much fun writing this and I don't really want that to end. But all good things come to an end right, it is not just me who thinks that right? Okay now I think I'm going insane, talking to myself as if I would find an answer. Ok I'll shut up and let this chapter speak for itself.
Title: Forever May Not Be
Chapter 17: You're Kidding, Right?
John walked into the crappy motel with two cups of coffee for both he and his eldest son. Sam had gone out to lunch with Jennifer and he was happy that Sam was finally getting over Jessica, and finally moving on. Dean was laying on one of the beds with his head pressed against the back of the headboard and eyes closed, opening as soon as he smelled the hot black coffee in his father's hand.
"Finally... do you know how long I've been waiting for this?" Dean asked sarcastically, John gave Dean an uneven smile which made his smirk fall from his face in an instant.
He had been talking to Jen back at the diner and they both agreed that A.J should come along when they leave the next day, and in order for that to happen she would actually have to have a talk with Dean. She had started talking to Jen a few days after she got back from the hospital, then Sam a few days later... she would speak a few meaningless words to him every now and then but the only one she needed to talk to was Dean. But first John had to convince his son that he should go talk to her, cuz' she obviously wasn't going to make the first move.
"Dad, why are you staring at me?" he asked.
"No reason, no reason at all," John covered, it was probably gonna be hard to get the two of them to talk... Dean got his stubborn streak from him and A.J got hers from Caleb.
"When we leaving, I'll be glad to leave this place in the dust," Dean said, he knew something was behind his father being uncomfortable and he would figure it out... after they left this place... after they left her.
"Tomorrow around noon." John answered.
"What, why," something was up, and he could feel it in his bones... why else would they be leaving that late in the day... the next day.
"So Sam could say goodbye to Jen," okay better get it done now or else he won't drop it, "and so that you can talk to A.J."
Dean sat there, letting the information sink in, apparently he needed to talk with A.J, well that would be great if he was sure that she wouldn't throw anything at him... hat would always be a bad thing. This couldn't be happening, his father wasn't telling him tht he had to talk to her, couldn't be happening... this wasn't happening to him. John stared at his son and recognized the questions going through his mind, just by looking into his eyes, but his eldest son was wrong, this was happening to him... not because John had purposefully planned it, but in order for A.J to come with them her and Dean would have to work something out.
"Dad you know I don't like chick flick moments, so why are you putting me in one?" Dean asked after a few minutes of just contemplating the fact that he would have to talk with her sooner or later.
"Son, if you don't then you'll beat yourself up for it later," John stated, in that gruff voice that Dean had gotten used to over the years, the one that John had used when they had met up with him while fighting against the Dava situation.
"No, I can't do it... I won't do it." Dean muttered, throwing his styrofoam cup into the garbage and grabbing his jacket to head out the door.
"Dean I'm not asking you... I'm telling you," John ordered.
"Yes sir."
Dean sat in the Impala right outside her apartment, not wanting to go inside and be bombarded with solid objects being thrown at his head. He hadn't talked to his father hadn't talked since he left the motel room that morning, and he and Sam hadn't talked all day. He was waiting til' he got the nerve to walk up to her door and start explaining why he had lied, but instead he sat in his car afraid to walk into that building and walk to her door, he knew he wasn't acting like himself but he hated chick flick moments and avoided them like the plague... or maybe it would be better to call it a chick flick fight, he wasn't really sure.
By the time he finally got the nerve and started getting out of the car, she was walking out of the building and heading to her car, so he jumped back into his baby and decided to do some detective work... which involved following her. A few blocks away, he watched as she got out of her car and started walking into the cemetary, so he turned off the engine and got out... following from a few miles back. He watched as she sat down at a grave, closed her eyes and the only thing he could do was hide behind a close enough grave stone that he could hear what was happening.
She could feel him there, she knew he was planning on eavesdropping and she could not care less. She had closed her eyes and was now waiting for him to show up, she needed to talk to him about everything that has happened in the pst week or so, and how if was killing her although she really wouldn't tell anyone that. She could feel a cold breeze and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and knew he was there, she opened her eyes and plastered her best fake smile on her face. Normally she only reserved that for Dean but with the way she had been feeling for the past few days it seemed she needed to do that with everyone.
"Hey Mike," she could smile til' her eyes bled but that didn't mean that he couldn't see straight through her act... after all he was dead, not stupid.
"Ok, what's up A.J, you haven't visited me this much since I died... what's wrong?" Mike knew her like the back of his hand so hopefully she would open up to him.
"Nothing," she lied.
"Cut the crap, what's wrong... does this have anything to do with that Winchester?" Dean's ears listened in closely at the mention of his name, as she gained a defensive expression on her face.
"What Winchester?" she asked in return... how the hell did Mike know about Dean in the first place?
"Only the love of your life, the one you haven't been talking too... I think his name is Dean," said Mike aloud.
"Okay how the hell did you know about him... cuz' I sure as fuck never told you," she demanded, now it was personal.
"I have my sources, but I need you to tell me, because you aren't visiting just to say hi," Mike commented, backing away from the subject and tried to get her to talk about him instead of having to piss her off to no end.
"Nothing to tell, I loved him and he left me... and when I just start to trust him again he lies to me... it seems whenever he's around my world seems to shatter." A.J explained, that wasn't the whole exact story but she was hoping that Mike wouldn't have caught on.
Dean's face fell, his smirk at how defensive she was getting had turned into a frown, his eyes draining of all the promise that they had held. Knowing that she had thought that was killing him, he just wanted to kiss her but that would give away his hiding place and that he had been following her... although she probably already knew.
"That's not all, there is another reason your keeping him away." Mike realized.
A.J looked away, afraid to look her dead friend in the eye, afraid of the truth. No one was better at running from the truth than she was but having Mike bringing it up was just way too bad... cuz' she knew once he caught on to something that there would be no hope in hell that he would let it go.
"You still love him don't you?" Mike asked, trying to figure this out.
"Yeah of course I do... it's kinda hard to get rid of," she looked into his eyes and that was her first mistake... her next mistake was letting him see how vulnerable she was.
"Oh my god, I get it now," Mike smirked at how uncomfortable she was getting, she never really did well in the emotional department.
"Mike don't, don't you even..." but she was cutt off by Mike, and this is something she definately did not want Dean to hear.
"Your afraid he is gonna die, like your parents, like Caleb did... you're afraid that if he dies it will be your fault."
Dean leant against the gravestone, so that was what this thing was about, he dealt with the same thing when it happened to Sam... so what was the big deal. He knew the problem, he knew A.J, if he ever died (which will never happen) she would blame herself and never give up that guilt. Man, she sure as hell was a complicated woman, and he knew he had fallen for her for a reason.
"It's understandable, the demon wants me and he is kinda in the way," A.J started but couldn't finish, her eyes were becoming damp with tears and she did her best hold them back, but they still fell from her eyes.
"A,J, he's not gonna die anytime soon... trust me, he still has a purpose, he's not dying... I gotta go, if I don't... Terri is gonna kill me," she laughed at that because he was already dead, you couldn't kill him again... but before his spirit disappeared she had to say one thing.
"Mike," she whispered.
"Yeah," he answered, if he wasn't gone soom Terri was really gonna kill him... she was gonna put him six feet under and that was never a good thing.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," A.J wiped her eyes fiercely at how pathetic she sounded.
"I'm not." Mike smiled, as his spirit disappeared from sight.
A.J wiped at her eyes until the tears were completely gone and stood up turning around only to see Dean standing a few feet away from her. She didn't want to deal with him right now, so all she did was walk past him toward her car, leaving him behind, in the cemetary, alone.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Jen opened the door, to see Dean with a smirk on his face. He obviously wasn't here to get Sam or to talk to her so she just said the one thing that she knew he wanted to hear, "She's in her bedroom," and returned to Sam's side after closing the door. Dean opened the bedroom door and closed it quietly, only to see A.J looking out the window with a dazed look on her face. All he had wanted to say was gone in the matter of seconds, his mind went blank and when she looked at him, he couldn't tell what she was feeling. Was it hate, misery, fear, love or distrust?
"Why are you here?" she asked, turning her gaze back to the scenery outside of the window.
"I came to talk," he replied, she could tell he was uncomfortable and she really didn't care.
"Yeah well, I'm not really in the mood," she said getting off the window and walking toward the bathroom.
"I can tell," he smirked, in that usual Dean Winchester fashion.
"So what do you want to talk about?" she asked, walking out of the bathroom with her pj's on.
"About what I heard in the cemetary..." he trailed off, sitting on her bed while he looked at her, trying not to stare at the fact that she was beautiful without makeup and all that other crap.
"You heard what you heard, that simple," sh was talking in short and he knew there was more she wanted to say but he wasn't sure how to get it out of her.
"A.J, I might not know as much about you, as that Mike guy, lately but I know there is something more."
"What is it with people knowing me better than I know myself... it nothing," she asked, still staring out the window.
"That's a load of bull and you know it," Dean replied, if she was gonna test him or whatever the hell she was doing then so be it, but as long as she got answers in the end.
"Fine, I don't want you to die because of me... you happy now?" she was now looking at him, with so much confusion that she couldn't control, he moved so that he was standing right in front of her.
"I'm not dying anytime soon... and if I do it won't be because of you," he replied softly.
"You don't know that," she breathed.
"Have I ever lied to you?"
"Yes," she answered, how little time it took for Dean to forget how they got into this mess.
"Okay, but I'm not lying now... that you can trust me on." Dean had been having way to many chick flick moments for the past month, of course he had only had two in the last week but that was enough for him.
"Are you sure, I'm not entirely convinced..." she mumbled, but she was interuppted by his mouth landing on hers and his tounge gliding over her bottom lip, just begging for access... which she weakly gave to him.
She woke up the next morning in his arms and cringed at how easy it was for him to forget everything that had happened, but smiled at the fact that she was wth him and nobody else. She looked over at the clock and noticed it was only five o'clock and yawned... she hadn't gotten up this early in years. She disentangled herself from him and tried to walk toward the bathroom, for a shower, only to be pulled back into bed.
"Does this shower have an invitation for me in it?" he asked, a cheeky grin on his face.
"Nope, sorry."
"Then your not going," he announced wrapping his arms around her, trying to keep his hold.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
It had been a few hours, Dean and A.J had finally gotten ready and now they boys were getting ready to leave. A.J and Dean were at the door, saying their last goodbye, it was going to be harder if they waited any longer and they both knew that they wouldn't be able to leave each other if they left the inevitable for later.
"Are you sure you have to go," she whined.
"Yea I have too, there are supernatural baddies that have to be killed," he replied, his bag was already in the trunk of his baby and now he was just waiting for Sam.
Dean kissed her, the kiss went from simple and quick to passionate and deep, and there was really no choice other than to push her against a wall. A.J was holding on to the collor of his jacket and his hands were slowly moving up her shirt... compleltely forgetting that the boys had to leave in the time of 20 minutes. A.J pulled apart with a smile and grabbed his Impala keys from the table and put them into Dean's hands.
Sam and Jen walked out of her room and he dropped his bag, pulling her in for a kiss. When they didd all they could do was smile like a pair of oompa loompas, and both Dean and A.J laughed at the two of them. They said everything they needed to say with their eyes and that was all they could do because both Sam and Jen were ultimately speechless. sam leaned in for another kiss to say their last goodbye but was interuppted.
"Sammy, let's haul ass... we need to make it to Georgia as soon as we can... so let's go already," Dean called to his little brother, who picked up his bag and walked out of the building and got in the car. Dean gave A.J one last kiss before heading the same way Sam just did, but before closing the driver's side door John pulled up, with his driver's window down.
"Where's A.J?" John asked.
"What are you talking about?" asked Sam and Dean in unison.
"She's coming with you," John answered both of their questioning looks.
"Why?" Sam asked, although he probably already knew the answer.
"Because she is our only weapon against the demon," Johnsaid the exact same hing that was on both of his sons minds.
Dean sighed, shook his head, got out of the car and ran for A.J's front door, the door that had just closed behind him, thinking they were leaving. He knocked on the door once, no answer' twice, no answer; three times and then he hear A.J yell something fom the other side of the door.
"Jen, why are you packing for me... and why are you packing my stuff anyway," A.J asked, Jen had been packing for her since she had closed the door, saying that she was going somewhere.
There was a knock at the door but she didn't bother, she was too busy with why Jen was packing her stuff. There was a second knock, but she ignored it waiting for a straight answer out of her friend. After the third knock though Jen almost yell 'get the damn door' which made A.J go and get it... only to open it and see Dean on the other side.
"Back so soon," she grinned as she watched Jen come up with her duffel in hand and hand it to her.
"There you go, ready for your trip," Jen said, handing over the duffel to A.J.
"What trip, where the hell am I going?" she asked, still not getting the point.
"Apparently your coming with us," replied Dean with a happy smirk on his face like he had heard the best news of his life.
"You're kidding, right?"
"No, but it's your choice, either come with me or stay here in a town I'm not even sure you like," Dean proposed a ultimatum.
"You... definately," she didn't even need a second to think about it, she knew what her decision would be.
Dean and A.J walked out to the Impala and Dean threw her duffel in the back seat. Before they drove off A.J caught a glimpse of John through his truck window, and it looked as if he were planning something although no one knew what he was thinking.
"Why do I get the feeling that your father is gonna be using me as a weapon against the demon?" she asked Sam, once they were a few miles away from Madison, Dean was sleeping in the passenger seat.
"" Cuz' he probably will," Sam answered, she had asked for the truth and that was exactly what he had given her.
"Great... just like old times."
A/N: Thank you for all your reviews on this chapter and I'm sorry it had to end. I will miss this story in the end and I love all of you loyal reviewers who stuck with me no matter how long it took to get this finished. Everyone R&R! I love you all for reviewing and I will never forget those who helped me figure some things out. Love all you guys.