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“Then there’s me,” Sam told her, pulling back only enough to stare directly into her eyes with his crystalline ones. “Before you say anything, let me say this. I never believed in love at first sight. I do know that from the moment you came into our lives—and yeah, this started for me before I even met you just from the way he talked about you—I remember thinking, no way could this woman be everything he’s built her up to be. Nobody could live up to that. Then you literally set my world on fire.”
They shared a smile as if that night happened years ago, and Kimberly realized that’s how it felt to her. Like she’d just known them forever, like she didn’t know how tolifewithout them anymore. Either of them. She didn’t know how it was possible for her heart to hold both of these incredible men within it, but here she was, bursting with love.
“Kimberly…” Suddenly, more earnest than she’d ever seen him, Sam lowered into his shoulders more so their faces were on the same level. “We can’t promise this will work out for all of us the way I’m hoping it will. All I know is that saying holds true for any relationship, don’t you think? Marriages fail by the boatloads every day, but people keep tying the knot. They keep trying, because they have so much hope and love in their hearts that they truly believe theirs will beat the odds. Who’s to say our situation doesn’t have the same chance at survival than anybody else’s?”
“I would say ours has a hell of a lot better chance.” Dean sailed into the kitchen in beat-up jeans and a skin-tight black tee.
Yup, she was definitely cleaning this counter today.
“Oh yeah? How so?” She’d been expecting a snarky, lighthearted answer with the way he swaggered, but he snagged an apple out of the bowl on the counter, took a hefty crunch, and the answer he gave held a lot more weight than his carefree actions.
“Because Sammy and me, we’ve been on this job for over eight years now, and the field we chose?” Dean paused to take another bite, and Sam took a deep breath, reliving memories she could only guess at. “It’s too cliché to call it the underbelly. Words like that don’t come close to describing what we ran into last night. And last night was mild. The monsters we chase, Kimberly, they’re proof evil is real.”
Sam and Dean eyed each other, and Sam added, “We’ve had to take turns dragging each other out of hell more than once.” He turned back to Kimberly, and the emotion shining in his eyes brought tears to hers. “It feels like the most natural thing in the world that we’ve now found heaven together.”
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
They had breakfast—quiche!The man could make quiche!—out on the back patio looking over the ocean as they discussed their next steps.
“So, I’m supposed to stay at home and… what?” Kimberly demanded of the two, stabbing her fork in the air for emphasis. “Knit like a good little woman? I left my loom and needles at my place.”
Sam chuckled, and Dean stuffed a huge bite in to keep from showing she’d gotten to him too.
“Did you want to come hiking through the woods again?” Dean asked her after he swallowed. “We can’t go anywhere near that cabin without probable cause, so it’s going to be strictly surveillance. It’ll be fun.”
“Yeah,” Sam said, getting into the action, “you could pretend we’re filming a wildlife documentary.”
“Feral man in his natural habitat,” Dean added, all humor gone.
“No. God, no.” Kimberly shuddered at the thought. “I never want to set foot in that place ever again. It’s just… I never want you guys to set foot in there again either. Good Lord, I feel like I’m in love with two cops. Is it always going to be like this? Having to sit on the sidelines while you two ride off into danger?”
They looked at each other, then back at her without saying a word, and that said everything. They remained silent and gave her time to come to terms with it or not.
While Kimberly appreciated them giving her time to come to her own conclusions, she wished they weren’t so fucking cautious right now. Damn shrinks. Why couldn’t they try to talk her into this? Where were the words of comfort and solace? Where were the claims that all would be well and there would never be any need for worry?
Neither of them offered a single word to help her though. No empty promises they had no control over keeping. No useless words of comfort that would evaporate every time they walked out the door. They just left her to decide for herself if she could take it.
Is there really any choice?she thought. No. She already loved them. If she walked away now, she’d be doing it without her heart.
“Well,” she said at last and took another mouthwatering bite of quiche, “you guys know where I can get a loom?”
They finished breakfast over jokes about Christmas gifts, and when Kimberly stood in the doorway and watched them drive away, she waited until they were out of sight before she let the tears of worry flow.
Wiping at them, she made her way back to Dean’s bedroom first. She was still wearing nothing but Sam’s shirt, so she went in search of some acceptable bottoms for her day. Even though Dean was a few inches shorter than Sam, she still had to roll the bottoms of his black sweats several times so she wouldn’t walk on them. The drawstring kept them firmly in place though, so she tied the tails of Sam’s shirt at her waist and considered herself dressed.
Lastly, feeling ridiculously sappy and just a little bit naughty, Kimberly snapped her collar into place and called it good enough. Satisfied, she headed to the kitchen to pour herself the last cup of coffee, then wandered out to the patio to begin her vigil. She hadn’t even sat down when she heard a voice from behind her.
“’Bout time.” Then something hard hit the side of her face, and everything went black in a blinding flash of pain.
Dean crouched in the brush and adjusted his binoculars. They couldn’t come onto the property without just cause, so they’d come as close as they could get on opposite sides of the property lines. Thankfully, the lot was fairly small, and they both had good vantage points from where they took position.
“I clock three vehicles,” he said and recited make, model, and plates for the audio even though there was video too.
“Copy that,” Sam replied over their coms. “I got a clear sight of the back door and an outbuilding we missed last night. Looks like it’s either a woodshed or an old workshop.”
“Copy. Any movement?” Dean asked.
“None. I can see two downstairs windows and one up, curtains closed, no shadows.” Sam’s voice was steel in his ear. Surveillance could last all day, but his partner would keep that razor-sharp edge until they were clear of this. It was a skill they shared.
