#donna hanscum fic

[minefield-of-a-ninja]

CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5

Summary (request from @thesassywallflower​ for @spnfanficpond​ Secret Santa): Donna is horrified to learn that the boys have never had a proper Christmas, so she invites them to her house for the holiday.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Donna Hanscum

Warnings/tags: explicit (eventually), fluff (? Idk), angst (? light), domestic (can’t get much more domestic)

Chapter WC: 2000

Author’s notes: There will be multiple chapters to this -- at least three, and they will all be written in 3rd person POV, shifting perspective in each section.

Many thanks and love to my dear friend and the very best beta ever @brrose-apothecary​.  Text divider by @talesmaniac89​.

________________________________________________________________

“That’s it,” Donna exclaims, after wiping down her machete and carefully replacing it in its secure case in the bed of her truck. “You two’re comin’ home with me.”

She’s hyper-aware that the Winchesters didn’t have the most conventional upbringing, but, dangit, how many more times will they break her heart with stories about never going to a Christmas party or experiencing the joy of opening gifts on Christmas morning?

“C- coming home with you?” Dean wonders aloud as if he’s testing the words in his mouth. As if she uttered the invitation in Old Norse.

“Yes, Dean. To Stillwater.” Donna turns to face the brothers who both eerily resemble that deer she missed by a hair’s breadth on Highway 95 last week. “Jody and the girls’ll be there, and all’s you need’re the clothes on your backs. We can stop at the dollar store down the street for you two to pick up a couple white elephant gifts.”

“Dollar store?” Dean asks, looking thoroughly bereft of understanding.

“Dean, stop repeating everything that comes out of my mouth. And close yours while you’re at it; you look like a drowning guppy.”

Donna rounds the side of her pickup to stride toward the driver’s side door. The brothers shuffle after her like a couple of 10-year-olds who’d rather be playing Super Mario than endure whatever perceived Hell she’s invited them to.

“Donna...” Sam lets his words hang in the air while both brothers huff and puff condensation into the frigid night air and fidget after her. “We’ve never been to a Christmas party or anything like that.” 

“That’s why you’re coming to mine. No excuses.” She spins on her heel and stares them down as they exchange looks and unspoken words.

Dean’s the one who breaks first. He swings his narrowed gaze back to her.

“Will there be mistletoe?” he asks pointedly.

Donna tries not to think about Dean and mistletoe at the same time. Not that she’s never imagined kissing him, but now is not the time.

She snorts and rolls her eyes. “Of course! What kinda Christmas party would it be without mistletoe?”

Dean grins before slapping his brother on the back. “Well, Sammy, looks like we’re gonna have Christmas after all. Ya know, one without a Wood Nymph.”

“Huh?” Donna furrows her brow in question.

Sam shakes his head. “Never mind, long story,” he mutters. “I guess we’ll follow you?”

Donna claps her hands together as she nods, bouncing on her toes. “You betcha!”

“Can’t believe we almost passed this up,” Dean mutters to Sam as they unpack their bags, making a load of laundry. They each showered in Donna’s guest bathroom and she gave them some old clean sweatpants and t-shirts of her dad’s to wear for the night.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Sam agrees quietly, tossing his last pair of underwear to the floor. He’s pleased that Dean sees the value here in Donna’s home.

Ever since they defeated Chuck, Sam has tried a dozen different ways to get Dean out of the bunker and into a real house and real jobs. Dean seems frozen in time, though, like he can’t see that they can do just about anything they want now. They’re regular hunters — no angels or demons to battle (Jack and Rowena have seen to that). In fact, most of the monster world has quieted and stays in their own lanes.

“Imagine having this on the regular.” Sam tests the waters. “A washer and dryer from this century?” he chuckles, scooping up the dirty clothes and shaking his damp hair out of his face.

“Yeah, well, I doubt Donna wants a couple salty old hunters camped out in her guest room for the rest of her life.” Dean turns down the covers of his borrowed bed and inspects the pillow. “‘Sides, I like havin’ my own room.”

Sam watches Dean smooth his hands over the bedding, wondering...

He knows how Dean feels about Donna, even though his brother’s never put those feelings into words. Sam’s seen the way Dean looks at her, the way he touches her like she’s made of glass, and the tone of his voice when he says her name. Dean adores Donna, but even more than that, he wants her.

“What if...” Sam starts then pauses, shifting his weight. When Dean turns to face him with a questioning brow and wistful smile, he forges ahead. “What if you could share it with someone like Donna?”

Dean almost rolls his eyes as he slowly straightens his stance. His soft smile twists as he meets his brother’s gaze. Sam worries that he’s pushed Dean too far.

“And now we’re back to Donna deservin’ a lot better than...” Dean shakes his head and motions between himself and his duffle bag.

“Heya,” the woman in question sing-songs as she pokes her head around the door. “How ya doin’ in here? Need anything?”

Dean’s edge immediately smooths at the sight of the sheriff.

“Hey,” he answers with a quick, practiced grin. “We’re good. Better than. Just, uhh...” He reaches for the bundle in Sam’s arms. “Gonna throw this stuff in your washer if that’s okay?”

Sam notices the tiniest flush in Dean’s cheeks, and the sight squeezes his heart in his rib cage. Dean doesn’t think he deserves a life like this.

“Yep,” Donna replies, a bright smile gracing her freshly scrubbed and freckle-dusted face. “Right down the hall.”

“Alrighty then. Lead the way,” Dean says, following Donna to her laundry room.

Sam heaves a sigh before wandering to the small bookshelf in the corner for something to read.

Dean has nightmares almost every time he closes his eyes. Last night, he had a different kind of dream.

Donna was there, her soft blonde waves were piled on top of her head. Her fingers were floured and her big flannel shirt was dusted just the same. She laughed at his jokes and hummed through her smile when he wrapped his arms around her from behind. She smelled like butter and vanilla.

When he wakes, Sam’s already up and out of the room. A low light sneaks through the curtains, and Dean smells coffee. He rolls out of bed, runs his fingers through his hair, and makes his way to the bathroom across the hall.

“Dean, hey.”

Dean cocks his head and squints because it’s too damn early for pleasantries. It’s Kaia, though, and Dean owes that girl a lot of pleasant.

“Hey, kid. When’d you get in?” He turns toward her and she steps into his arms for a hug.

“‘Bout an hour ago,” she replies. “Claire’s in the kitchen.”

“‘Kay,” Dean answers pulling out of the hug with a lopsided smile. “Be there in a minute.”

Kaia nods and shuffles past him. “There’s coffee and french toast.”

“Nice,” Dean grunts, pushing through the bathroom door and switching the light on. When he sees his reflection, he groans. “Christ.”

His eyes are puffy and his hair’s sticking out in nine different directions. He shakes his head and sighs before taking care of business. Dean definitely puts the seat back down, washes his hands, and splashes his face and hair with water.

Before heading to the kitchen, he makes his bed and changes into his own clothes. As he shrugs into his flannel, he realizes it’s the one from his dream. The one Donna was wearing — his shirt and nothing else.

He could feel every dip and curve in his hands. She was so warm and soft. Dean’s thought about a hundred different ways to make her say his name the way she did in his dream. He can still hear her breathy voice in his head as he walks the length of the hallway toward the bright kitchen.

“Mornin’, sunshine,” Donna greets him first, and his skin flushes with heat.

Before he can focus too much on it, Claire sacks him without a word.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he murmurs, holding her close. He isn’t exactly the picture of emotional growth, but since Cas… well, he’s trying to be more present.

Dean closes his eyes and buries his nose in her messy hair. She’s been smoking, and probably drinking by the looks of it. “Takin’ care of yourself?” He pulls back, gripping her shoulders and looking her in the eyes.

Her smile is crooked, and her blue eyes are shot red and rimmed with black, but she’s still the strong little girl from Illinois whose daddy loved God enough to leave her.

Claire shrugs. “More’r less.”

Dean huffs a wry laugh, squeezing her shoulders before releasing her. “Sounds about right.”

“Heeeyyy.” Jody and Alex round the island to greet him with hugs and Patience isn’t far behind.

“Coffee?” Jody asks.

“Absolutely. I also heard there was french toast. Or did I miss it?” He turns to find Donna extending a plate heaped with carbs, and a steaming cup of joe. “Awesome.”

He accepts the proffered items from Donna with a hearty thanks.

Jody and the girls retreat to the dining room where Sam sits, doing a crossword puzzle. He looks up and Dean nods a good morning to him before sliding onto a stool at the island.

“So, uhh, dollar store, huh?” He digs into his breakfast, trying not to ogle Donna’s ass in her cute little red and white snowflake leggings. The phrase ‘thick thighs save lives’ will be stuck in his head for the rest of his stay here and he isn’t mad about it.

Donna nods as she turns to face him with her own cup of coffee. “And if I give you a list, can you pick up some wine?”

Dean bobs his head as he chews and his eyes roll back. “Oh, yeah... Yes, anything. Holy shit, this is good.” He’s momentarily distracted from objectifying his hostess by the un-fucking-believable french toast.

Donna chuckles, jutting a hip against the island. “Family recipe. Just like the smorgasbord for tonight.” She sips her coffee and watches him devour the rest of the meal in silence but for Dean’s moans and groans of satisfaction.

How many times has Donna thought about this? About Dean Winchester sitting at her kitchen island eating a breakfast and coffee that she made? About him enjoying it?

Experts say that good food and good sex share neural pathways. That a person’s reaction to good food is similar to their reactions to good sex. That theory takes on a whole new level of wow when applied to Dean.

Dean drains his mug and wipes his mouth.

“More... anything?” Donna asks innocently -- or so she thinks.

Until Dean’s gaze flicks to hers for a hot minute. She could write his hesitation off as morning brain, but then he drops his gaze to her mouth. He licks his bottom lip into his mouth then slowly drags it through his teeth.

Donna’s breath catches in her chest and her insides flip.

“Hey, so, we should hit that dollar store, and I think Donna wants us to grab a few bottles of wine, right?”

Sam realizes a beat too late that he’s walked in on something; Dean looks ready to attack and Donna’s cheeks are fuchsia. The younger Winchester’s gaze bounces around the tension between Dean and Donna before he clears his throat.

Dean blinks a couple of times and shakes his head. “Yeah... yeah, uhh...” He draws a deep breath and looks back up at Donna. “Got that list?”

Donna gnaws at the corner of her anxious grin. “Oh, yeah. I’ll text it to ya.”

Dean nods and pushes out of his barstool. The brothers find their boots and coats in the front closet. As they walk out the door, Donna calls from the kitchen.

“Oh, and Dean? When you get back, you need to help me find that mistletoe.”

The screen door slams shut behind them, and Sam laughs.

Chapter Two

Please don’t leave without telling me what you think!

[fatallyaddictedtofiction]

Ive got started-writing-a-huge-fic-for-one-scene disease please help me

[dumb-zombie-girl]

I'm writing a supernatural fix it fic in my notes app and when i get done would anyone be interested in me posting it on here?

[golby-moon]

I did a thing and jumped in (definitely not way too late what) to do Art Stuff for the @deancas-stabfest bang :0

I'm actually pretty happy with how this banner turned out. I usually go for weirdo angles on banners to force myself to practice or something but for this one, I just did a simple a top-down view of the table. hopefully made up for it by trying to copy the initials table carving style from the show?

what originally drew (hah) me to the bang at all was the visual elements section of this fic. I joined the bang a little after claims actually and took on more of a pinch hitter role as the sudden urge to draw a bunch of characters enjoying a Christmas dinner hit me over the head. first time drawing a lot of these characters so just in case from front to back we have Patience, Donna, Jody, Kaia, and Claire on the left, then Dean in the middle, and then Jack, Alex, Eileen, Sam, and Cas on the right

(idk what like 80% of the food is supposed to be either. I did draw a turkey, some pies that look kinda undercooker, Winchester Surprise, a plate of cookies, idk some bread stuff, bean casserole thing...mystery meat?? I think I did have something in mind for each of these things but idk can't remember them now lol)

food is...not my strong suit

the fic this is made for is called "Everlasting" by @entropic-saudade for the deancas stabfest (now offering femslash options)

[ladylilithprime]

Day 22: Ladies

(Takes place in the Faerie Court of Avalon, NJ series. Donna Hanscum is a selkie sheriff. Amelia Everett Richardson is a veterinarian specializing in magical animals and animal forms. Matthew Pike is their foster son and best friends with Jack Kline Winchester, who is the adopted son of the faerie whose magic helped Amelia transition in exchange for her first born child-- Amelia's suggestion. The child's sire is either John Castiel Novak or James Constantine Novak, who are twins and Sam's husbands, and donated their sperm to the cause by way of artificial insemination.)

I NEVER THOUGHT that I would say I miss morning PT," Amelia Richardson groaned as she carefully eased herself down into the embrace of the large, overstuffed armchair that had pretty much been declared as her chair from the moment she had been invited to move in. They had just returned from another appointment with Meg, an almost 900-year-old dragon woman who had taken charge of Amelia's health care for the time despite technically only being a registered nurse at the hospital. Immortal credentials were hard to transfer over despite the Magical Revelation, but everyone Amelia had asked said Meg was more than capable, which was good enough for her. With a swing by Lighthouse CommodiTeas for a couple drinks and to drop Donna's foster son, Matt, off for a sleepover with his best friend, that meant that Donna and Amelia were going to have the apartment to themselves... and here Amelia was, sore and exhausted and wishing she was still doing the PT from her brief stint in the Marines again!

"Do you really?" Donna asked, eyebrows raised skeptically. Amelia thought about it, then made a face.

"No," she admitted and sighed. "I miss having the stamina to go up two flights of stairs without being winded. Not really looking forward to the long haul effort it's gonna take me to get back in shape after the munchkin pops out, either."

She placed a hand over her extended abdomen and immediately felt the roll and flex as the baby inside her womb shifted position and pressed back. There was still at least half a month to go on the incubation period, and while Amelia had no desire to rush things along and risk the baby's health from coming out earlier than intended, she also knew that she was quite ready to have the whole thing over and done with.

"It'll take longer than you'll like, but it won't take as long as you think," Donna promised with a pat to Amelia's shoulder as she passed. "Hungry?"

"Yes," Amelia admitted, a little sullenly. It felt ridiculous to be hungry when they'd just had lunch three hours ago. "Do we have any salt and vinegar chips left?"

"I got a few more cans yesterday," Donna called back as she disappeared into the kitchen. She was back a moment later with a can of the requested chips and a bottle of the Green Machine fruit smoothie, both of which she handed to Amelia. "Don't give me that look, Meg said to keep your iron levels up for the baby on account of the faerie magic at work."

"I know, I know," Amelia sighed. She obediently opened the smoothie bottle and gulped down a third of it before going for the chips. "So, we have the place to ourselves with the only kid still here being the one inside me... I know I can be a little oblivious, but this feels like a set-up for either a romantic evening or a serious conversation."

"Kinda," Donna admitted, ducking her head a little sheepishly. She dragged the ottoman over and sat down on it in front of Amelia, then lifted the other woman's feet into her lap, gently tugging off her shoes and rubbing soothing fingers over the marks left behind by them on Amelia's swelled feet and ankles. "This thing between us... it's working pretty well, right?"

"Yeah?" Amelia bit her lower lip, wrestling with the sudden spike of anxiety. "I mean, I kinda thought so. I know this... me living here... only really started because I had that dizzy spell right at the end of the first trimester and Meg put her foot down about me living alone while gestating..."

"Charlie would've offered to take you in as a roommate if I hadn't volunteered first," Donna admitted, ducking her head a little. "I almost had to arm wrestle her for it. And it wouldn't have made a difference in our dating, except for the driving back and forth. I kinda worried that you'd think I was jumping the gun, going from dinner out to moving in after just two months, but...."

"But I was already head over heels for you and jumped at the chance to move in with my gorgeous girlfriend, who actually wanted me to move in," Amelia finished with a crooked little smile that probably didn't do anything to hide the way her heartrate had picked up. She hesitated, then added softly, "Sometimes I wonder how things might've gone between us if we'd met earlier... before I was a real woman...."

"You were always a real woman, Lia-love," Donna broke in gently but firmly. "You might not've realized it at the time, but--"

"I was an angry shell of a person trying too hard to be a man because that's what was expected of me even by me," Amelia interrupted, shaking her head. "And as much as it pains me to say... you really wouldn't have liked me back then. I was a complete asshole, too lost in my own pain to care how much pain I put the people around me through. Being a woman... being allowed to be a woman... has made me a better person overall, and being with you just makes me keep wanting to work at being better. Because you deserve the best, and while I don't exactly think that's me, I'm just so damn grateful you're willing to settle for me anyway that I'll keep trying to be the woman you deserve in your life."

Donna's eyes were suspiciously bright as she reached out and fumbled to take Amelia's left hand in hers. She brought it up to her lips for a kiss, then turned it enough to kiss the base of Amelia's bare ring finger. And then, to Amelia's astonishment, Donna brought their twined hands together to touch the little gold locket she wore in the hollow of her throat.

"I showed you what's inside the front cover of this locket, right?" she asked, her voice thick with emotion. Nonplussed but feeling the unexpected weight to the question nonetheless, Amelia nodded, heart in her throat. "There's a compartment in the back... behind the engraved iris blossom. It's enchanted to have an expanded interior... because it's where I keep my pelt."

Amelia felt her heart practically slam to a stop in her chest before picking up triple its normal speed in shock. "Didi--"

"I don't expect you to do anything with this information," Donna went on, looking up into Amelia's eyes earnestly. "I keep it here because I never know when I might need to 'fursuit up' for an emergency, and I know you well enough to know you respect that and wouldn't try to hide it or anything... you'd probably bite the head off of anyone who did try and take it, knowing what's in it."

"Damn right, I would!" Amelia choked out, her vision starting to go a bit blurry around the edges. She'd take on anything and anyone that put her Donna in danger! "Why--"

"This thing we have is working real well," Donna said with a slight shrug, squeezing Amelia's hand gently. "I just wanted you to know where it is. So you'll know if something happens and it needs looking after."

The dam broke and Amelia burst into tears, too overwhelmed to do anything but cry and clutch at Donna's hand. She felt her girlfriend - was she her wife now? Fianceé? - lean forwards and draw her into a tender embrace. She collapsed against the other woman's chest and sobbed, choking on a wet laugh when the baby protested the suddenly squished position with a sharp kick.

Thank you, she wept, unable to voice the words properly. I love you. I promise I won't let you down.

And the kiss Donna pressed into Amelia's hair felt like a truer benediction than that of any god.

[mrcowboydeanwinchester]

☀️ on sunshine ☀️

charliedonna fic - 7250 words - rating: M - read on ao3

art by myself and @limbel - view full piece

“The two biggest rays of sunshine this side of the Atlantic,” Dean grins. “It’s fitting you two are finally meeting.”

Charlie knows all too well what it is to smile for everyone but herself. And after months of running across Europe to retrieve the Book of the Damned, she’s grateful for a change of pace when Dean suggests they spend the weekend with Donna and Jody in Sioux Falls. So now it’s spring, Donna is beautiful, and from the second Charlie lays eyes on her she wants to figure out who really lives behind Donna’s sunny smile.

thanks to @magdaclaire for the beta!

Charlie meets Donna for the first time, and is greeted with the widest smile she’s ever seen.

On the drive up, with ABBA playing in the background because Charlie has Dean wrapped around her little finger, Dean had promised a change of scene in Sioux Falls, a change of pace. Getting out of the tense coffin of the Bunker would be good for both of them: it would let Charlie unwind after being on the run for so long and it would let Dean forget, hopefully, about the mark burning its way through his arm.

Jody has a proper backyard, he’d said. Actual sunlight, and some room to breathe. And Donna is stopping by for the weekend, too, so you’ll get to meet her as well. Donna’s awesome, possibly the smiliest person I’ve ever met. 

He’d looked over at her then, eyes off the road, fondness rolling off him in a way he always hides when the others are around. Well, maybe apart from you. 

So it’s a smile she’s greeted with from Donna now, just as Dean had said. A welcoming, friendly, gorgeous one, as Donna holds open the door and beams hello.

“Hello you two! Jodes, they’re here!” she calls to the hallway behind her, before turning back to them and stepping down to wrap Dean in a warm hug. 

“And you must be Charlie,” she grins, disentangling herself from Dean and turning to where Charlie is standing beside him.

“Hi,” Charlie replies, giving her a little wave. The second she does it it feels stupid but Donna returns it easily, before taking Charlie’s wrist lightly and pushing it aside so she can wrap Charlie into a proper hug, just like she had Dean. 

Charlie barely has time to consider the feeling of the worn pads of Donna’s finger gracing the skin of her arm before she’s wrapped in her embrace wholeheartedly, everything suddenly the orange of Donna’s flannel. 

Donna doesn’t just smile, then, she follows through with affection. How much of Charlie’s body can she feel in the lack of space between them? She probably thinks nothing of it, if she introduces herself through hugs full of so much love. So Charlie should think nothing of it either. 

So Charlie thinks nothing of it as Donna releases her again, and leaves her cooling in the afternoon spring air. 

“Didn’t want to crush you or anythin’,” Donna chuckles, motioning to the wrist she’d moved aside what now feels to Charlie like a lifetime ago. 

“Yeah,” Charlie smiles a little breathlessly back. “I get it. You give really good hugs.”

Donna beams at the words, and as light seems to pour out of her, teeth dappling the rays, Charlie suddenly understands how a smile can be equated to sunshine. 

“Oh, you really think so? Well, I try my best. And you know you’re not too bad yourself - I find folk like you who are all wiry and strong are always the best huggers.”

Charlie is saved from trying to find an acceptable response to that by a fond voice coming from further within the house. 

“Donna, don’t tell me you’re leaving our guests on the doorstep again!” 

A woman steps into the light of the doorway just as Donna turns a bashful look towards Charlie and Dean. 

“Jody,” Dean greets her warmly, taking Jody’s cue and stepping up into the house, dropping his and Charlie’s bags to wrap her in a real bear hug.

Charlie lingers on the step slightly, not sure there’s enough room in the front corridor for her. 

“Come on in, Charlie,” Donna says quietly with a nod of her head beckoning Charlie inwards. She shuffles herself to the side so Charlie can walk properly into the house. The doorway is still small, though, and Dean and Jody are still hugging, so Charlie only really has space to press herself up against Donna to squeeze inside. 

As she passes, Donna’s breath heats the side of her neck, the ghost of the slightly awkward smile Donna lets out condensing itself onto her skin. They were closer when they hugged, setting themselves against each other with a friendly warmth. But this, somehow, feels more intimate. 

Charlie slips past and is finally free within the berth of the corridor, with Dean and Jody moving further up and taking the bags with them. Donna still lingers next to her.

“And this is Charlie,” Dean says, gesturing between Charlie and Jody. “Jody, Charlie; Charlie, Jody.”

“Lovely to meet you,” Jody says, squeezing Charlie’s hand in a hearty handshake. Her demeanor is slightly rougher than Donna’s, maybe, but her eyes are still sparkling with camaraderie. 

“And you,” Charlie replies as she flashes a smile. “Dean says such awesome things about both of you. He could barely speak about anything else the whole drive here.”

The women turn to look at Dean with a fondness he doesn’t appear to really know what to do with. 

“Oh, you know I love you all,” he huffs, eyes cast down to where he’s scuffing his feet along the carpet. He clears his throat and looks up, only to make a beeline to the bags and the stairs. “Where’s the best place to put these?”

“I’ll show you,” Jody says, exasperated smile evident in her voice. She grabs a bag out of Dean’s hand and slings it over her own shoulder before heading up the stairway, closely followed by Dean.

Charlie is left standing next to Donna in the hallway, the space around them suddenly feeling abundant and empty. Empty, in particular, of reasons for them to be standing so close together. 

Out of politeness more than any real want, Charlie reshuffles herself to lean against the wall, facing Donna. It isn’t a long time that passes, then, but enough for Charlie to take Donna in properly. She’s got an orange and pink flannel on - lesbian colors, Charlie’s brain helpfully and needlessly supplies - tucked loosely into sturdy bootleg jeans that cling to her wide thighs. The seams are stitched in yellow and look almost ready to burst. 

The fire that that image starts up in the furnace of Charlie’s belly is fierce and quickly ignored. She lets her gaze glide away like she used to do with the windows of lingerie stores at the mall. 

Donna brushes a stray strand of wavy hair that’s fallen out of her low ponytail behind her ear, and it draws Charlie’s eyes back to her again. So far, Donna hasn’t stopped looking at her. She shoots Charlie a small smile. 

This silence, after the bustle of their arrival, should be awkward. Maybe it is, a little. But there’s something about Donna that puts Charlie so at ease she doesn’t really mind.

“Would you like a drink?” Donna offers with a smile, gesturing towards what must be the kitchen.

“Sure,” Charlie says back, making sure to shoot her a grin. 

Donna pads through to the kitchen with Charlie in tow, flicking on the coffee machine at Charlie’s nod.

“So did you arrive today too?” Charlie asks.

“Oh yeah, drove down this morning. Got here in time to have lunch with Alex before she went out for the weekend with her friends.”

“Alex is Jody’s kid, right?”

Donna smiles. “Yeah, basically. Although she’s feelin’ more and more like mine too, what with me spending so much time down here recently. It’s like I live here as much as Stillwater now.”

Suddenly, the orange and pink flannel doesn’t seem as irrelevant as Charlie first thought. Donna driving for hours to live with Jody and a kid who feels like her own - maybe she’s unavailable in a completely different way than Charlie expected. 

And as much as she loves Dean, it’s definitely the kind of thing he’d neglect to tell her.

“Oh, are you and Jody together?”

Donna turns to her with a chuckle. “Oh, no, nothing like that. That’d be cute, but, uh. Jodes is just teachin’ me how to hunt and we’re good friends, is all.” She pauses, before adding, “not that I have any problems with it. At all.” 

Her last words come out glittering, more meaningful than the rest. Charlie isn’t oblivious, but it’s not enough to go on, either. Not for the first time, Charlie mourns how girls in bars are so much easier to work out than any of her friends.

Again tucking her hair behind her ear with one hand, Donna passes Charlie’s mug to her with the other. It’s handpainted, by the looks of it, with swirls of pink, purple and blue decorating the sides.

Charlie admires it before taking a sip of the coffee. It’s horrific; she doesn’t like coffee. Donna made it for her though, so it tastes a little better than normal. “It’s a pretty mug, did you paint it yourself?”

“I sure did!” Donna says proudly. “Me, Jody and Alex went out for a girls pottery painting night. Had a real nice time painting mine, but Alex’s is by far the best.”

She shows off the mug she’s drinking her own coffee from, which has three recognisable little figures painted around the sides. Jody, Alex and Donna are labeled neatly above each one. 

Charlie whistles. “Wow, she is good. And mini you is so cute!”

Donna smiles, the upward curves of her lips then hidden as she takes a sip of her coffee. Her eyes linger on Charlie until they don’t, until Charlie realizes she should probably glance away too.

“What about you,” Donna asks with a satisfied sigh after her drink of coffee, “you got anyone?” 

Charlie shakes her head. She steadies herself too, for what she’s about to tell Donna, like she always does. It’s still instinctual, universes later. “No, not anymore. I traveled with this girl, Dorothy, for a while, but I had to come home in the end and she wanted to stay out there, so.”

That’s the simplest way of telling it, she’s figured.

“That’s rough, I’m sorry,” Donna says, face falling in sympathy. Charlie reckons it’s the first time she’s seen Donna look anything other than joyful since she arrived. 

The smile flickers back a second later though, and Donna nods encouragingly. “But hey, it just means there’s somebody else right here who’s perfect for you. Everything’ll work out.”

There’s an assurance in her words that unearths Charlie a little. She is suddenly aware that with Donna, she doesn’t really know where she stands. But Donna is looking at her like she really is hopeful for Charlie. In the breezy light of the kitchen, maybe Charlie can invest in a little blind optimism too.

“You really believe that?” she asks, quirking an eyebrow.

Donna shrugs. “I have to.”

There’s something more to Donna, Charlie estimates, with the fixed determination in her eyes and the supposed levity of her smile. She’s holding on.

The heavy footsteps of Dean and Jody plodding down the stairs and across to the kitchen break the hush of their conversation and the intensity of their gazes. Donna jumps into cheery action, offering coffee to Dean and Jody. 

“You two getting along?” Dean asks, happily accepting the mug Donna passes to him. 

Donna smiles at Charlie. “Oh, you betcha! She’s a real sweetie.”

A heat spreads across Charlie’s cheeks, one she knows will be fluorescent against the weedy paleness of her skin. Damn ginger genes. She takes another sip from her coffee, hoping to hide her flush with her mug. She glances over to Donna as she does so though, and shoots her the warmest look she can muster in exchange.

“The two biggest rays of sunshine this side of the Atlantic,” Dean grins, oblivious to it all. “It’s fitting you two are finally meeting.”

“Keeping two old grumps like us smiling is quite the feat, but you two sure do it,” Jody heartily concurs, raising her mug slightly as if in toast.

Donna ducks her head and chinks her mug with Jody’s, as Charlie chuckles, reaching up to mess with Dean’s hair. “Well, someone has to.”

“And you do it brilliantly,” Dean says softly, the tenderness of his words completely undermined by his forceful batting away of Charlie’s hand. 

“We left your bag on yours and Dean’s bed by the way, Charlie,” Jody says. “You’re in Alex’s room and she has a double, but there’s no room for a mattress on the floor.” She gives her an apologetic grimace. “I hope that’s alright.”

“You’re welcome to stay in my room if you’d rather,” Donna chimes in, looking towards Charlie. “It’s just one bed still, but it’s a little bigger.”

It’s a kindness, another obvious example of the way kinship just seems to stream out from Donna and light the surroundings. But it’s also a dangerous game: sharing a bed, sleeping with her. One that never ends well, and that she’ll fall for all too quickly. 

The implications of Donna’s suggestion ricochet around Charlie’s head. Dean, on the other hand, is safe and easy, and doesn’t send Charlie reeling when he does something as simple as hold the door open for her.

“Thanks, but I’m sure me and Dean’ll be okay,” she smiles instead. 

Donna’s eyes darken for a second, but her kindness doesn’t. “No worries! If he starts getting smelly though, you’re always welcome.”

“Old and smelly,” Dean laments. “Is this all I am to you now?”

“Always,” the three women laugh fondly. Dean just sighs and shakes his head. 

Jody collects the now empty mugs of coffee from everyone’s hands and pushes them towards the sink, before gesturing out the window. 

“I’ve got some new fruit trees growing in the backyard if you guys wanted to take a look before it starts getting dark?” she asks, much to Dean’s immediate joy.

“Sure!” Charlie agrees, eager just to see something green and alive after the gray and gray and gray of the bunker. 

She’d had houseplants in her old apartment, before she had to move. And then move again. And then run across Europe. She misses them now, and she’d tried to petition Dean to get some for the bunker once, before he pointed out there was no sunlight down there. Nothing can live without sunshine, after all.

Sometimes, Charlie thinks that’s why they keep her around. 

“Just make sure to say nice things,” Donna chuckles, “Jody’s real protective over those trees of hers.”

Charlie hesitates in her movement towards the door. “You’re not coming?”

Donna shakes her head with a laugh and gravitates towards the sink. “I’ve had the tour already, many times. I’ll stay and clean up.”

She takes the cuffs of her flannel, and unbuttons and rolls the sleeves up in one swift motion, revealing the thickness of her lower arms. The light brown hair which sweeps up them is just visible in the light.

Charlie feels a little dizzy with it.

“As Donna keeps telling me, if you’ve seen my plum trees once, you’ve seen them a thousand times,” Jody says, her chuckle echoing Donna’s. 

No one else seems to care about Donna’s forearms, or the way Donna’s fingers deftly tuck the cuffs of her sleeves up in the fold of fabric around her elbow. 

“Good job we’re seeing them for the first time then,” Dean grins placidly as he heads out the door. 

Charlie makes a beeline to follow before she embarrasses herself when Donna calls out behind her. 

It’s just them in the kitchen. Unlike in the corridor, with its emptiness, the kitchen feels warm and full. And Donna feels too far away. 

“Charlie?” she says, and Charlie whips around to face her.

“Yeah?”

Donna’s large hands clutch the mug she’d given Charlie earlier, the one painted in swirls of pink, purple and blue, as she runs the tap over the sink. Her knuckles are a little bruised.

So are Charlie’s, lately.

“I know you’ve been all over, but now… I think you’re right where you need to be.”

She’s earnest and soft about it, in a way that sends shivers across the hairs on the back of Charlie’s neck. Charlie finds a smile working its way onto her face. She nods, something like gratitude and something like agreement, the words raising a blush on her cheeks. 

Donna smiles again, then switches her attention back to the bubbling water and coffee stained mugs.

Just as Charlie turns away to join the others outside, she catches Donna’s reflection in the glass of the window above the sink. If it were a horror movie, this image would be haunting, different as it is from what Charlie’s come to expect from the other woman. Turns out in real life it’s just sad.

When she thinks no one can see her, Donna’s smile drops. 

**

The evening falls, and it falls visibly, which Charlie realizes is something she is no longer used to. 

In the bunker, the lights are artificial and bright and decidedly on , until she decides to turn them off. They never change, never waver, never indicate the time of day or if the moon is out. The library’s ambient lamps are the closest they get to evening.

And she hasn't realized how stark a difference it is until she spends dinner half listening to the conversation and half watching the sunset through the mirror facing her opposite the window. It isn’t a special sunset: the clouds aren’t spun purple and the sky is never tinged that tender pink. But still, it’s the first sunset she’s seen in two weeks, maybe. 

And she watches the light melt across Donna’s face the whole time. 

It’s not long after the sun has sunk completely below the horizon that the four of them turn in for the night, with three of them having traveled for hours earlier and Jody confessing she considers any night she gets to sleep before 11 o’clock a huge success. 

Dean teases her for it, but Charlie can tell he’s really all too eager to follow suit. The second he gets the chance, he pulls his hearing aids out from his ears with a sigh of relief and flicks them off, dumping them on the bedside table of Alex’s room where they’re sleeping.

“You could just not wear them around Jody and Donna you know, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind,” Charlie points out to him as he rubs at the back of his ears with a pout. 

Dean waves her off. “I just haven’t worn them for that long in a few weeks, it’s fine. Besides, I don’t wanna make things hard.”

“You don’t make things hard, it just makes things different,” Charlie says, stepping right in front of him to make sure he can understand her. “No one minds switching a few things up to make it easier for you.”

She tells him this because she believes it wholeheartedly, and it’s true. It’s times like these, though, that she wishes she believed the same for herself. It’s not like she doesn’t think that Dean and Sam don’t want her around, or wouldn’t drop everything to help her out, because they’d proved that theory wrong a long, long time ago. It’s just the instinctual little things to make herself smaller, more easily digestible, that are harder to shake. 

The princess only ever gets saved if she smiles enough, right?

Charlie smiles at Dean, determined to make him understand that she cares, and he scrubs the backs of his ears again, but more out of bashfulness than ache this time. 

“Alright, alright. Stop being good to me, Bradbury, I don’t know what to do with it.”

“You could get changed and brush your teeth,” Charlie says hopefully. “I want to go to bed.”

Dean rolls his eyes but ambles off to the bathroom, and Charlie takes the time to get changed herself. She throws on her pajamas and then stands in the mirror for a moment, lifting her t-shirt to see her stomach, where the bullet wound is meant to be. 

Castiel healed it weeks ago now, but it’s still strange. The pain of it plays so frequently in her mind; she wakes up remembering it and the nightmare tears through her like the bullet did. In a way, how angels can heal a wound so completely isn’t all kindness. There’s no proof, then, that it still hurts inside. 

Dean wanders back into the room in his pajamas and with minty fresh breath. It’s a Led Zeppelin long sleeve shirt he’s wearing, one Charlie had picked out for him last time they swung by a Goodwill. He barely ever wears t-shirts now, and he rolls his shirt sleeves down too, especially around Charlie. Charlie pretends she doesn’t notice.

“Strange, isn’t it? Took me years to get used to it,” Dean says sympathetically at where Charlie’s hand still ghosts her stomach. He can be quick when he wants to be. 

“It’s odd,” Charlie says. “Like the wound was never there. I know it was, but only I know it was.” 

“Messes with your head, having nothing to show for the pain,” Dean nods perceptively. He perches on the bed, looking up at Charlie with his big labrador eyes. “But it’s still a good thing, though. That you don’t feel pain.” 

Charlie is all too aware of the intricacies of the singular and plural you in the English language, but she swears that in that moment, Dean means it for her specifically. 

“Yeah,” she replies. She wonders if not feeling the pain is the same as not feeling anything.

The conversation dips as they both settle under the duvet, taking a moment to get comfortable. Dean switches off the big light.  

“So,” he eventually murmurs. “Do you like them?”

The words feel loud in the quietness of the night, and Donna and Jody are only walls away. But Dean can't really hear himself if he whispers, and he definitely can't hear Charlie if she does, so when she speaks she murmurs too, facing Dean in the bed so he can read her lips in the lamplight.

“Of course I do,” she says. “I never expected not to.”

“You and Donna seem to get along well,” he smiles, and Charlie isn’t sure if there’s more meaning she should be reading into that than she is. 

She takes up the edge of the duvet in her hands and twists it a little, mostly for something to do. 

“She’s really nice, yeah,” she says carefully. She looks up at Dean then, and feels the carefulness drop away in the warmth of a shared bed with her best friend. “She’s really pretty, too. How did you forget to mention she’s so pretty?”

Dean chuckles. “I thought you would figure it out for yourself, it’s not hard to see.”

“No,” Charlie says, the word coming out as a deep sigh in a way she hadn’t quite intended. “It’s not.”

Dean brings his hand up to near hers on the edge of the duvet, and takes up the little creases she’s been folding into it and squeezes them like an accordion. Charlie can just make out the way his Adam's apple bobs, just the way it always does when he wants to say something but is struggling to.

She waits him out. You’ve got to be patient, to hear Dean Winchester.

“I’m sorry about the way things have been going lately, Charlie. You know that, right?”

He’s staring at the patterns they’re both tucking into the blanket. This was not the way she thought the conversation was about to go.

“Yeah, Dean, of course.”

“What with Dorothy, and the mark, and you going on the run… it’s nothing like what you should be doing.”

He’s refusing to meet her eyes, but in the gold of the lamplight they’re turning an earnest hazel.

“I don’t blame you, Dean, if that’s what this is.” She pauses for a second, the question fizzing on her lips before she gets it out. “Is that what all this is?”

His gaze snaps back up to meet hers, surprised. “No, no. I wanted you to meet Donna and Jody, spend some time together. I thought it would be nice for you.”

“And Donna’s really lovely, and Jody’s kind. And I got to play ABBA all the way here. It’s good, Dean.”

He sighs, obviously unsatisfied with her answer; rolls away slightly to look restlessly towards the ceiling. His hands stay by hers on the duvet, tapping against the folds.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, loud enough for him to hear her say something, if not make out the words. 

He gestures to show he didn’t understand her, but shows no sign of moving to face her. She asks him again, louder this time. Starts tapping it onto his wrist in morse code too, but he cuts her off before she can finish by turning back towards her with an intensity he didn’t have before.

“I want you to be happy, Charlie.”

Charlie stills next to him, the duvet she'd been fiddling with on the bed laying flat between her fingers. 

She does what she always does. She meets Dean’s eyes and smiles. 

“Who says I’m not?”

**

For the first time in months, Charlie wakes up slowly and freely, not to the scream of the alarm but instead to the morning light glowing in warmly from behind the curtains. She didn’t quite close them fully last night, so a slither of clear sunlight arches its way across the room. As she stirs, breathing in a deep, relieving breath, she follows its trail along the walls and ceiling. Little rainbows spiral out from it where it hits the mirror.

She looks beside her, and Dean is still slumbering away. His breaths are deep and even. Although the mark is still visible from underneath his rucked shirted sleeve, for the moment he seems peaceful. It’s nice, that Dean’s face isn’t creased in repressed ire, that Charlie can see all this without even having to flick on a light: this morning, this is just how the world is.

No more bunker, no more shitty motels , Charlie thinks as she stretches luxuriously out under the clean cotton sheets which Jody’s own hands undoubtedly strung up on the washing line. I should live somewhere else. After all this, I’m gonna live somewhere else.

When she does check the time, it reads a comfortable half past eight. Dean won’t be up for a few hours if he can help it - although maybe he’ll be stirred early like her by the light of a genuine sunrise. He must’ve seen even less of them than she has in recent years. Maybe, if he got out of that damn hole in the ground, he would photosynthesize a little and see that the sun was already out there.

As she wiggles gently out of bed, careful not to disturb Dean with her movements, Charlie lets her mind stray to what Donna’s house might be like. Does her bedroom face east and get the sun in the mornings? Is it cluttered and cozy with trinkets and souvenirs, or swept clean and neat? Probably a mix of the two, Charlie decides. Homey, while still being organized, with everything important kept within reach.

It’s as she ponders this that she pads airily down the stairs. In the kitchen, with the large window opening out upon the vivid spring planes of the fruit trees in the backyard, Charlie helps herself to a breakfast of berries and yogurt that Jody recommended last night. It’s all green outside, dewy with the morning. The sour bite of the berries tickles her tongue.

Everything is growing here. Everything is alive.

Charlie is so involved in her cloudless thoughts as she strolls back up the stairs to the hallway, that she doesn’t quite notice Donna stepping out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around her until her own forearms make contact with Donna’s still lightly damp skin. 

“Oh, sorry-!”

“No worries,” Donna grins with a smile, not bothering to move too far away. She’s tossed her hair over her shoulder and now the ends, darkened with water, are creating small wet patches on the side of Charlie’s pajama sleeve. 

This morning, Charlie can’t find it in her to mind. 

Donna’s had her hair up in a sensible low ponytail the entire time Charlie’s seen her so far. But after the wet of the shower, it’s curling around her face and down her back in tight ringlets. Somehow they bounce slightly as Donna moves her head, even under the weight of the water. 

Charlie has spent years learning how to keep her friendships with women exactly that - friendships. She is an expert in all things platonic, so she doesn’t even think about how little the towel is really covering Donna’s freshly showered, lavender smelling skin. She keeps her eyes fixed on Donna’s face, on the water-shining rosiness of her cheeks and the single strands of hair that fall in lazily gorgeous curls in front of her eyes.

Charlie swallows down a swallow.

“Your hair is curly? I’ve only ever seen it straight.” 

Donna nods, her face falling from her always friendly smile to one of frustration. “Oh, you betcha. Takes me hours to straighten the damn stuff.”

“But it looks so pretty curly,” Charlie says, maybe a little softer than she intended in an attempt to hide the pout she knows is otherwise audible in her voice.

But Donna is pretty, that’s plain as day, and has been since Charlie slipped closely past her through the door yesterday. And it’s not just the natural curls of her hair that bring this further into the light; with all the layers of flannel removed, all the shields down, the round curves of Donna’s figure are even more evident. 

Charlie forces her gaze back to the (admittedly relative) safety of Donna’s smile. Rather than the wide, sunshiney thing she’d been greeted with so far, it’s morphed into something softer. A little surprised.

“Oh, I dunno-”

“No, it looks real pretty. You should wear it down curly, it suits you.”

Charlie finds herself reaching out to thread a tangle of Donna’s hair through her fingers and brush it neat before she can catch the action and stop it. Donna’s hair is silky, freshly conditioned, and it slips easily between her fingers. 

Donna’s eye catches hers and it’s only then she pulls her hand away, jerkily. 

“Sorry, that was weird,” she starts, feeling the heat flood to her face. 

Donna shakes her head slightly, the gentle radiance of her smile still lingering. “No, it’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“Your hair, it’s soft,” Charlie manages. The words scratch a little as they make their way up her throat. She shouldn’t be doing this.

“Thanks.”

Donna reaches out, now, twisting the longer front strands of Charlie’s hair around her own finger. Yesterday’s flat-iron curls give in to her movement as her hand brushes just slightly against Charlie’s cheek, and the quiet damp of her skin sends a shiver, barely a shiver, through Charlie. 

Her hair’s a little greasy, Charlie knows, she needs to shower. But Donna’s lips quirk up as she strokes her thumb against it. “Yours is soft too.”

“Thanks,” Charlie whispers, just about. 

Donna pulls her hand back away and stray hairs follow the action, ginger turning gold in the morning light chasing after the loss of contact. Some wild part of Charlie runs to strings of spit, her lips pulling away from Donna’s and their connection still not leaving her completely. 

Oh, Bradbury, this cannot be happening right now. 

She sways back, falling out of Donna’s space, away from the lavender scent and the ever-drying blonde curls and the warm blush blossoming on the tops of Donna’s shoulders above her towel. 

“I just always wanted curly hair as a kid, you know. And all my favorite characters had curly hair, I was always kinda jealous of people who had it. People say all kinda things about ginger hair but I’ve just always loved curly.” Charlie gets the distinct sense she’s rambling, and perhaps even more hysterically than normal. 

“Yeah, well tell all that to my ex-husband,” Donna laughs almost sourly, wrapping the towel a little tighter around her again as she starts towards the guest bedroom that seems to be decidedly hers. “Come sit with me as I get ready, I don’t mind,” she calls back to Charlie.

Charlie doesn’t bluescreen often, but she’s pretty sure she hears the dull thunk of the error sound at that comment. Donna has an ex-husband, and she knows Charlie’s a lesbian, and Charlie just ran her hand through her hair, and Donna’s inviting her to sit in her room as she gets dressed as casually as gals who actually are pals.

“You sure?” she asks, wandering to the door. She’s giving Donna an out, if she wants one. Don’t they all normally want one?

“Of course, hon!” 

So Charlie lets herself walk through the door and flop down onto the bed, grabbing a cushion to fiddle with, something to keep her eyes busy as well as her hands. Donna shrugs a bathrobe on over her towel and Charlie knows she doesn’t really need to look away, but she does anyway. The cushion has little purple flowers embroidered all over.

“I can’t imagine not liking your curly hair,” Charlie says, mostly as a means to get the conversation going again, but also decidedly to pick at the thread she thinks might unravel a little more of Donna’s mask. The darkening of her face in the kitchen window has a cause, and whatever the cause is, Charlie wants to hunt it down and eclipse it. It’s instinct.

“Oh, Doug liked me best however I wasn’t,” Donna chuckles disparagingly, as she slides her towel off underneath her robe and lays it on the bed next to Charlie.

The towel is damp, still. Charlie can feel its coolness next to her. Damp with the water that once sat on Donna’s skin, smelling still of the lotion Donna rubbed between her hands before smoothing it over her arms, down her stomach, the wavy cellulite of her thighs.

Charlie wants to reach out and touch it. Charlie wants an excuse to use that towel after her own shower, like kissing through a shared bottle of beer.

“I wore my hair curly, he liked it straight. I put on a full face of makeup, he liked me natural. I gained a few pounds, he told me…” Donna trails off, the reverie clouding her face completely. 

Anger flushes hot through Charlie, a burning passion building on her already quickening heartbeat. “He was wrong, you know,” she says. 

Donna turns, looking surprised at the change in Charlie’s voice. She smiles at the intensity of it. “You’re kind, Charlie. A lot of people say that, but I can never seem to shake the feeling he’s right.”

“I’m not being kind, Donna, not right now. I’m telling you the truth,” Charlie insists. She takes Donna’s hand and pulls her down to sit on the bed next to her. “You’re beautiful.”

It’s only as she says those words that she realizes the potency of them, and how Donna’s hand is now in hers, and how she’s only wearing a bathrobe. Charlie wants to recoil, suddenly, and take it all back. But that would be a lie. And Donna’s been told too many of those already.

The other woman’s eyes are wide as she looks at her. Full of so much, and so much of that incredulous doubt.

Charlie steels herself and raises her hand and brushes it through Donna’s hair again. “I say a lot, but I mean this. Believe me.”

“I would like to,” Donna says, decidedly lightly for a room full of gravity. “Of course I want to. But I can’t.” She shakes her head slightly, like she wants to clear it. When she looks back up at Charlie, her eyelashes are dewy with tears. Her throat bobs beneath her smile.

Charlie caves in, her anger turning to a porous sadness inside. “But it’s over, Donna. He’s over.”

Donna draws in a teary breath. “Maybe people, relationships, can be over. I don’t think words ever are.” She shoots Charlie a grin; it’s a false, self-deprecating thing. 

“You’re still smiling,” Charlie says softly. She runs her thumb over Donna’s, smoothing over the skin like it will smooth over the tired corner’s of Donna’s lips. “Honey, you don’t have to keep smiling.”

Donna wavers in front of her, the expressions on her face flickering like heat on the horizon. Charlie can’t quite make her out, anymore, underneath it, but at the same time Donna feels more touchable than she ever has before. 

“Don’t I?”

Charlie shakes her head. “No, love, you don’t.”

Like rain spilling down and pouring after the bitterest summer drought, Donna cracks. Her face falls completely, her lips pulled downwards in pure, luxurious upset. The tears that had been locked into place around her eyes pool forward and fall. The rosy apples of her cheeks relax too, the smile lines shifting into creases of sadness. 

The mask cascades down around them both, and Charlie sits and holds Donna’s hands, and the absence of her smile feels like being let in on something special and sweet, something secret.

“Thank you,” Charlie whispers.

Donna looks up at her through watery eyes; the light of the morning hits them and the sheen of her tears is clear as glass. 

“What for?” Donna asks, voice gooey and lips still trembling.

“For letting it be me you let the smile fall for.”

Donna heaves in a shuddering breath at that, like she’s scared that what Charlie said just made it real. “It’s not usually anyone, I’m not usually like this,” she sniffs. She glances back up again, and then seems to catch something in Charlie’s eyes, not averting her gaze. “You’re not usually like this either though, are you?”

It goes against every instinct for Charlie not to flash a grin, feels like short circuiting not to come back with a witty remark. But she shakes it off, letting it fall away like Donna did. 

“No,” she admits. “I smile so much my cheeks ache, most days. But without it, it feels like - what do I do?”

Donna nods, taking Charlie’s hands in hers now. Charlie isn’t sure she knows she’s doing it, and she’s not sure who she’s doing it for, but it’s spreading warmth up her arm. “Gives you someone to be, a way to hold everything together.”

Those words tilt Charlie’s world slightly to the left before righting it completely again, like she can feel the gears of her mind clinking right back into place and running smoothly.

“You put it into words,” she breathes.

Donna strokes a thumb across the aching inside of Charlie’s palm. It’s a movement intended to soothe, but it just draws Charlie closer in. With every circle Donna graces against the sensitive skin of Charlie’s heart line her gravity is stronger, more magnetizing. She’s no longer sure where the comfort they’re sharing in each other ends and the sparking press of her fingertips tapping along Donna’s thumb begins. Every flare of contact begs another. Now, everything about Donna is comforting - but nothing about the way she makes Charlie feel is safe. 

Donna worries at her plush lips. They’re a little chapped, and downturned too, finally relaxed. When she wets them with her tongue and leaves them shining and rosy in the morning light Charlie feels the inner workings of herself break and give way.

Donna speaks and her voice is low. “Sometimes it just feels like… I’ve just got to be sunshine.”

And that’s what they are for everybody else at the end of the day, aren’t they? But this morning, by god can that be broken with the dawn.

“I don’t want sunshine,” Charlie whispers. 

“Really?” Donna asks, like she still doesn’t quite believe her. Like she’s sitting here, inches from Charlie’s mouth, realizing she doesn’t have to be who she thought she had to. Charlie wants her to realize it all. Charlie wants Donna to realize her .

“There’s a sun already. Can you see it, through the curtains?” she breathes. “Can you feel it on your back?” 

Charlie lets her hands roam to the tie of Donna’s robe. No inhibitions, no pretenses, she pulls the knot away. Donna leans into her touch, into the cool freedom of the unbroken air. Her skin is still slightly damp; Charlie can feel it all along the insides of her wrists as she takes the edges of the robe from Donna’s shoulders and pulls it tenderly down her soft arms, until it falls away and gives in completely. 

The sunlight pours through the windows onto the fullness of Donna’s back, descending upon the upper curves of her arms. The robe lays around her on the bed. Kneeling naked in the fresh white of the robe upon the flat of the sheets, it looks like Donna has parted the sea. 

Or maybe it looks like wings, spread out across the ground. Like Icarus, and Donna is still glowing, silhouetted in the warm light. Never has flying too close to the sun prompted such sweet a fall.

Charlie feels Donna inhale, feels the intake of breath and expansion of Donna’s stomach against hers with it. 

“I can feel it,” Donna murmurs. 

Her breath is hot and quivering against Charlie’s cheek. 

“I can feel everything.”

With that it’s like Donna’s bashfulness evaporates under the warmth of the sun, and she surges forwards with her hands under Charlie’s t-shirt. Charlie lifts her arms as soon as she catches on, feeling the light hit her skin as she raises them upwards past the shadows. Donna coaxes her t-shirt off of her, over her head, and for the split second Charlie can’t see Donna it’s like being taken out of orbit, out of gravity. When she resurfaces Donna’s eyes are the first thing she sees; the warmth on her arms is the first thing she feels. 

She drops her arms in all their sunlight, runs her hands through Donna’s hair instead. Clutches her close, until Donna becomes more than silhouette and more than a ray of light and is a body, soft and damp and lavender in her arms. Donna is kneeling but Charlie is reverent. She wants Donna’s lips, she wants to taste the lavender and saltwater, she wants to leave that string of spit hanging between them, but she takes it slow. 

She sighs forward, pressing kisses along Donna’s rounded collarbone. Donna melts into her, her hands roaming across Charlie’s back, grazing her lips along Charlie’s bony shoulder. The pads of Donna’s fingers are tracing along her spine. Charlie pulls herself closer, every fuse within her shorting.

“Don’t want sunshine,” Charlie mumbles again, into the soft slope of Donna’s neck. “I want you. Just you.”

Donna breathes, one hand still on her back but the other cupping her cheek upwards. “You have me.”

Their eyes meet in startling clarity, the world dipped in salted caramel all apart from them, together, suspended. Charlie has some of Donna’s hair in her mouth.

And then they’re kissing and Donna’s knee is slotting between Charlie’s legs and her lips are touching hers, and she doesn’t just taste of lavender and saltwater she tastes of something true and real and god, Charlie knows . Charlie knows it all, she knows what Donna means. She can feel everything. 

Beneath the smiles, naked and silhouetted and tender, she can feel everything.

[sastielsfandom]

Happy Birthday to Sam Winchester, I wrote this, an idea I've tried writing for the past few years:

Summary: Castiel is throwing a surprise party for Sam and Jack. Sam knows about Jack's surprise party, just as Jack knows about Sam's surprise party, neither suspect it's for both of them. And are unaware of them help Castiel has acquired to help pull this off.

Or just some birthday fluff for Sam and Jack!

[turboheller]

FIC REC!

a wonderful little slice of life with superb characterisation, soft girls being soft, and big, gorgeous smiles all round. i loved it. go ahead and click the link below to find out for yourself how good it was!

THIS IS SO VERY LOVELY AND I THINK YOU SHOULD TOTALLY GO READ IT ACTUALLY

and go show @shealynn88 some much deserved love <3

[glygriffe]

Last Resort

Fandom: Supernatural Characters: Donna, Jody (background Sam and Dean) Event: Sicktember 2023 Prompt: 5- Preventative Measures (Not Taken) Word count: 405 Tag: Crack

Donna left her desk to look through the window of her office. She squinted. The rain was creating a gray curtain on the street, muting the color outside, and the drops fell relentlessly on the glass, blurring her vision even more. From what she could see, most of the few people outside were moving briskly, even if they had appropriate wear for the weather.

The door of her office opened. She glanced to see Jody in the doorframe, battling to close her umbrella while holding her insulated traveling mug. Donna smiled.

“Heya, Jodes!” "Hi, Donna. The boys are not here yet? I thought I saw their car parked on the other side of the street.”

Donna sighed and turned back to the window, still squinting. “Oh, they were here alright. But they said this case required stronger coffee than the ‘weak dishwater’ the department is offering. They went to the coffee shop. You just missed them.”

Jody chuckled. “My, those two are getting picky as they grow older!” Donna looked pointedly at Jody’s traveling mug. The second sheriff quickly shook her head and pointed to her cup. “That’s tea!”, she protested.

Donna turned back to the window. “There they are.”

Jody went up on her tiptoes to see above Donna’s head. Sam and Dean were walking almost leisurely in the heavy rain. The coffee shop was not far, but Sam’s hair was already getting limp and he had to push the wet locks out of his face.

“Have you ever seen them with an umbrella?”, asked Donna. “Claire says it’s not manly enough for them. I think it was just not practical when they were youngsters living on the road and they never formed the habit to carry one.”

Donne made a pout, half approving, half questioning. “Couldn’t they wear raincoats instead?” Jodie’s expression told her she might have a good point.

“They’ll catch their death, I’ll tell ya. They’ll die of pneumonia long before the Musca we’re after could touch them.” “Maybe I could convince them to go see Alex at the hospital for a flu shot next time they come ‘round my house?”

Donna pouted again, more dubious this time.

“Yeah, you’re right. We’d had a better chance if we did a surprise attack, you, me, all the girls, and Claire with a dart gun.” “Do they make flu shots in dart format?” “I was thinking more tranquilizer.”

Donna’s smile turned from amused to wicked. “Now you’re talking!”

[myloversgone]

I love them with my whole heart ❤

For my 7k Followers Celebration ↳ anonymous requested: Dean & Donna

[minefield-of-a-ninja]

CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5

Prompt from @thesassywallflower for @spnfanficpond Secret Santa): Donna is horrified to learn that the boys have never had a proper Christmas, so she invites them to her house for the holiday.

Pairing/characters: Dean Winchester x Donna Hanscum, Sam Winchester, Jody Mills, Claire Novak, Kaia Nieves, Patience Turner, Alex Jones

Chapter warnings/tags: finale-fix it, there was no rebar, explicit (eventually), fluff (? Idk), angst (? light), domestic (can’t get much more domestic)

Chapter WC: 2200

Author’s notes: There will be multiple chapters written in 3rd person POV, shifting perspective in each section.

Many thanks and love to my dear friends @brrose-apothecary and @stusbunker​ I love you both like whoa. Text divider by @talesmaniac89.

“Dude.” Sam is beaming from the inside out. He might be overreacting, but he doesn’t think so.

“Dude.” Dean grips the steering wheel tightly.

Sam doesn’t notice at first that Dean looks like he might pass out. “Dude, I always had a feeling she was interested in you, but monster auctions and apocalypses-”

Dean doesn’t start the car right away. He sits staring into the mid-morning winter sun, white-knuckling the steering wheel until he drops his hands to the bench seat in frustration and booms, “Dude, what?!”

Sam’s taken aback. “What, what?”

Dean blinks at his brother, his mouth agape. “Sam...” he pauses and scoffs lightly, shaking his head. “Donna...”

Dean pauses again, regripping the steering wheel with one hand as he squints into the shine of the sun again as it bounces off the bright, studded tire-packed snow of Donna’s side-street avenue.

He sighs and shoves the key into the ignition, shaking his head.

���Donna, what, Dean?” Sam asks, daring his brother to actually speak in full sentences on the issue of why he thinks he shouldn’t have something normal. “Are you trying to tell me I didn’t walk in on you two ready to jump each other’s bones?”

Dean’s eyes go wide as he eases away from the curb, fitting a pair of aviator lenses over the bridge of his nose.

“Sam, Donna is a beautiful... beautiful woman, okay?” He tosses his brother a look of exasperation that Sam can see burning through the mirrored lenses. “But she isn’t here for guys like me, alright?”

The older Winchester turns his attention back to the road ahead of him, grumbling about Sam being ‘on something’.

“Guys like you? What does that even mean?” Sam asks, knowing full well what Dean means, but he is not going to let him get away without talking this through once and for all.

“Sam.” Dean chuckles in that condescending, Sammy, you just don’t get it way, and Sam grits his teeth because he does get it and he’s tired of Dean’s excuses. “The longest relationship I’ve ever had was Lisa, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, Cas wiped that away.” Dean shrugs as he continues to list all of Cosmopolitan magazine’s Reasons He’s Mr. Wrong, but Sam hears the jagged edges of grief twisting Dean’s voice.

“I got no real money, I’m probably a mama’s boy, and I can’t even count the number of kills...” Dean shakes his head again and sighs again as he pulls into the parking lot of the dollar store. “If I’m not fuckin’ psychotic, I’m the poster boy for instability, dude, seriously.”

Dean cuts the engine, but Sam doesn’t move. He waits in silence as Dean continues to avoid the direction Sam is inevitably headed.

Yet, Dean remains in the car, so Sam takes another chance.

“What about me?” he asks.

Dean groans, whipping his shades off and rolling his eyes. “Aww, man, come on.”

“No, you come on. You keep saying I should have something normal now that all this shit has settled. Why me and not you?”

Dean glares at his brother, motioning with his sunglasses as if he’s arrived at his final and damning point. “Because you deserve it.”

“Sure, I do. So, why don’t you?” Sam presses because Dean has no point from where Sam’s sitting.

“I just said!” Dean’s eyes are wild like their dad’s were when he couldn’t find the words to say ‘I can’t talk about this right now.’ It used to scare them both, but Sam’s grown out of that fear, and it never worked for Dean against him anyway.

“Fine,” Sam says. He has a list of his own. “Every time I fall in love? Murdered.”

Dean groans and squirms in his seat.

“Werewolf. Demon-”

“None of that’s on you, Sammy, you know-”

“You wanna discuss the demon blood?”

Dean pulls a face. “No.”

“No. Right.” Sam sets his jaw and the brothers stare out the window for a beat.

“Dean. If anyone gets you and...” Sam motions around the cab of the Impala and toward the trunk. “It’s Donna, man, why can’t you see that?”

Dean swallows, tilts his head, and does all the things that postpone words.

“Just follow her lead.” Sam softens his tone. “She’s a grown woman — a hunter. She can make her own informed choices.”

Dean draws a deep breath before pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I’m not saying, go in there and sweep her off her feet, just... promise me you won’t fight her if she wants to sweep you off yours.”

Dean huffs a laugh and looks at his brother sideways. “I mean she prob’ly could.” He shrugs. “CrossFit and all that shit.”

Both brothers chuckle until Sam brings them back to the point.

“Promise me,” he says.

Dean looks at his brother for a few beats then half shakes and half nods his head. “OK...”

When the door slams behind the brothers’ exit, the women at the dining table slowly turn to look at their hostess.

“Uffda. What got into them, huh?” Donna shakes her head and shuffles to the dining table.

She looks a little punch-drunk.

Donna has had a crush on Dean from the moment she met him undercover at that health spa. When she found out what he really did and subsequently began fighting beside him, her feelings for him grew incredibly complicated.

Donna has never detailed her timeline of Dean Feels out for Jody, but they’ve talked about their experiences with the hunting lifestyle, that Sam and Dean are like family to both of them, and that the hunting life gets lonely.

After Second Doug left Donna, Jody knew she was angry and sad. She told Jody that she thought about going back to when she didn’t hunt and that she still wonders if that’s even possible.

Deep down they both know it isn’t.

“Girls, can I have a minute with Donna?” Jody asks.

“Sure... yeah... of course,” the four girls’ voices blend together as Donna settles in a chair at the table next to Jody.

Jody quietly watches Donna as the girls shrug into their coats before heading out the front door for a walk. Donna doesn’t directly answer Jody’s question, but it’s clear they’re thinking of the same things.

“What happened?” Jody asks quietly, closely eyeing her friend’s profile. “I heard Sam being all ‘awkward-Sam’ and you calling out something about mistletoe?”

“I’ve always wondered what he’d be like, ya know? Would he cuddle and tell me I’m beautiful?” Donna sighs a little and Jody can’t help but sigh a little, too.

“Would he fix that leaky pipe under the sink and open jars that no matter how much I work out, I just can’t open?”

Donna huffs a laugh and her bottom lip begins to tremble.

Jody reaches for her hand and squeezes. “Pretty sure he’d do all those things and then some.”

Donna blinks rapidly, clears her throat, and tilts her head back to stop the sudden wave of emotion.

“He looked at me like-” she lowers her watering eyes and levels Jody with her soft gaze and her voice a whisper of awe. “I can’t even explain it. No one’s ever looked at me like that.”

Jody tries not to swoon her face off. “Like what?”

“Like he wanted to eat me alive.” Donna breathes a nervous chuckle and shakes her head.

Jody sighs through a smile of her own. “I bet he does,” she replies, watching Donna get comfortable with the possibility that her long-time friend and fellow monster hunter could want her the same way she’s always wanted him.

“Dean’s a good man, Donna,” Jody fills the silence.

After a few moments, Donna nods. “You’re right. He is.” Donna agrees with her confidante before continuing. “He’s also smokin’ hot.”

Jody busts out laughing. “Oh, my god, I’m glad you said it before I did!”

Donna hoots, adding, “And I’ll bet my life savings he’s somethin’ else in the sack.”

Jody and Donna are still laughing and about to break into the bottle St. Brendan’s when the girls come back from their walk.

“What the fuck?” Dean whispers under his breath, having no idea where to look or what to focus on first.

There are racks and shelves and bins and baskets overflowing with items of all shapes, sizes, and origins labeled white elephant gifts. Dean’s familiar with the concept, obviously, even though he’s never taken part.

This stresses him out because he didn’t ask Donna the price range and because he doesn’t want to be the clueless old man who buys soap on a rope for a 25-year-old girl.

“Can I help you?”

Dean turns to find a helpful, kind-looking face and he grins in response. “Well, I sure hope so…” he pauses, glancing down at her name tag. “Dawn.”

The clerk blushes and her dark eyelashes flutter. She’s just a kid, but it boosts his self-esteem a little that she didn’t roll her eyes or outright ignore him. Dean begins to tell her about Donna, Jody, and the girls as Sam wanders up, looking as bewildered as Dean feels.

“Well, these 3-packs of socks are great. They’re fuzzy and warm — perfect for sleeping — these li’l magnetized planters with succulents are great for people who like plants, but plants don’t like them; there’s always novelty mugs, adult coloring books and colored pencils... Any of that sound good?”

The brothers look at each other and shrug, relieved.

“I like the planters and the...” Sam gestures toward the shelves. “Succulents?”

The clerk giggles politely because she’s not as charmed by Sam as she is by Dean. Obviously.

“I’ll take the fuzzy socks,” Dean says.

“Good choice,” the clerk replies, snagging their selections and dropping them into a basket to carry to the checkout. “Do you have boxes and gift wrapping?”

The brothers shake their heads, and Dean leans in conspiratorially. “We don’t, but I bet you do,” he replies with a wink.

The clerk giggles and blushes again.

After the dollar store, they hit the liquor store for the items Donna requested.

“The fuck is…” Dean squints at his phone screen. “Glueween?”

“Lemme see,” Sam tries to wrestle Dean’s phone from his grip, but Dean plays keep away.

“Oh, what, you speak umlaut now?” Dean tucks his phone under his arm inside his jacket.

Sam rolls his eyes and gives up. “Judging by your shit pronunciation and admittance that it has an umlaut, I’m guessing it’s Glühwein.”

Dean smirks and mutters, “Such a nerd.”

Sam turns and makes his way to the German section. “It’s a hugely popular seasonal beverage, Dean, not some obscure witches’ brew.”

Dean mimics Sam’s walking and talking as he trails behind him as if he’s still 12 years old because familiarity is comforting and annoying Sam is amusing to him.

They pass by a row of coolers, so Dean pulls a couple of 6-packs. He spots a lone carton of eggnog that reminds him of a Christmas Eve not so long ago but many apocalypses past.

“Lemme know if it needs a little extra kick.”

“Here it is,” present-day Sammy says, swiping a spouted bag from the shelf. “Last one. Wow.”

They easily snag the couple of other requests from Donna on the way to pay.

“You got the last one!” the man at the register crows. “Can’t have Christmas without Glühwein.”

“You’re right about that!” Dean replies with manufactured enthusiasm. Never having heard of Glühwein or how to pronounce it before five minutes ago, he’s working up the gumption to drink it later. The last thing he wants to do is offend Donna.

Or anything in the ballpark of bad. What he wants is to make her happy. Make her smile, laugh… give her a bunch of orgasms.

“What if I hurt her?” Dean thinks aloud as he and Sam pile inside Baby.

Sam shrugs. “I’ll kick your ass,” he replies.

“Psshhh, as if you could,” Dean mumbles, pulling onto the road to head back to Donna’s.

“I’m not plannin’ to hurt her, just so we’re clear,” he obsesses. “But-”

“Dean…” Sam sighs heavily. “Everybody gets hurt at some point in relationships, it’s inevitable. Just try to balance it with-”

“Comfort,” Dean says, rolling into Donna’s driveway.

She texted him between the white elephant and booze shops to tell him to pull into the drive because of snowmageddon and street plows but what he really read was that she was asking him to make himself at home.  

He lets the car run for a few extra minutes, watching Donna through the front picture window, dancing with Patience and Alex. They’re spinning in circles, singing, and laughing.

“She’s so fuckin’ beautiful.”

“That’s the spirit,” Sam replies gently.

Dean turns off the engine and glances at his brother one last time before climbing out of Baby’s front seat and gathering the bags from the trunk. “You sure ‘bout your matchmakin’ skills, Sammy?”

“Yes,” Sam answers without hesitation or another word of explanation.

“OK, then,” Dean says, looking down into the trunk. “We got Christmas to do.”

Chapter Three

Please don’t leave without telling me what you think!

[shorething]

Does anyone have any fic recs for Dean and Donna being best friends? I'm watching Plush and I can't get over how perfectly Donna compliments Dean's goofiness and how much Dean genuinely likes Donna's cheeriness. Need more of them!!

[ladylilithprime]

One Size Fits, Some Exclusions Apply

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: background Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: General

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Selkie Donna Hanscum, Foster Mom Donna

Summary: Thanks to the efforts of Nox and Sam, Matthew Pike has been rescued and relocated to Avalon and a new foster mom who has some concerns. Cas does his best to be reassuring.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 21: Reward

Read on AO3

IT WASN'T A particularly big deal in the grand scheme of things. Graduating second grade was a milestone, but a fairly basic one. Having perfect attendance wasn't so much a moral success as luck of the draw when it came to catching or not catching the usual schoolyard cold and flu germs that got passed around. Grades were low stakes even at the highest mark, not that anyone would dare say that to a child's face or in range of their proud parent unless that person was a complete idiot.

And frankly, as excuses to have a party and offer complimentary cupcakes at Lighthouse CommodiTeas, Jack's end of second grade graduation was as good an excuse as any and a better reason to celebrate than more emotionally fraught reasons.

Jack sat at his usual table at the front, devoid of the now-obsolete homework and, instead, hosting a medium-sized travel terrarium with a mildly nervous tarantula huddled inside beneath a carefully constructed hide of tree bark and moss. The tarantula was being regularly checked on by its owner, Matt, who sat across from Jack and nibbled on his cupcake. Next to them sat Kaia, Jack's friend from karate, also eating a cupcake and asking questions about the care and needs of the tarantula as she wrote down a list for designing a new, bigger terrarium that would live in Matt's new room.

"I don't know if I should be concerned or not, honestly," Sheriff Donna Hanscum admitted from where she sat at the corner table across the room nearest the kitchen. "I don't want to discourage his interest, but, well... it's a spider, not a cat or a dog. And what if his focus on his pet is just his way of avoiding dealing with anything else?"

"My understanding is that Matt had this tarantula for some time before the... incident that resulted in him coming into your care," Cas said with as much delicacy as he could muster. The inciting incident had occurred on his day off, so he had only heard about it after the fact from Jimmy and been peripherally present for the fallout. "He may very well be focusing most closely on caring for his pet in order to avoid his own trauma, in which case showing care for the tarantula may help establish that, when he is ready to accept, care will be offered to him, too."

"Yeah," Donna sighed, looking down at her cup. Hellfire mocha with raspberry syrup, if Cas recalled correctly. "I just... I guess I'm worried that I won't be any good at this foster mom thing, y'know? I mean, I always thought I'd at least have a mate before having pups."

"Not something I can help you with," Cas said dryly, which at least made Donna laugh a bit. "You care about him and want him to be safe and happy, which is most important. Communicate with him, check in, listen to him... parenting is never going to be a one size fits all sort of thing, though from what I recall from working retail even 'one size fits all' was a misnomer."

"Usually is," Donna agreed. "But I get your point. Just gotta be open to listening when he's ready to talk."

"Exactly," Cas nodded. "And you aren't completely on your own in this, either. You have your pod, and your friends, and Matt will have all of you plus Jack and Kaia."

"Y'all really are great friends," Donna said with a smile. "Don't know too many other kids who would use the excuse of graduating second grade to throw a covert 'welcome to your new home' party for a kid they just met."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Cas lied as he plucked the chocolate and pretzel spider off his cupcake and took a bite.

[deancasbigbang]

Arms Around His Angel

Author: blackhorsedances

Artist: stonelions

Rating: Explicit

Pairings: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Benny LaFitte/Garth Fitzgerald IV, Gabriel/Kali. Charlie Bradbury/Meg Masters; Jody Mills/Donna Hanscum. Past Dean and Lee Webb; Past Dean and Lisa Braeden; Past Dean and Benny LaFitte. Sam Winchester/Jess Winchester.

Length: 45831

Warnings: N/A

Tags: Alternate Universe. Inventor Castiel, Rancher Dean Winchester. Top Cas/Bottom Dean. Angst. Miscommunication. Hurt/Comfort. Smut. Fluff. Happy Ending.

Summary: “What’s Jack doing, Sam? Garth says he and Honeybee are out most days from breakfast until well after lunch. Jody says he packs peanut butter and banana sandwiches.” Sam shrugs. “He says he’s out visiting Mister Cas. I think he probably found the fort we built that one summer, and is holed up out there with sandwiches for his imaginary friends. Let it be, Dean. The heifers are out in the north pasture. The steers are in the east pasture. There’s nothing out by the fort to worry about.” “Snakes, Sam. There are snakes to worry about.” Sam looks at Dean across the kitchen island, and shakes his head, hair flopping over into his eyes. “You’re the one that told me that a mule will kill a snake faster than you can say ‘snake’, and I believe you because I’ve seen Honeybee do it. Let him be. Ben will be out of school in a couple of weeks, and he’ll be following Ben around like a puppy.” “Heh, you’re probably right.” Dean runs a hand down the back of his neck. “I know I am, Dean. You worry about all of us, but you worry too much. You can’t watch over everyone all of the time.”

Link to Fic | Link to Art

[dadstielminibang]

A Day In The Life Of A Newly Single Dad

Author: Hectatess (@hectatess)

Artist: Zissie (@zissie)

Rating: Teen and Up

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Featured characters: Dean Winchester, Castiel, Claire Novak, Emma, Jack Kline, Rowena MacLeod, Jody Mills, Donna Hanscum, Sam Winchester, Gabriel

Featured relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester

Length: 9,770 words

Tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Dean Winchester is the Parent of Emma, Castiel is Jack Kline's Parent, Castiel is Claire Novak's Parent, Two Person Love Triangle, YouTubers, lost and found Jack, Meet-Cute

Summary: Raising a teen girl is an adventure every day, especially when you’re on your own, and Dean is so glad the internet is there to help him. He loves the advice videos from the YouTuber named Newly Single Dad. The fact that the man is gorgeous and has a voice that sounds like it should read adult audio books has nothing to do with it…

Castiel doesn’t mind raising his adopted nephew and niece. He does mind that their old house is falling apart on them. Luckily the videos of YouTuber JustGoodHands help him out immensely. Plus the guy is quite a sight for sore eyes, with his freckles and green eyes. But he knows they shall probably never meet. Then one day he gets a text from the father of Claire’s best friend Emma…

Link to Fic | Link to Art

[spntoxicfemslashevent]

full prompt list

hey everyone! this is the full february prompt list for this event. we're going to have six prompts every day, so it's big! smaller versions containing only some of the prompts are forthcoming. ideally a piece submitted for a certain day should be inspired by at least one of the prompts for that day.

[conceptual prompts only] [pairing prompts only] [format/style prompts only] [prompts by date] [submission guidelines] [intro post]

conceptual prompts:

feb 1: manipulation || rot || political play

feb 2: tied up || burning flesh || jealousy

feb 3: suburbia || betrayal/judas kiss || doll

feb 4: blackmail || cannibalism || age gap

feb 5: blasphemy || executioner || genderless

feb 6: “...and it felt like a kiss” || on the rack || handmaiden-feudal lord

feb 7: sainthood || blood || isolation

feb 8: poison/drugging || barefoot and pregnant || murder suicide

feb 9: scars || heaven and/or hell || voyeurism

feb 10: shallow grave/midnight gardening || exes || serial killer(s)

feb 11: crossdressing || corpse || brat

feb 12: war/opposite sides || soulmates || guts/gore

feb 13: demonization || immortality || "forgive me father"

feb 14: unrequited || butch || imprisonment

feb 15: high school sweethearts || justifications || resurrection

feb 16: stabbing || masturbation || somnophilia

feb 17: turn the straight girl || kidnapping || ritual sacrifice

feb 18: stalking || substance use/abuse || comp het

feb 19: amnesia/mindwipe/lobotomy || flogging || forcefem

feb 20: vessel || make each other worse || gothic

feb 21: mistress || forced marriage || petplay

feb 22: demon deal || power imbalance || state of mind/dreams/confusion

feb 23: experiment || bastard child || what happened to her first husband/wife?

feb 24: curses || possession || infidelity

feb 25: controlling || temptation || "i ran into a door"

feb 26: victim || right hand || true crime

feb 27: humiliation || dubious consent || brainwashing

feb 28: family || true form || obsession

feb 29: closeted || sins of the father || not passing the bechdel test

pairing prompts:

feb 1: rowena mcleod/billie

feb 2: linda tran/ofc

feb 3: hannah/naomi

feb 4: rowena mcleod/alicia banes

feb 5: raphael/billie

feb 6: amelia novak/naomi

feb 7: abaddon/colette mullen

feb 8: ruby/astaroth

feb 9: cassie robinson/fem!dean winchester

feb 10: linda tran/mary winchester

feb 11: cassie robinson/meg masters

feb 12: linda tran/abaddon

feb 13: risa (endverse)/meg masters

feb 14: kelly kline/dagon

feb 15: linda tran/tasha banes

feb 16: billie/amara/the empty (meg)

feb 17: meg masters/jo harvelle

feb 18: patience turner/claire novak

feb 19: mary winchester/antonia bevell

feb 20: lily sunder/claire novak

feb 21: bela talbot/ruby

feb 22: patience turner/magda peterson

feb 23: fem!castiel/fem!crowley

feb 24: missouri moseley/ellen harvelle

feb 25: jody mills/donna hanscum

feb 26: lily baker/lilith

feb 27: hannah/caroline johnson

feb 28: raphael/naomi

feb 29: eileen leahy/mary winchester

format/style prompts:

day 1: canon divergent || drabble (exactly 100 words)

day 2: canon character/oc || traditional art

day 3: scifi au || non-traditional art medium

day 4: post-canon || gifset

day 5: canon compliant || metered poetry

day 6: reverse!verse/roleswap || sketch

day 7: epistolary || flash fiction

day 8: episode rewrite || fanmix

day 9: gender changes - het to femslash || script format

day 10: canon a little to the left || headcanon

day 11: outsider pov || fancam

day 12: 5 + 1 || exquisite corpse/round robin

day 13: for want of a nail || sequel

day 14: dark fluff || webweave

day 15: vignettes/fragments || fansong

day 16: polyamory || abstract

day 17: unreliable narrator || screencap edit

day 18: meta plot/metafandom/carver edlund novels || non-song based fanvid

day 19: crossover/fusion || multimedia

day 20: trans headcanon || podfic

day 21: humor || amv

day 22: au || fiber arts

day 23: gender changes - slash to femslash || comic

day 24: pre-canon || digital art

day 25: omegaverse || sentence fics

day 26: mundane au || photography

day 27: selfcest || freeverse poetry

feb 28: character study || fanwork-of-a-fanwork

feb 29: rashomon style || fic rec list