In the Light

Chapter Forty-Nine: Introductions

Dean slowly opened his eyes. He was in a dark, dreary room. His wrists were tied, his arms above his head. The rope was tied to a hook hanging from the ceiling. He looked to his right and saw Julissa. His mom was there, injecting a bright blue liquid into Julissa's arm.

Dean closed his eyes, but then his mom was lifting his head, saying his name to wake him up. "Hey, Mom," he said through the pounding in his head, his eyes flickering open.

"Dean, I'm going to cut the ropes on your wrists now. Try not to fall on me."

"Mkay." Dean forced himself to open his eyes, trying to stay conscious. "What happened?"

"It was a djinn. It put you in a dream world. It was drinking your blood. I'm guessing it jumped you and brought you here." Mary had cut the ropes and carefully moved Dean so he could lean against the wall. She moved onto Julissa.

"Who's this?" Mary asked. Dean thought she was trying to keep him talking and awake.

"Julissa. I met her at a bar. She's a hunter too." He left out the part about them having sex.

Julissa spoke up then. "Dean..?"

He pushed himself off the wall and walked toward her. "I'm right here." He held her when Mary cut her down.

"Well, the djinn's dead. Let's get you two out of here."

• • •

"Dean! Thank God." Ruby slammed into Dean, embracing him. She didn't let go for a minute. "I haven't seen you in weeks. I guess the hunt went well. You look good, and you brought a friend." Ruby leaned around Dean to shake the girls hand. "Hi, I'm Ruby."

"Julissa. I'm a hunter. I worked the case with Dean." She seemed wary of Ruby.

"Come on in." Ruby gestured to the room. They had actually been staying in a nice hotel for awhile thanks to Castiel. Ruby didn't ask how he managed to get such a nice room. She had a feeling she didn't want to know.

"This is Kevin." Kevin waved, but didn't look up. He was absorbed in the tablet. They hadn't found anything useful yet. It was hard for him to translate it quickly. After a few weeks, he'd given into the life, and left behind his dreams of Princeton.

"Sam and Cas are on a hunt a few states over." To Julissa, she said "Sam is my husband. Cas, well, he's just Cas. You'll see." Ruby sat down next to Kevin and gestured for them to do the same.

"So, how's everything going, Ruby? How are you feeling?" Dean asked. Kevin sighed, stood up, and went to his room.

Ruby ignored him. "Pretty good today. A little bit of morning sickness earlier, but other than that I'm good."

"What about, uh, the other thing?"

"That hasn't happened for a few days. Anyways, Kevin's been working pretty hard. He hasn't found anything we didn't already know yet, but I'm hopeful."

There was an awkward silence until Julissa asked how they all knew each other. "Well," Ruby said. "I knew Sam in college, but he left to become a hunter. We found each other again not long ago and I decided to hunt too. Then we got married, and now I'm pregnant. Dean is Sam's brother and Mary is their mom. Kevin just joined us a few weeks ago." Ruby didn't know how much to tell her.

"So you're pregnant, huh? How's that gonna work?" Julissa leaned forward and put her hands on the table, clasping them. She had a tattoo on her wrist, so Ruby decided to ask about that instead of answering the uncomfortable question.

"This? It's an anti possession symbol. You all should probably get them too."

"So. How was the sex?" If Julissa could ask blunt questions, Ruby could too. She could tell that they'd had sex. "It must have been pretty good if Dean brought you back here."

"Ruby!" Dean looked embarrassed, if that was possible.

"Oh." Ruby leaned back in her chair. Dean really liked Julissa. "Let's start over. Hi, I'm Ruby and I'm certainly not a terrible person. You seem nice. We should be friends."

"Hi, I'm Julissa. I'd love to be friends with you." Julissa smiled.

• • •

It was pretty smooth sailing after that. Julissa quickly became part of the team. They told her everything and she said she was in it for the long run. Ruby liked her. She felt protective of Dean though. She didn't want him to get hurt. He was falling in love with Julissa.