Who: Dean Winchester dean & Caroline Forbes miss_mystic What: Caroline still hasn't found who she's looking for when she gets to the garage. When: Thursday, Sept 29, midday Where: Rainbow Motor Repair Rating: Audience Discretion is Advised Warnings: Horror Themes/Thoughts Containing Supernatural Content/Dean Winchester thinks about pie too much. Status: Partner Thread/Complete Upon Posting
~*~
Music from a bygone era sounded out around the classic car Dean Winchester was working on. He saw a figure slip into the office before the bell sounded to alert him someone had stepped in looking for help. She had a familiar look to her which Dean associated with Stefan. It'd make sense someone would come looking for him here since it was his regular day to work. They'd swapped schedules around due to appointments Dean wanted to be at for Claire. Things were different when a guy was planning for a family.
Dean couldn't care as much about the garage when he knew Claire needed him. If he had it his way? He'd staff the garage with someone else all the time so he could be with her constantly until she gave birth. The only reason Dean hadn't gotten to that stage was because he knew hovering over her would drive her crazy and she didn't need to be crazy while pregnant. He wiped his hands on a grease rag before tossing it onto a drum of oil. It figured Stefan would have pretty girls still looking for him even after he was more-or-less off the market.
"I'm Dean and you look like someone who is looking for Stefan. Sorry. You still haven't found who you're looking for. He's off today since he covered for me earlier in the week."
The office was almost frigid in comparison to working in the garage. They had fans to keep from passing out in the heat; Dean didn't really care too much for AC any longer. Memories of Hell tended to give him a little more perspective on his definition of 'hot.' He moved behind the counter to consider the woman. No way was she there to get work done on her ride. She had the look of the pretty, popular girl who had a jock boyfriend to do all her repairs for her. Dean figured if she knew Stefan? She was older than she looked.
Given Stefan was a vampire, that didn't mean too much in terms of what kind of lifestyle she was living or how old she was in literal years.
"You are looking for Stefan, right? I'll go ahead and apologize if you're here to have work done. We aim to please at Rainbow Motor Repair."
He gave her a Good Guy Grin -patent pending- while waiting on a response.
~*~
It had been too long since just she and Stefan had hung out. Sure she went back to the house to see all her old roommates sometimes. And then they had had that triple date not too long ago, but it had been forever since it was just the two of them. Plus she had never been by his work before so she figured now was a good time.
After finishing her shift at the bakery she headed over to the garage where he worked only to be greeted by someone else. Dean, apparently. Caroline furrowed her brow at his assumption. She was in fact looking for Stefan so that was correct but she wasn’t aware that she looked like someone who was looking for him. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
“Yeah, I’m looking for Stefan,” she confirmed. “He get a lot of people in here looking for him?” She had no idea he was thatpopular.
~*~
"I know every employee here. You aren't looking for me. No one else I got here is likely to have you coming to visit. Process of elimination."
Stefan wasn't the guy's best friend without a reason. Profiling people was part of the con Dean had been forced to get used to running in order to survive his childhood. He was the guy who made the pieces of the puzzle fit together and fast so he came out on top. The other option was getting beat because there was no such thing as a guy hitting second place and surviving it as a hunter. Hunting was not the kind of lifestyle a man lived occasionally: hunting was the only life a hunter had if a hunter wanted to stay alive.
Dean folded his arms across his chest as he sized her up, "You look a lot more cheerful this close. Stefan's Dastardly Doom look definitely wouldn't suit you. I take it you're the silver lining to his cloudy skies? In the friend-zone way, I mean."
~*~
Caroline raised a brow. He wasn’t wrong. She and Stefan were just friends. Despite the fact that in her dreams they were currently dating (Stefan hadn’t gotten that far yet) she saw him as a brother. In fact that whole dream dating thing was a little weird for her. And in both worlds she was usually the one to bring him out of his broodiness. Perhaps more so in the dreams since Lexi was actually around in this world to help with that too. But yes, Caroline Forbes was a ray of light, not just to Stefan but most people. There was no denying that.
“Well, someone’s got to look on the bright side. Or remind Stefan to. The world really isn’t as gloomy as he makes it seem, but I’m sure you know that.” Neither was being a vampire, however she wasn’t about to give up Stefan’s secret, or her own, to someone she had just met. Sure he might even know about Stefan already but he didn’t know about her. It was true though, being a vampire really wasn’t that bad. It had taken Caroline a bit to get used to it, but now she couldn’t imagine being human again.
~*~
People underestimated Dean Winchester every day of his life. He was used to being looked at and immediately dismissed as just some grunt. School hadn't come easily to Dean for plenty of reasons other than whether or not he was stupid. Intelligence had little to do with grades in his experience. The pretty blonde could eye him all day long; Dean wasn't going to apologize for being able to call a situation how he saw it. She was probably used to being the one people were happy to see coming around.
"No," Dean admitted, "I don't know the world to be any brighter than he does. That's why we get along. I'm lucky enough to have found a little light in the darkness for myself. Seems to me Stefan's lucky to have found you. Have you met Bubbles yet? She's about as close to a literal ray of sunshine as anyone is getting from what I can tell."
Dean figured it couldn't hurt to size up his friend's friend. He was just good looking out for a pal. That was all.
~*~
“Yeah,” Caroline replied with a nod. Of course she had met Bubbles. She was closer with Blossom and didn’t know Buttercup. Bubbles she usually only saw with a group of people, Blossom she hung out with in groups or just the two of them. In fact she had even gone on group dates with the two sisters, the guys from her dreams, and of course Peeta. It’d be weird to go on a group date without her boyfriend.
“Stefan needs people like that in his life. She’s good for him.” Really, how anyone could be so gloomy all the time she had no idea. Granted whenever she was with Stefan they usually ended up laughing though. Unless he was freaking out about blood. Ironic that he was the one that had taught her control in the dreams but she was much better at it than him. Both places.
“Why is the world so dim for you?” she was genuinely curious. She didn’t get why people just didn’t look on the bright side sometimes. But then Caroline saw the good in everything and everyone. Even guys that kidnapped her and killed her boyfriend’s mother.
~*~
"I can agree with that. She's a special case. I almost lost it because I brought meat to a picnic when she's a vegetarian. I'm a total carnivore. Rabbit food does nothing for me."
Dean hadn't known whether Caroline knew anything about him until she'd asked what had to be the most obvious question in the world regarding his life. Hell wasn't exactly a prime vacation spot. He knew Stefan wasn't a guy who talked. It surprised him he hadn't told his friends he was working for a hunter at the very least. Dean made hunting a thing he knew about, had done in his Dreams until his body could respond out of reflex alone, and not a part of his life in Orange County, but it was a part of him.
Some days Dean felt hunting was the only thing there was to him.
'Saving people. Hunting things. The family business.'
Looking at her for a moment, Dean decided to go for broke, "Spend enough time in and out of Hell? You'll find it's hard to see silver linings, too. My Dreams are what most people would call nightmares. For me? They're the hand I was dealt. Stefan and I have both done things we aren't proud of, seen things people---good people aren't supposed to see. It changes a person. It changed me. I can fake it. Better than him by a long shot. I just don't see the point in it unless faking happy is more likely to get me what I want than being myself."
~*~
“Hell?” But then he went on to talk about dreams. Ah, well that made more sense then. But Caroline was a firm believer in not letting dreams dictate her life. There was a time where they affected her, made her sad when bad things happened. But now they had just gotten so ridiculous she could no longer take them seriously. Even when side effects carried over.
“See, here’s where you and I are different. The dreams just make me realize how good I have it here. There is no point in focussing on all the bad. It’s just depressing.”
~*~
Dreams could be a fun experience. It was possible to take much from them with less being given, but Dean knew his Dreams weren't the usual. There were few positive lessons to be learned from the Dreams Dean experienced on loop every night of his life now. He sometimes woke up in a cold sweat, terrified he'd hurt Claire in his sleep trying to fight against the restraints in Alastair's torture chamber; neither of them talked about the worst of their nights because Claire didn't have it easy in her other life either.
"I know it's better here. I have a lot to be grateful for in this life. I've got a lot I can't push away when I rub the sleep out of my eyes, too. Ignorance is bliss and I don't have that luxury anymore. There are people who count on me to keep my eyes wide open. Did you want to leave a message for Stefan? If it's serious, I got no problem calling him to tell him to come in to meet you."
Stefan would do it too. Without hesitation. Dean knew him well enough to know that for a fact.
~*~
Caroline wasn’t out to change this guys mind. She was all about looking on bright sides, finding the good. But she knew not everyone saw the world the way she did. Best to just let that subject drop. “Oh no. I’ll stop by the house. I just haven’t hung out with him much just us lately and have never seen where he works so I figured I’d stop by,” she gave an apologetic smile.
“I’ll let you get back to your work. Sorry about your dreams.”
~*~
"Not your fault. I'm glad yours give you a reason to smile brighter. I wish we lived in a world where we could all be so lucky. Maybe in the future, right? There's always tomorrow."
'Except there really isn't any such thing as 'tomorrow' is there? When 'tomorrow' gets here, it's called 'today' so waiting on 'tomorrow'? It's like waiting on something which is never going to come while knowing it's never coming.'
Ignorance was bliss.
Dean liked the idea of Stefan's friends feeling comfortable coming around the shop. He wanted Rainbow Motors to feel more than just a place where people worked. There were so few places a guy could call his own. It was nice to be a part of something good. They did good work, honest work in the garage. That mattered. It meant something. He smiled at Caroline and thought about how he hoped if his kid was a girl? She'd be that pretty with a smile that wide and a nature so hopeful even a guy who'd been to Hell and back wanted to believe in good again.
"You stop by anytime you want to try to catch him, Caroline. We're a family here. Just think of it like dropping by his house only you get to know we've got set hours when we're home."
Dean hoped she dropped by again sometime. Could be good for him. Could be good for all of them who worked there really and could anyone ever have too much 'good' in their lives?