everyonelives | why is it you always get to sit in the shade

( Bobby, too, escaped the culinary arts because he was defending the true faith from Michael and the other angels, but take out is just as good, even in Lebanon, Kansas. He doesn't have to assure Mary of that fact. He's also from a world where you eat what's put in front of you and from what Sam had said, they all up and scattered, so he expects them to be hungry for anything.

Dean unlocks the front door,

"Hey mom!" he calls out, holding the front door open so Sam can lead Allison and Lydia around and down the winding staircase to the lower level, and to the war room that doubles as their dinner table. He locks the front door behind him as habit. "It smells great," he continues, filing in behind them.

Dean deposits his rucksack by the foot of the staircase and so with a minimal check as to how Mary's taking this, Allison does the same, at least for while they eat. If her son does it... She wants the record to be shown that normally, she'd drop her bag into a room, or unpack, or something. But, Dean is Dean, always, especially with his mouthful in a diner in front of other people. She's not surprised.

Dean hugs his mom, a long, warm hug Allison would save for her father. It's another thing they have in common, their devotion, but not deference to their parents. Close to Sam, she waits for Dean to inevitably - no, not introduce himself to the food, yet, he shakes someone's hand and then pulls them in for a one-armed hug. Bobby, she thinks.

And then it's her turn. She doesn't look back at Sam, doesn't need to. )

Hey, Mrs. Winchester. Thank you for letting us stay here for the time being. I'm Allison.

Edited 2022-04-14 16:28 (UTC)

[She takes the hug from her son and responds with a good mom hug in return, rubbing his back gently as she keeps him close. When he does pull away to make his way towards Bobby, she offers Allison a smile as she moves closer, extending her hand.]

Mary, please. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Allison, but you don't have to thank me. It's not my house, I just stay here sometimes.

[It's Sam and Dean's bunker, and she's not about to take it away from them. But she can also read the context clues and sees Sam being awkward over her shoulder.]

Have you and Sam been ... working together long?

[She knows what she's looking at but she's going to give them the benefit of the doubt and try not to embarrass them too much.]

( She shakes Mary's hand making a mental note that she is more Melissa than Victoria. It helps her breathe just a little better. )

If it's all the same, I'll keep the thanks. Something tells me you still have a say in who comes through here.

( With that, she lets go of her hand, considering what to say next. )

On and off for six months. Officially, ( she hedges, getting to the meat of her question ) three.

Three?

[Mary raises an eyebrow back at her son.]

So this is probably a bit of an ... expedited situation?

[Sam clears his throat before rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sort of? There were some unexpected consequences from the last job we worked."

Mary nods, before gesturing back to the table.]

Well, sit. Eat. We can tell me all about it over food.

[She then sees Lydia as people part ways, and glances back to her other son.]

Are you and Dean ...?

[He did say they were both bringing special someones after all. Lydia's eyes widen and she quickly shakes her head.

"Oh, God no. I'm just a tagalong. Lydia."]

Expe -

( With that she does turn to Sam, because, no, she's not pregnant or accelerating anything emotionally, any moreso than this life they lead perpetuates.

Still looking at Sam, she mouths, 'Consequences?' but passes Mary, anyway, and takes a seat near Dean. She speaks up for Mary to hear, though as she lets herself be distracted from the food. )

Lydia's one of my oldest friends.

( "Sammy, me, and Lydia high tailed it to New Orleans when we thought something had happened to Allison," Dean says through a mouthful of food. )

I was presumed dead, to help fleece the enemy, and they came calling. Not my finest hour as a leader, or a friend, but it gave us the opportunity we needed.

[Sam gives an awkward shrug of apology, and if it were anyone else's sons, that's probably what the mother's mind would have jumped to. But given Sam and Dean's lives, Mary assumed that the consequences were of a supernatural variety rather than a romantic one.]

Ahh. At least it wasn't real death. Even for Winchesters, that can be a bitch to come back from.

[Took her more than thirty years, after all.]

( Expedited. She didn't catch that. )

I cheated it once, I thought I'd make it an even two.

( Cheated is generous. She spent most of junior year recovering from the Oni's sword. )

Sounds like you have a little luck on your side.

[And that's a good person to have when Winchesters are around.]

So what brought you running home?

["Someone posted this list online doxxing a lot of big name supernaturals," Lydia holds up a hand. "Myself included. So Dean thought it would be smart to go off the grid for a while."]

And you are a ...

["Banshee."]

Oh wow. Those are pretty rare.

And different then the ones your sons are used to. We learned that there are species with different magical origins. All kinds.

( When she heard about the banshee in the retirement home, she worried about Lydia, about what she could become, but Lydia went through the worst at Eichen House, and she has grown into a confident banshee. She is not wrathful or wailing. )

Vampires, werewolves, banshees.

Yeah, I'm learning that too.

[She's had a lot to catch up on in the time she's been gone.]

But I generally trust my sons enough to use their heads.

[Lydia glances over at Dean, raising an eyebrow because no, she hasn't forgotten the night they met, but she says nothing.]

( Dean came in hot, but, he's always come in hot. He's working on that anger streak, trusts Allison and in turn trusts Lydia, so her look is met with a look. She can blame him for how he was raised and the last eighteen or so years, hell, his life, he'll take it.

Allison sees the look, too, and doesn't tell her that her sons have good heads on their shoulders. Because she does believe Sam... does. Eventually, Dean won't feel like a wildcard. )

What was it like, if I may ask? Coming back after all those years?

... It was pretty rough.

[She had a very steep learning curve of things to adjust to, and a lot of emotional work to figure out as well. It was hard, so honestly her statement is a bit of an understatement.]

I went from having a husband, a four year-old and an infant to my husband being dead and my sons being two grown men in the blink of an eye. It's hard not to think about the things you missed, or wondering the point of being back here in the first place.

Life is a struggle enough without having to try and find your way back through it after a long absence.

( That, she can see.

"Mom did the work," Dean says, recalling how she had to go off on her own so often in the beginning, how she involved herself with the Men of Letters, and how she found her way with their newly found family, and with Jack who is more like a grandson now to her. But also a nephew. Yeah, that's complicated. )

It helped that my sons were so understanding about it.

[A pause as her boys get a smile.]

And are also used to piles and piles of weird shit.

You only call it weird shit cause God didn't carbon copy you across twenty universes.

( That they know of. He probably did, but Chuck didn't nearly care enough about their parents as he did with the Winchesters themselves. Not to mention, AMIDST the God of it all, they had already met angels (hi, Cas), time traveled, and traveled between worlds. )

Yes, sweetheart. That doesn't really happen to most people.

[She's just saying. Lydia raises an eyebrow at that however, and raises her fork with a question.

"Did anyone ever try to tell him that's a bit obsessive?"]

( Just him and Sam. And Cas and all his copies. Jack for a time. Easy to get a new lease on life when God stops fucking with you. Otherwise, he might not have made it real with Elena. After all, what was? )

The guy masked himself as a prophet for years writing our life in a series of pulp novels. He didn't need to be told. ( He pauses. ) They're... graphic.

[Lydia's eyebrows climb even higher because what is your life, Dean, but before she can express any further commentary, the door to the bunker opens and closes, and Damon's voice carries out into the kitchen.]

Hello, Winchesters. Just a friend, don't shoot.

We're in here!

( He glances at Sam. )

Elena and Katherine are on the run.

( Which, fine, where Damian goes. Secret bunker, though. Who is he kidding, their bunker became a hunter hub years ago in the great crossover from Apocalypse World.

"This feels a little like theatre class," she says to Lydia. Who knows who's going to come in the door. )

Yes, they are, and I was instructed to meet them here.

[He didn't just show up to the secret bunker for no good reason. But he will smile at Mary, who is the one person He doesn't know.]

Damian Jericho. Pleasure.

["Mary Winchester." She gets up to start cleaning up what's left of dinner. "I'll let you guys talk."]

( Dean lets his mother busy herself as the rest of them get down to business. )

Katherine letting anyone in on her future whereabouts. Not something you get used to, easily. Take a load off. You drink?

Always.

[Look, they live a hard life, and he just came off a hard job before he rushed out here.]

Honestly I thought she would beat me here. They must have hit a detour.

Elena.

( They've described their two dynamics perfectly in a one-two punch like it was planned.

He gets a beer for his efforts! Have a beer, Damian.

"You know my father, Chris Argent," Allison says coolly, making it clear that they are in hunter company. )

No, she already had Elena.

[He takes the beer with a nod before sliding into a seat.]

That's why she told me to come here - because she was taking Elena here.

[Then he turns back to Allison with a smile.]

Yes, I do. Lovely man who paid me very well.

( They may have already buddied up, but even he can see his girlfriend's passion sending the distant family members on a side quest. Elena plus Katherine, version: hunter. )

Yeah, we're caught up.

( "I'd hope all your clients paid you well." Allison would assume that if he's hired, he's taken care of. )

Edited 2022-08-11 22:58 (UTC)

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