Chapter 21: The Talk

I sit on the couch in nothing my pajamas, my headphones in my ears. It was late and everyone else was sleeping. I, however, cannot. I stare into space, not paying attention to anything but my music.

I feel a hand touch my shoulder and I jump, getting into a defensive stance. I swing at whoever touched me and make contact with a shoulder. "Woah," Derek says, putting his hands up.

I take my headphones out and look at Derek. "You scared me!" I say. "Don't do stuff like that."

Derek laughs and massages his shoulder. "Nice swing. Shouldn't be surprised since you've been practicing your fighting every day for the past month."

I sigh and sit down. "It's the only thing I can actually do, being under house arrest and all. Plus, Dean insisted that I practice since I haven't really practiced much."

Derek sits down next to me. "Can't sleep either?" He asks after awhile.

I nod. "You having nightmares, too?"

He sighs and runs his hands through his blonde, curly hair. "Every night. I normally just stay in my room, but today I thought I would try walking around the house, to see if that would help. That's when I found you. I didn't mean to scare you. I didn't realize you were listening to music."

I laugh and put my iPod on the coffee table. "You're fine. Just really jumpy."

He nods and sits back. "That's understandable. We all are. I think Carter the most, though. Did she tell you about what they did to her before she agreed to finally join them at the barn?"

I shake my head and sit on my side, my head resting on the couch as I face Derek. "No," I say. "What happened?"

He sighs and looks up. "She probably doesn't want me saying anything... But you should probably know. When she arrived she was pretty well healed, but she told me that Ricki, the vamp that was in charge of getting her, just tore the shit out of her."

I think back to the scars I've seen on her arms and legs. "Chester did something similar," I say. "He cut into me. For hours. And he made Dean watch." Tears well in my eyes. "It didn't take me long to cave. He stabbed Dean and I couldn't take it anymore. I just wanted to keep my family safe."

Derek nods. "Same here. David, my vamp, only had to torture me for ten minutes until he threatened to go after my little sister. She's only seven, so I instantly begged for mercy. Carter was on the table for days."

My eyes go wide. "Oh my, God. That's awful."

He nods. "They couldn't really threaten her family, though. None of them are alive."

I shake my head and look up the stairs. "Wow. I feel so bad for her. She's so sweet."

Derek smiles and looks ahead of him. "Yeah. She is."

I smirk but don't say anything. "So," I say, biting my pinky nail. "We've been living with each other for over a month and yet we know nothing about each other. Who are you, Derek Vince?"

He smiles and stretches his arms above his head with a yawn. "What do you want to know, Emma Winchester?"

I think for a second. "What's your favorite color?"

He laughs and lets out a sigh of relief. "I thought these were going to be some seriously personal questions."

I laugh with him. "Hey, someone's favorite color can be very personal. Says a lot about a person's personality."

He laughs and then thinks for a bit. "My favorite color would have to be blue. Like the ocean. What about you?"

"Green," I say. "Like the color of grass, not an ugly green. Your turn."

We go back and forth answering each other's questions until the sun comes up. Dean walks down the stairs while we were talking about our favorite animals.

"Are you serious?" I ask, laughing. "I never would have guessed your favorite animal was the koala. I was expecting something like, a bear. Something scary, not cuddly."

He laughs and shakes his head. "Hey. Koala's are known to be pretty aggressive."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever," I say and turn to Dean, still laughing. "Good morning."

Dean smiles at me and heads towards the kitchen. "Morning," he says. He then comes back out with a glass of water. "How long have you two been up?"

I look at the clock. "I've been up all night," I say.

"Same here," Derek says. We both look down at our hands and I hear Dean sigh. 

"You two doing alright?"

I shrug. "We will be," I say.

"Eventually," Derek adds and he stands up. "I'm going to go shower. I'll see you later, Emma."

He then leaves and Dean looks to me with a questioning look. "What?" I say.

"I thought you liked Michael?"

My eyes go wide. "Dad!" I groan.

"Hey, I'm being serious. I like Michael. I don't know what I think of this Derek guy."

I stand up and start heading to the kitchen. "I don't like either of them that way," I say and make a bee-line for the coffee maker.

"It's okay if you do," Dean says. "I mean, just as long as you're not... You know. And if you are, if you're being safe-"

"Dad!" I say, completely mortified. "Mom and I already had that talk a long time ago."

Dean shrugs. "Well," he says, not meeting my eyes, his cheeks redder than mine and I can't help but laugh. "That was your mother and I figured since I'm your father I should-"

"I'm not having sex," I say and Dean chokes on his water. "And I'm still a virgin. I plan on staying that way for a long time."

Dean nods, still not looking at me. "Good," he says, taking a drink of his water. "Good talk. I'm going back upstairs to clean up."

I laugh as he quickly leaves the room. Sam enters and he looks back the embarrassed Dean and then to me. "Everything okay?"

I nod and keep laughing. "Yeah. Dean's just trying to be a dad."

Sam laughs. "How'd that go?"

My cheeks redden. "Mortifying."

Sam opens the fridge, still laughing. "He'll get the hang of it," he says.

I pour my coffee and start leaving the kitchen. "I kind of like this, though," I say, laughing. I sip my coffee and head up to my room. I close the door and change into a pair of black jeans, a white tank top, and red, plaid flannel. After doing my makeup and brush my hair, I leave my room and head outside.

Dean stands out there, his hands in his pockets. "What are we doing today?" I ask.

Dean looks at me and his face goes red. I laugh at how he is still embarrassed about our earlier conversation. "I thought you could try shooting some more today. I think you're starting to get the hang out if."

I nod and pick up the caliber. I aim it at my target and shoot. It hits the side of the can, not going through, but at least I hit it. That means I'm getting better with my aim. We continue doing that for about an hour. When done, I am covered in sweat from the summer sun and my hands cramp up from holding the gun for so long.

We head inside and I collapse on the couch, relieved to be inside the air conditioned house. "Hey," Carter says, sitting down next to me. "I saw you practicing outside. Your aim is getting a lot better."

I smile at her. She's really pretty. Her blue eyes really seem to pop under her white eyeshadow and long lashes. She wears a light blue button up and white shorts, her black hair tied back out of her face. I notice a long gash line on her inner thigh, but don't say anything.

"How are you doing?" I ask after a while.

She shrugs. "I'm doing better, I think," she says. "Still getting nightmares, though."

I nod. "We all are," I say.

Dean then comes in. "Emma? Can I speak with you for sec?"

I smile to Carter and follow Dean back outside onto the back porch. "Yeah?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"Can we keep our conversation from earlier to ourselves?" He asks. "I don't know what came over me and I realize that now that was an invasion of privacy-"

"Dean," I say, cutting him off. "It's okay. I won't say a word." He smiles and I hug him. "I love you, too," I mutter, not sure if he heard me, but it didn't matter. We pull away and he smiles. I walk back into the house and sit back down with Carter. We turn on the TV and watch cartoons together, neither of us saying anything. After awhile, I feel my eyelids grow heavy and I fall into a deep sleep.