chapter three

one sweet day

♰

    "SAMUEL WINCHESTER HOW long does it take to answer the fucking phone?" Cordelia snapped as soon as the Winchester accepted the call.

"Good morning to you, too, Cordy," Sam yawned into the phone, ignoring Dean's curious stare.

   "No — no," Cordelia shook her head ferociously. "Do you know how long I've been calling you?"

    "No, but I'm sure you'll tell me," Sam rolled his eyes tiredly.

   "You are correct!" Cordelia ran her tongue across her teeth. "Hours! Samuel, hours!"

    "That's lovely, Cordelia," Sam sighed, tone sarcastic as he rubbed a hand across his forehead in exasperation. "Really nice."

    "Watch your mouth," Cordelia snapped, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I will kick your ass across the country and back."

    "That's rude," Sam frowned. "Just because you're older than me doesn't mean you can talk to me like that."

    "Yes it does," Cordelia sighed dramatically. "When will you learn, Samuel?" She rubbed her head theatrically.

    "No it- Was there something you needed? I'm kinda in the middle of something..." Sam told her, warily looking over at Dean who was gesturing for him to put the phone on speaker.

    "You remember when you helped me hack into the police database to clear my record?" Cordelia asked. She had been arrested more times than she could count — whether it be for stealing, fighting, vandalism or something far more serious. Lets just say, she was no longer allowed in Florida ... or Texas, for that matter.

    "Yeah?" Sam spoke hesitantly, sighing.

    "Okay, so — hypothetically, hypothetically, how would one do that again?"

   "Why?" Sam asked sceptically as he swatted Dean's hand away, the older Winchester grew interested with the conversation when he heard a chick's voice that did not belong to Jessica.

"For research purposes only ... remember that. I need to see some crime scene photos. There's been a murder around the corner from the campus. You know how I like watching murder documentaries, I'm curious. Sue me."

"Sue you? The goddamn state will do more than sue you if you get caught." Sam choked on air, the sudden pause gave Dean the chance to take the phone from his brother, placing it on speaker.

    "Sammy? Helllooo?"

The older Winchester tilted his head in slight recognition. "Who is it?" He mouthed to his brother.

Sam shook his head, pulling himself from the daze, "Why?"

"I already told you why, research purposes, Sammy," Cordelia reminded. "Look, you remember that guy I've been talking to? Well, he's new to Stanford and I just wanna make sure he's not a murdering psycho, you know?" Cordelia said, pursing her lips as the string of lies left her mouth; the only truth in what she had said was that there was a new guy, they hadn't even spoken a word but Sam didn't pay attention to most of the stuff she says, so he was none the wiser.

"No! I'm not helping you do that again, we almost got caught last time," Sam scolded. Dean's eyebrows shot up.

"That was not my fault, okay? That was your sleezy hacking," Cordelia sighed in annoyance.

"If it's so sleezy then why are you calling me?"

"Because Brady isn't answering and Jess took my damn computer," she mumbled.

"No!"

Dean listened as a loud sigh came through the phone. "Why not?"

"Because if you get caught I'm going to be the one to bail you out of jail again, or I'll be sittin' besides you in the cell, again — did you know that me and the receptionist are on first name basis? And that Officer Riley named a frickin cat after me because she, and I quote, 'took a liking' to me."

Dean did a double take as he listened to the conversation. "And while that is tremendously adorable," Cordelia said dryly, with a sigh. "Can you help me or not?"

Sam sighed, staying silent for a moment, "Fine. But you owe me, big time."

Cordelia grinned, clicking her tongue, "I knew you couldn't say no to me. Thanks Sammy."

"Whatever," Sam grumbled.

After talking the girl through it, again, the two exchanged goodbyes before ending the call. Dean looked towards Sam with an expectant look on his face, "Who was that?"

"Jess' cousin," Sam told him with a sigh, throwing his phone on the motel bed. Dean stared back at him blankly, Sam rolled his eyes.  "The drunk girl you spoke to," he continued.

Dean's mind went back to the night he picked Sam up. His lips upturned into a smirk in realisation, "Dude, she's hot."

"Seriously?"

♰

"Hey," Jess greeted Cordelia as she walked into the former's apartment, flopping down onto the couch. "Where've you been?"

"Sleeping," Cordelia lied smoothly, playing with the TV remote to distract herself. "Lost track of time."

"Hm," Jess nodded, mixing some cookie batter. "Have you seen the news?"

"Nope," Cordelia answered, uninterested with the topic. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just that they found the killer to that murder you thought was a case." The blonde glanced up at her cousin suspiciously.

Cordelia pulled a face, scrunching her nose up, "Bullshit."

"No — seriously," Jess nodded, looking down at the batter. "They arrested him earlier today."

Cordelia snorted quietly, "Well considering I got rid of the translucent freak who killed them I'd say they've done a pretty shitty job of-"

Her eyes widened as Jess jumped, pointing a finger in her direction, "I knew it! You fuckin' liar!"

"Fuck my life," the brunette muttered, she turned to her younger cousin with a stiff smile. "Look, you should be happy."

"Happy?" Jess repeated slowly.

"Yeah. Happy," Cordelia nodded. "I got rid of the ghost, inevitably saving the future family that'll move there. Though, I doubt anyone will move there after that, I mean, seriously? Did you see the autopsy pictures — yikes!-"

"You promised me Cordelia!" Jess firmly stated, ignoring her cousin's previous comment.

"I promised you nothing, Jess," Cordelia frowned. "Look, it was only one job, okay?"

"No — not, okay," Jess mocked. "I'm not doing this to be a bitch Cordy, I'm doing this because I don't want you getting hurt. I don't want Uncle Ed finding out you're hunting again and then takes you away from me — again."

Cordelia's face softened slightly, "Alright, fine."

"Alright?"

"No more cases, okay?"

"No more cases," Jess nodded with a small smile.

"If."

The blonde groaned loudly, throwing her head back in annoyance.

"If you let me have Sam's cookies, I get your car for an entire semester and you do my laundry 'til the end of the year. Oh! And I want my laptop back."

"But, Sam-"

"Sam, who?" Cordelia smirked, pulling her body up from the couch. "I'm getting a shower, if Samuel gets back while I'm still in, keep him away from my cookies. Thanks, sunshine."

    "You know, you have your own shower, use it sometime, why don't you?" Jess called out to her retreating figure.

    "Why bother when I can have a lovely, hot shower here without the worry of water bills!"

♰

Cordelia hummed as she stood under the searing hot water, her hands ringed around her hair — rinsing the liquid from the brunette locks. The steam in the room clouded her vision. The twenty-five year old sighed, closing her eyes — she felt calm, peaceful.

    Of course it wasn't going to last, it never did.

Her eyes peeled open as she heard a yell, her hand reached out and she shut the shower off, climbing out she grabbed a towel. Her head snapped up as she heard another yell, her eyes squinted, it sounded like a ... man?

She swallowed roughly as she quickly dried her body, throwing on some clothes, she grimaced whilst doing so — getting dressed in the bathroom after a shower was a no-no for Cordelia. She could never understand how people did it, unfortunately for her, she had to suck it up as there could be a possible intruder in her cousin's apartment — coming out to fight naked probably wouldn't be the best idea, but then again, it wouldn't be the dumbest idea she'd ever had.

The brunette opened the bathroom door quietly — swiftly grabbing the gun she had forced Jess to hide under a set of shelves.

Her head tilted as she heard yelling come from Jess and Sam's room, her eyebrows furrowed as she flicked the safety off. She let out a deep breath before shoving the door open, a shrill scream escaped her lips at the sight before her.

Jessica Moore was held on the ceiling, bright red blood splattered across the front of her nightdress. Sam Winchester sat below her on the bed, screaming out her name.

    "Jess!" Cordelia cried out, screaming her name. She was unmoving, paralysed, her breath hitched in her throat as the shock set in. She hopelessly stared up at the sight of her cousin's body dancing within the flames, the orange hue holding her hostage.

    At the realisation of the situation, tears welled in her eyes before she glanced over at the Winchester, hurriedly making her way over to him.

"No, Jess!" Sam screamed out as he shielded his face from the fire. Cordelia's hands shook tremendously as she hastily grabbed onto the Winchester's jacket, dragging him up from the bed as she snapped back into reality. "Jess!"

"Sam, we have to go!" Cordelia cried, pulling at the boy who fought against her as he called out her cousin's name in desperation. "Now, Sammy! We — we've gotta call for help!"

"Sam!" Another voiced yelled, entering the bedroom Dean was welcomed with the sight of his brother's girlfriend on flames. He swallowed his nerves — the situation all too familiar with him and he grabbed onto his brother and the girl who he recognised to be Jess' cousin.

"No! No! We gotta get help," Sam cried out to his brother as Dean pulled him out of the bedroom. Cordelia's eyes clamped up as she blocked out the screams coming from Sam, she hissed as she felt a hot pain on the side of her neck — her being behind the two men made her an easier target to the fire.

She felt a rough tug on her arm, pulling her out of the building before she was met with the cold breeze outside.

♰

An agitated sigh left the brunette's lips as she pushed the paramedic away. Her tired, red rimmed eyes stared passed the helper, "I'm fine."

"But Miss, you have a severe second degree burn-"

Cordelia walked away, not giving the paramedic time to continue, she made her way over to that same black Impala she had seen days before and stopped in front of the Winchester brothers with a nonchalant look on her face.

"Cordy-"

The Moore rapidly shook her head, silencing her friend. "You're going after whatever the Hell did that, I'm guessing?" Her eyes flickered to all the weapons in the open trunk, if it was any other circumstance she would've swooned over all the guns.

Dean's eyes widened as he followed her line of sight, he closed the trunk at a quick pace, the brunette rolled her eyes with a scoff.

"I don't know what you're talking about-"

"Cut the bullshit," Cordelia snapped, inevitably shutting Sam up. "I'm not in the mood to listen to whatever excuse you're gonna come up with, I know who you are Sammy, so I'll ask again-"

"Woah, hold on now-"

Cordelia shot Sam's brother a glare as he spoke up, she raised a brow watching as he opened his mouth before quickly shutting it again. Dean narrowed his eyes as she opened her mouth to speak again, "Well, are you?"

Sam gulped, looking away, "Yes ... "

Cordelia nodded slowly as she unconsciously gripped onto the necklace Jess had gotten her for her birthday, "Good, I'm coming with you."

"Cordy — I don't think that's a good idea," Sam frowned slightly, he was confused to say the least, Cordelia knew about the supernatural world? About who he was? He needed answers but he could wait.

"No." The Moore girl snapped. "With or without you I'll be hunting the son of a bitch that did that to Jess, either way that bastard'll get what's coming. It's your choice whether or not I'm by your side when I kill the bastard." Truth be told maybe Cordelia could kill whoever did this to Jess alone — but that was the problem, she didn't want to be alone. Jess and Sam were the only family the huntress had known for a while and if Sam left without her she'd be completely alone.

Which was her biggest fear.

Abandonment.

Sam inhaled sharply, glancing over at his brother who watched his movements closely. "I-" Sam sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Okay, we do this together, for Jess."

Cordelia nodded, "For Jess."

♰

"Hello?" Cordelia whispered into the phone, awaiting of a response from either her Aunt or Uncle.

A rough gulp sounded through the phone, "Do you know what it was?"

"Not yet," Cordelia sighed, rubbing at her forehead before she wiped the lone tear that ran down her cheek. "But, uh, I'm gonna' find out soon enough."

A deep sigh echoed through the speaker. "Cordelia?" The broken voice of her Uncle spoke. "Are you sure you want to get back into hunting-?"

"I'm sure." Her quick response cut him off. "I promise you, both of you, I will find that son of a bitch and they will suffer. I swear it on my life."

She shakily moved the phone from her ear and ended the call — not wanting to hear the goodbye. She pulled the jacket Sam had given her closer to her body as she headed back to the brothers by the Impala.

Sam and Dean looked over to the girl as she watched the younger Winchester cock a gun before he threw it in the trunk.

"We've got work to do."

Author's note!

let the fun begin ;)