A Death In The Family - A Dean X Reader One Shot

Dean stood at the bar with his beer, eyes searching over some of the women intently. Unfortunately for him, the only one worth catching his eye was the one he couldn’t have.
He smiled as ______ headed back towards him. She’d turned the Unforgiven by Metallica on  the jukebox, earning enthusiastic hollers from a couple of the men in the bar who’d had more than enough to drink already.
It was rare that they were able to take a night off from hunting, and when they did it was usually spent just like this. Having a few drinks in some side of the road bar occupied mostly by bikers. They loved it.
“Now it’s a party!” Dean laughed, handing off a drink he’d ordered on her behalf.
“Jack on the rocks?” She asked, smirking as she accepted the glass. “You know me so well.”
Sam was sat at a nearby table with his laptop open, double checking for any jobs they may have overlooked. ______ walked over and nudged him, (e/c) eyes shining. “Come on, Sammy! Just relax and have a drink with us.”
He smiled, momentarily looking up from the screen. “I will, I will! Just give me a minute.”

______ noticed Dean eyeing a blonde woman, and couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. She knew better than to act on her feelings, if she did and it didn’t work out it would ruin everything. That knowledge never made it easier to see him staring at other women, though.
Rather than sulk or act suspicious, she swallowed the glass of whiskey whole before turning to her friend.
“Which one are you after?” She quizzed with a grin, as if she hadn’t noticed.
‘You.’ He thought. Shaking his head of the idea quickly he nodded towards the blonde, who was unaware of their presence.
“I bet you twenty dollars that I can reel her in for you.”
His brows furrowed at the cocky look on ______’s face. “Oh really?”
“Really! I bet I can serve her up on a silver platter in less than five minutes.”
The green eyed man swallowed the lump in his throat before extending his hand with a smile. “You’re on.”
The (h/c) laughed and shook his hand before walking off in the direction of her target, Dean unable to keep his eyes off of her hips as she moved.

______ bumped in to the other woman, acting as if it were an accident.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!”
The blonde smiled. “It’s fine.”
“Where did you get those shoes? They are so gorgeous!”
She seemed to warm up to her at the compliment. “Thanks! I got them from a store called Charlotte Russe.”
“I love them!” the (h/c) grinned, offering her hand. “My name’s ______, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Jenna.”
______ gestured vaguely to the patrons of the bar. “Not much talent to work with tonight, is there?”
“Not at all! I’m about ready to give up.”
“Same here.” She said, before acting as if she’d just spotted Dean. “Well well well, where did that one come from?”
Jenna followed the woman’s gaze and looked him over, interest apparent in her expression.
“I think he’s checking me out.” ______ bragged, winking at her friend who grinned in response.
She had sparked a competitive urge in the blonde. “Yeah, right. He’s looking right at me.”
“Say what you want, but he’s coming home with me tonight.”
“In your dreams.”

Dean was more than a little bit confused and flustered when ______ returned, pressing her body close to his.
“______?” He asked, eyes a bit wide and jaw tense from the unexpected contact.
“Make it look like you’re about to close the deal with me.” She whispered in his ear.
He understood what she was doing now.
He wrapped one arm around her waist, and rested the other hand on her hip, maintaining eye contact all the while. “Like that?”
She mustered the strength to suppress her urge to kiss him, giving a small nod. “Just like that.”
It was mere seconds before Jenna moved in, pushing ______ to the side.
She gave an angry scoff, the jealousy entirely an act until she saw Dean grinning devilishly at the woman. A sigh escaped her lips as she turned to walk away.
‘This is ridiculous.’ She told herself. ‘You can’t be jealous, he isn’t yours.’
At that she turned back around to look at Dean, who was looking at her over Jenna’s shoulder.
She saw him mouth the word ‘impressive’ at her and give a thumbs up, to which she replied by holding up two fingers on her right hand before making an O shape, a reminder of their bet. He grinned at the not-so-subtle gesture, and she made her way over to Sam.

About twenty minutes went by. The younger Winchester was having a beer with her now, but the laptop was still out.
“Sammy, please go put that thing in the car and have some fun!”
He had stopped caring if ______ called him ‘Sammy’ a long time ago.
“I’m sorry, I just want to make sure we haven’t overlooked anything.”
“You are overlooking one of the rare times that we’re allowed to have fun for a night.”
Sam ignored the statement, looking in the direction of his older brother and Jenna. “So, was it worth twenty bucks?”
“Not at all.” She groaned, expression falling.
“Why don’t you just tell him how you feel? What’s the worst that could happen?”
______ gave a mirthless laugh, rolling her (e/c) eyes. “What’s the worst that could happen? Probably having it fail and ruining our entire group dynamic.”
Sam took a swig from his beer. “So what’s your plan, then? Play his wingman and be miserable about it?”
“Not at all!” She chirped, gulping down the remainder of her most recent drink. “I’m going be miserable for a minute, have some alcohol, and go introduce myself to that guy.”
She pointed in the direction of a tall man near the jukebox. He had messy black hair that hung a bit past his ears, and smiled over when he saw her looking his way.
Sam sighed, shaking his head as she headed his way.

Dean saw ______ approaching the handsome man, and his stomach twisted up in knots. He’d been harboring his feelings for the female hunter for a long while now, but refused to do anything to bring them to the light. The very idea was terrifying.
“What’s wrong?” Jenna asked, having seen him looking past her shoulder.
He shook his head, attention drawn back to the beautiful blonde and a fake smile plastered over his face. “Nothing, it’s nothing. How about I grab us a couple more drinks?”

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?”
______ had planted herself beside the jukebox, smiling in the handsome stranger’s direction when she caught him looking. He took that as his invitation to approach her.
“Of all the pick up lines in the world, you decided to go with that one?” She grinned.
He drew a hand to his chest, feigning injury as a smirk played on his lips. “I must have been caught off guard by your beauty, my apologies.”
The pair exchanged a laugh, and she extended her hand. “My name’s ______.”
“A pretty name for a pretty lady. I’m Aaron.”
They talked for awhile, and had a few drinks. Occasionally ______ stole glances over at Dean and Jenna, just as he would look to her and Aaron every now and again. Neither of them noticed the other, though. Sam had seen it happening a couple of times from behind his laptop, but he had vowed to himself from the start not to get involved in their business.
The younger Winchester had been keeping a particular eye on ______, just to be sure that she was alright. He knew that she wasn’t happy about Jenna and his brother, and he knew that she was well on her way to getting drunk. She was an adult, but she was still his best friend, so he felt the need to watch her back.

It was when Sam let his guard down that the night took a turn.
He had finally decided to close up the laptop after all, making his way towards the front door to put it in the Impala. As soon as he’d stepped outside, Aaron took a tight grip on ______’s arm.
She looked up to him, confused and tipsy, but it all made sense when she noticed the terrifyingly sharp cluster of teeth peeking past his lips.
“You killed my girl, you bitch, and you’re going to pay for it.”
She’d been the one to behead the vampire they were hunting the night before Aaron’s apparent mate. The female vampire had mentioned having a mate, but no name, and he’d not been there when she was killed.
Even in her slightly altered state of mind, the hunter knew better than to scream, to draw attention. She refused to get any innocent people killed.
“It’s me you’re after, so let’s go outside.”
“You fancy yourself a hero, even in the face of death. How cute.” He growled just loud enough for her to hear, maintaining his vice like grip on her arm as they made their way towards the side exit. ______ looked in Dean’s direction, eyes full of urgency and fear, in the vain hope that he would look away from the blonde and see that something wasn’t right.

The cold wind sent a shiver down her spine as the vampire pulled her into the deserted alleyway, a sensation quickly replaced by pain as her body flew forwards, colliding with a nearby dumpster. Her vision blurred and spun, but she could still make out the form of Aaron approaching.
“Oh, did that hurt? So sorry, let me help you up.” He hoisted her up by the neck, slamming her against the neighboring wall with a laugh. “You know, I almost thought that your nosy friend would never stop watching us in there. I was afraid that things would have to get messy, and I really do prefer keeping a low profile.”
“If you’re going to kill me then do it!” She choked out, breathing becoming a heavy burden.
“You took all that I had away from me! Your death will not be quick!” Aaron spat, once again throwing the woman like a ragdoll.
A loud thud rang out as ______ hit the ground a few yards away. She was disoriented, but she took the opportunity to make a last ditch effort to save herself. She was lying on her left side, groaning exaggeratedly to keep Aaron entertained as she slipped her phone from her pocket. She moved quickly, dialing out to her number one speed dial contact before sliding the phone back into her jeans.

When Sam returned to the inside of the bar he didn’t see ______ or the man anywhere, which left him a bit uneasy. He saw his brother, still at the bar with Jenna, and made his way over.
“Hi there, can I borrow my brother for just a second?”
The woman gave a small smile, and Sam pulled Dean over to the side.
“Dude!”
“Did you see where ______ went?”
It was then that Dean realized that she was no longer in the bar, and his face twisted into a scowl. “She must’ve left with her new friend.”
“I don’t know. That’s not like her, Dean.”
“Yeah, well neither is hanging all over some stranger at a bar.”
Sam shuffled on his feet. “I just feel like she would have told one of us something if she was leaving with him. I was only outside for a minute, and now she’s just gone.”
Dean’s phone started to ring, her name plastered on the screen. He showed it to his little brother, rolling his eyes as he spoke. “Happy? And you two act like I’m overprotective.”
The gesture was returned by the younger Winchester. “Just answer it.”

“Hello?”
At first Dean didn’t hear anything from the other line, and assumed she’d dialed him by mistake. Just before he could hang up, though, he heard someone talking.
“Get up, damn it! I refuse to believe you’re this weak!”
“______?” Dean said, eyes wide.
Sam’s head shot up now, worry and confusion apparent on his features.
“Just kill me!”
“______! Where the Hell are you?!”
“Shhh, don’t shout. I know you’d hate to attract the attention of some innocent passerby and get them killed along with you.”
There was a momentary silence, followed by a loud crash before the call ended.
Dean was running for the exit now, Sam hot on his heels.
“What’s going on, Dean?!”
“She’s in trouble!” He snapped, opening the trunk in a frenzy. He grabbed a machete and holy water, and Sam grabbed a shotgun.
“They can’t have gotten far, it’s been a few minutes! Where would they have--”
Just then the brothers heard a loud scream coming from an alleyway behind the bar and took off running towards the source.
______ was lying on the ground, Aaron on top of her, mouth locked on her neck.
Sam immediately fired off a round from his gun straight into the vampire’s side. He knew it wouldn’t kill him, but with any luck it would take his attention from their friend.

“You must be dumber than you look if you thought that was going to work.”
Almost instantly Aaron was in front of Sam, tossing him backwards without a thought. Dean angrily swung the machete towards the vampire, who dodged it with ease.
“She’s going to die for what she did to my Isabella!”
“Over my dead body!” Dean spat, swinging a miss once again.
The vampire shrugged, taking a hold of the hand that held the machete. “Suit yourself, then.”
He twisted Dean’s arm sharply, causing him to drop the blade, which he quickly kicked to the side.
He slammed Dean against the wall, who responded with a sharp punch to the temple. It did little more than irritate the creature before him, but he was beyond caring.
“Do you think a right hook’s going to put me down you idiot?!”
Rather than answer, the hunter slammed his head into Aaron’s mouth, causing him to snarl at the pressure on his fangs. He slammed Dean’s head against the wall hard and reared back, preparing to sink his fangs into his throat.
Dean was braced for the bite, eyes snapped shut, but it didn’t come. He opened his eyes just as the pressure fell from his neck, Aaron’s now headless corpse falling to the ground in a pile at his feet. Sam was standing behind where he’d been with the machete, chest heaving and blood running down his face.

Dean wasted no time making his way over to ______. He didn’t care about his twisted wrist, the bloody gash on the back of his head, or his busted lip, he just needed to see that she was alright.
He dropped down next to her, Sam not far behind, and assessed the damage that Aaron had done. Blood was pouring like a river from the gaping wound that encompassed most of the right side of her neck, and her breathing was shallow.
Sam stared helplessly as Dean eased her head onto his lap, earning a hiss as he applied pressure to the soaked wound.
“Come on, ______, we need to get you back to the motel and patch this mess up.”
He was trying to keep calm, but his words came out barely more than a plea.
“No,” she drew a ragged breath in, the corners of her mouth twitching to a smile,. “you know that, isn’t happening.”
“Don’t talk like you’re giving up, don’t you do that! We just need to get you to the car, alright? We’re gonna carry you--come on, Sam.”
She reached a hand up weakly, patting his cheek. “You can’t save, everyone.”
There was a childlike look of sadness on Sam’s face. She smiled at him, causing him to force one back at her.
“You did good, Sammy.”
“Thanks, ______.”
Dean was visibly angry now. “Quit acting like we won’t get to talk about this later! Come on, Sam, you’re wasting time!”
“Dean…” He started, unable to continue the sentence.
They could hear her breathing growing more labored, causing Dean’s attention to fall back to her.
“Dean, I need to tell you, something. Okay?”
His lower lip trembled ever so slightly, and his eyes were beginning to tear up. “You can tell me anything, you know that.”
“Please don’t, blame yourself.” She paused, forcing air to find her lungs as best as she could. “I, I love...I love you…”
The words were a complete shock to him. In all of the time he’d been holding back his feelings for her, he never imagined that she could possibly be doing the same thing.
A smile crossed his face just for a moment, until he realized that the labored breaths weren’t coming anymore.
“______?” He called, barely above a whisper.
She didn’t answer.
“______?! Come on, wake up!” He yelled helplessly, cradling her torso in his arms with her head pressed to his chest as he rocked back and forth.
Tears were already falling down Sam’s face, a hand drawn over his mouth in shock.
“Please wake up.” Dean choked out, body shaking as the tears began to cascade down his cheeks.  “I’m so sorry, please wake up.”

--------------------

There was a funeral for her a week later, in her old home town. Dean had carried her lifeless form to the Impala that night, holding her in the back seat while Sam did away with Aaron's body. He'd tossed him, head and all, into the dumpster and set it on fire before retreating with their weapons.
They’d only invited a handful of other hunters, in response to the negative response many had given to their refusal to burn her body.
The fact of the matter was that neither of the brothers could even stomach the idea of doing that, not to her. In an effort to hide how he’d felt Dean explained the decision away as at least owing her a proper burial, for all that she’d done for himself and Sam. He made sure to keep to himself the idea that, if she managed to find a way back, she’d need her body. Anyone that knew him would take that as a threat to sell his soul, and probably torch her the second his back was turned.
Dean knew that it wasn’t an option, though. He could never do that to Sam, or to ______. Bringing her back to life, just to leave her behind to hold up his end of the deal? Leaving her with pain like this, the self-blame, regret, and loneliness? He could never be that selfish.

As the funeral came to a close each of those in attendance walked up to place a single red rose on top of the casket and say a quick goodbye. Dean saved himself for last, the dread of knowing he was about to walk away from her for the last time anchoring his feet in place until the last possible moment.
Sam had gone just before his brother, and waited near the casket for him, eyes still wet. Dean saw his concerned look and snapped, a sliver of his pent up anger finding it’s way to the surface.
“I don’t need a freakin’ babysitter, Sam! I can do this on my own!”
Sam knew that he didn’t mean anything by the outlash, so he just nodded and headed off towards their car.

Dean ran his free hand over the lid of the white casket, jaw clenched tight as he willed himself to hold back tears.
“I’m so sorry, ______. I let you down. Please, just, come back.”
He stood in silence for a moment, giving in to the pain in his chest as streams formed down his face. Even now, looking down on the ivory box, he couldn’t admit his feelings for her. What good would it do now, anyways? The time for love, and for any of the happiness that comes with it, passed on with her.
He laid his rose down on top of the small pile, tearful eyes lingering there as he turned to walk away.