Title: Killing the Fandom

Chapter: Five

~~~~~~~~~~

Gwen woke early. Sam was beside her on his back, his breaths heavy and long. Carefully, Gwen rolled over until she was facing him. At least he’d calmed down the previous night. She’d almost thought he’d wake up before her, pack their bags, and present her with a fait accompli.

Stretching out a hand, she brushed his hair off his forehead. “Morning,” she whispered, then went to shower. She dressed, putting on the t-shirt sitting on her bag. It had to have been Jo who’d managed to get it for her sometime because she didn’t see either Sam or Dean buying her the shirt. It appealed to her sense of humor. ‘Extreme Sam Girl’. She certainly was. She had to count as the most extreme Sam girl ever.

The shirt was a little big in the shoulders, but fit nicely across her breasts and especially her stomach. Jo had estimated the size well and Gwen made a mental note to thank her for the shirt later.

She left a note in case they woke up before she got back, and went down to an early breakfast of oatmeal and fresh fruit. As she ate, she looked over directions on her phone. It wasn’t that far to the hotel Teddy had called his own, not really. She was going to find him and make sure he wasn’t involved. Hopefully, he wasn’t and Sam and Dean could be a bit more at ease about this.

Within fifteen minutes, she was at the front desk. “I’m looking for Teddy Rickster. Is he here?”

The young man shook his head. “I haven’t seen him today, but his girlfriend is in the dining room having breakfast. You could ask her.”

Girlfriend? “Sophie?”

“Yes.”

Gwen smiled somewhat smugly that her guess had been correct. It had been a hunch that Sophie may have gone off with Teddy, one Gwen had wanted to check out as well. She’d been skeptical of actually finding her though “Thanks.” She stepped into the dining room and saw Sophie at the far end by herself. She approached her. “Hi, Sophie.”

“Gwen?” Sophie looked up, lips parting and surprise in her eyes. She’d cut her long hair in a short bob that made her features look more delicate.

“I was hoping you’d be here.” Sophie looked well, like she’d put back on some of the weight she’d lost after Mick’s disappearance, then kept off due to circumstances.

While Gwen was glad to see her, she didn’t look pleased to see Gwen, sitting back, suspicion sliding into her gaze. “What’re you doing here?”

“Vacation.” She sat down without being asked. Whatever Sophie was eating, Gwen couldn’t quite identify it. It looked like something from a crime scene.

“How did you know I’d be here? I cut ties with everyone.”

“I know. Your dad’s not too happy about that.” Chris had been beyond worried, afraid something had happened to her and Gwen was under orders to give him an update as soon as she found out anything. “Might want to give him a call. He thinks you died somewhere out on the road and he’ll never know it.”

She waved a hand. “He’ll be fine and I’ll contact him after….” Sophie broke off. “Never mind.”

“After what?”

She crossed her arms in a defensive movement. “After I have the baby.”

“With Teddy?” The news actually didn’t surprise her as much as it once might have.

“We’re trying.”

Gwen remembered what Sam had said. The Trickster could only have a child with a woman who’d never had one. And Teddy liked what he called ‘exceptional women’. Gwen thought Sophie certainly qualified as exceptional. “You’re not yet?”

“We just started.” She looked away, seemed to brace herself and looked back, a bit of defiance in her gaze. “He’s not like the others, Gwen. I know he’s a monster, but he’s not a monster.”

“I know, but be careful, Sophie. Are you sure --”

“Of course I am. I’ve thought about this since the reunion. Mick died a long time ago and I’m still here. Teddy makes me feel something. It’s been so long since I felt anything and he’s done everything he can to help me.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “Contact Chris now, though. Give him some peace of mind. Is Teddy….” How did she ask if he was being a Trickster?

“Working?”

“One way to put it.”

“He never does anything I’ll bust him for, but he does play a few tricks.”

“Would you bust him?”

“Yes.” The answer was a quick and cool as Sam’s had been when he’d been soulless.

“So? Is he working right now?”

“I don’t know. I think so. He was following some fat arrogant womanizing ass around the past week.”

Which meant he could be anywhere.

“Are you hungry? Want some breakfast?” Sophie held up a hand and a server approached. “My guest would like to order.”

Since she was feeling a little hungry again, Gwen glanced at the menu. Jo had been right about feeling constantly hungry in the last trimester. “The half order of crepes with the blueberries, please.” When the server had gone, she gestured at Sophie’s plate. “Do I want to know what you’re eating?”

“Chicken livers with sage, salsa, raspberries, and scrambled eggs.”

Gross. Chicken livers and sage she understood. Salsa and scrambled eggs she understood. Raspberries were good, too. But all together? “Are you sure you’re not pregnant?”

“Hey, it all goes to the same place anyway.” There, at the corners of Sophie’s mouth, was the suggestion of a smile, of real humor. “I’m not. Teddy has me on vitamins and a total diet makeover so I’m healthy enough. I guess having a Trickster can be hard on the human body and he says cheeseburgers and fried foods every day are disaster.”

“I’ll bet. Sam’s been telling Dean that for years and Jo and I’ve stepped in on that, too.”

They talked, Gwen catching her up on cases they’d worked and rumors of cases. The crepes were good, the size of the order just enough to stop her stomach from rumbling.

“I’ve been meaning to ask…. What’s with the shirt,” Sophie asked as Gwen stood to leave.

“Oh, it’s a joke.”

“Extreme Sam Girl. What’s the joke?”

“You sort of have to be there.”

Sophie’s brows rose, but she didn’t say anything more, waving in goodbye. Gwen headed back to the hotel.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Jo.”

She popped a couple painkiller, washed them down with water, and peered up at Sam. “What?” She didn’t have the throbbing hangover she rightly deserved for the amount she’d had to drink the night before. All she had was a tiny headache and vaguely remembered Dean insisting she drink a couple gallons of water. She’d woken half an hour earlier and taken her time in the shower. Her stomach growled loudly.

“Chuck dropped this off for you and Gwen last night after we got back and you went to bed.” He set two large envelopes in front of her.

Dean frowned, lips pressing tight together.

Jo didn’t remember going to bed. What she did remember was giggling an awful lot in the hotel hallways. She didn’t pick up the envelopes. “What are they?”

Opening one, he dumped out the contents. “Tickets and things. He said that, as long as we’re here, you…we…may as well get the VIP treatment to make up for the books.” He seemed uncomfortable, his shoulders shifting, glance sliding to Dean. “Like it makes up for anything.”

Jo watched them a moment. Dean was giving Sam a death glare and Sam was staring back with defiance. While they had yet to mention leaving this morning, she deduced that Dean wanted to go and Gwen had already soothed Sam enough to where he’d actually give them the envelopes instead of throwing them away. She rolled her eyes. “Geez. Can you two at least try to see the humor in this?” She began to go through the things Chuck had brought. There appeared to be everything they’d need for a fun time, including tickets for a photo opportunity and to a happy hour that afternoon with David Angle, an ‘intimate’ event, according to the ticket. She pulled out a nametag. It had the con logo and ‘Gwen’ written in marker on the tag. She looked through the second envelope until she found one with her name, then pinned it on her jacket. “Where’s Gwen? I’m hungry.”

“Not sure where she is. Her note said she was running an errand. How are you not hung-over with the amount of alcohol you had last night?” Sam shook his head as if in wonder. “I had to carry you back here. You could hardly walk. You made up dirty lyrics to the muzak in the elevator on the way up and kept asking if I ‘got it’.”

“I barely had anything.” She began to sort tickets and papers into the order they’d need them, referring to the program. “Those were weakest amaretto stone sours I’ve ever had. They were like water.”

“No, you were drinking them like they were water.”

“Their bartenders obviously never had my mother standing over them taste-testing each drink for hours until they were able to make them to her exacting specifications -- strong on the booze like a real drink should be.” Raising a hand, she snapped her fingers several times. “Get ready, guys. Come on. Breakfast starts in twenty and I want to get good seats for the trivia contest.”

“Trivia,” Dean asked, crossing his arms.

“Hell, yeah. You two should blow ‘em all out of the water. I mean, after all, it is your lives. Let’s go win some prizes.” She sent Gwen a text to meet them.

Halfway through the contest, it was apparent to Jo that her husband didn’t know anything about himself. Nor did Sam seem to know anything. The two didn’t answer the easiest questions, though she and Gwen were making a killing on the personal stuff.

When it was over and most people had filed out, Jo put her feet up on the chair across from her. “How is it possible you two don’t know a damn thing about your lives?” Jo sipped the remains of her coffee.

“These people are obsessive,” Dean complained with a scowl. “How am I supposed to remember what kind of donut I had eight years ago or what color shirt I was wearing? For that matter, how do you know all that stuff?”

“I’m your wife. I know things these fans would kill to know about you, especially some of the female fans.”

Sam tapped his fingers on the table. “I need to find Becky. Shouldn’t she be here?”

With a frown, Gwen rubbed at her stomach. “I’m hungry again. Think we could get me something?”

“How many breakfasts have you had this morning?” Jo glanced at Gwen.

“Three.” She shrugged. “They were all little ones.”

She cast a long glance at Gwen’s stomach and shook her head. “So unfair.”

“I’ll get you something,” Sam offered, getting up from his chair.

“Meet us in the dealer room,” Gwen told him.

They headed down the hall to the main room for the convention, barely reaching the doorway before two girls came up to them. Jo put them at about seventeen.

The girls giggled. “It’s her,” one whispered to the other. “You ask.”

“No, you ask,” the other replied.

“No, you.”

“No --”

Seeing that this exchange could easily go on for longer than she cared to stand there, Jo interrupted. “Ask who what?”

The two grinned. “Can we get your autograph?” They held out small notepads. Their hands were shaking.

“My autograph.” What the hell?

“Yeah.”

“Mine. I’m not --”

“Your portrayal is already legend. I had to meet you!”

“We,” the second girl corrected, “had to meet you.”

Dean had a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like laughter and she saw a tiny smirk on Gwen’s lips.

“My portrayal.”

They looked at each other and squee-d. “Rissa said she was awesome.”

“Wait. Marissa sent you over here?”

“Yeah.” The one on the right gestured at the room. “She’s over there.”

Jo looked to where she pointed and sure enough, there was Marissa, with what looked like the entire female population of the con around her. She waved at Jo, who slowly held up a hand in return. “Okay. A couple autographs coming right up.”

“Would you include a personal note, too?”

With a ‘see, I can be gracious’ expression in Dean’s direction, Jo signed both books, including a generic ‘best wishes’ with both.

“This is going to be some day,” Gwen said with anticipation dripping from her voice. She moved to the dealer table and began to peruse the items there.

Dean caught Jo’s arm. “I’m not going in there.”

“Of course you are. Dave’s panel starts soon. We have to get good seats.”

“Dave?”

“The actor playing you. Didn’t Sam tell you? Gwen and I met him last night. He sat at our table with us for awhile.”

“There is so much wrong with this I don’t know where to begin.”

She and Gwen found seats. Sam had apparently come back and left again, for Gwen was munching on a snack size package of pretzels while Sam was nowhere in sight. Come to think of it, where was Dean? Had he not followed her in the room after all? She could’ve sworn he was right behind her.

“This should be entertaining.” Gwen gestured at one line leading up to the makeshift stage. Dean was near the front of the line, standing there like he meant to be there.

“What’s he doing?”

“He likes Dave as an actor, right?”

She thought back over the various actors Dean had ever said anything about. “Yeah, I guess he does. He liked that one flick he was in with that actor that played new Captain Kirk. I can’t remember what it was called.”

“That’s the line to ask him questions. Didn’t you see the sign?”

No, she hadn’t. She’d been trying to get the best seats for what she assumed was going to be a popular panel. “He can’t be in line.”

“Well, he is.”

“What’s he doing?”

“Standing in line.”

“Smartass.”

“Rather be a smartass than a dumbass.”

Taking out her phone, she texted him. He looked at his phone and put it away without replying. “He’s ignoring my text.”

Gwen finished with the pretzels and opened a package of peanut butter crackers, holding it out to her. “Cracker? Too bad there isn’t popcorn.”

“What’s he up to?” She absent-mindedly signed eight more autographs while they waited and the room filled up. Whatever he was planning wasn’t going to be good, she knew that.

The panel started without trouble, Dave promising a message from Darrin later and starting the question section. There were eight people in line in front of Dean and he waited his turn with a bored expression. Upon getting the microphone in his hand, he stepped closer to the stage, head turning slightly in a way Jo recognized. It was the turn he sometimes used when he was assessing someone and getting ready to harass them for answers on a job. “Hi. Um…what makes you uniquely qualified to play Dean?”

“Uniquely qualified?”

“Yeah. Why did they pick you out of all the other actors?”

It sounded like a nice neutral question. Jo knew better. Dean was spoiling for a fight. She could see it in the way he shrugged and smiled. He wasn’t interested in the answer, but rather in riling the actor up.

“Well,” Dave leaned against a stool that was on the stage, “I was told I had the right look for one. Actually, I went up for Sam and Darrin for Dean, but they had us read opposite that. I guess I had the range they were looking for for the character.”

“Uh-huh. Were you a fan of the books?”

“I’d never heard of the series, but it sounded interesting.”

“Interesting? A racist truck is interesting?”

Dave watched Dean a moment. “I mean the series as a whole. Brothers searching for their father. Killing monsters. A constant roadtrip. Put all that together and it’s an intriguing idea. I mean, as we, the readers, find out more about them, more questions are raised about their lives, their pasts. I picked up a few books and kept reading. The overall story arc has kept me hooked. I can’t wait to fill in the holes with the new books.”

The man beside Dean reached for the microphone still in Dean’s hands. Dean held it far above his head. Jo could just hear the words, ‘sir, you have to give someone else a chance to ask questions’. He ignored the man, monopolizing the microphone, his questions becoming increasingly obnoxious. Strangely, there didn’t appear to be much interest in forcing Dean to give up the microphone, the line behind him dispersing until only a couple people remained, like perhaps he was asking the sort of questions the audience wanted to know the answers to.

Jo kept waiting for Dean to kick into really obnoxious high gear.

“Would you do a nude scene if they threw enough money at you?” He held up a finger. “Wait. You did do a nude scene. What did your parents think of that? I bet they were so proud.”

To David Angle’s credit, he managed to keep his cool as Dean’s questioning (interrogation) continued. “When you’re struggling to get started as an actor, sometimes you’ll do things you look back at with regret. I don’t regret that film, as it got me noticed, though if I had the choice again, I might not do that particular scene. My parents understood that and chose not to see the film. They support my career completely.”

“Right. So…. No career in porn any time soon?”

“No.”

“Sorry, ladies. Seems he’s shy.” His smug glance at the audience produced some laughter. “What’s the actress who plays Cassie really like? Huh?” He wiggled his brows. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“She’s very professional.” Dave sighed, glanced out at the crowd and stepped towards Dean. “Okay, then. I’m going to have to ask you to let Tom have the microphone back and go back to your seat.”

“Why?”

“I’m sure someone else might like to ask a question or two.”

“Gotcha.” Turning, Dean looked at the last three people in line. He put his arm around the young woman behind him, urged her forward to stand beside him, and said, “You got a question for Dave, sweetheart?”

The girl giggled. Jo realized it was one of the girls who’d asked for her autograph in the doorway. “I do, yeah.”

“And? Go for it. He wants to hear your question.”

“Okay. Um…Are you…um…Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Tell us, Dave. Got a main squeeze? Pretty young thing you see regularly?”

He took a drink of water. “Not right now, but there is a woman I’m interested in. How about we cut the Q and A short? I’ve got --”

“What? No!” Dean gestured at the second person. “Here’s another question. What’s you name?” He held the microphone to the man.

“Jason.”

“What’s your question, Jason?”

“Did your career interfere with college plans?”

“You can ask him anything and that’s what you ask?” He shook his head. “College plans?”

Dave cleared his throat. “Actually, that’s a good question. I’m taking the long route to a degree: class here, class there. I had some fairly steady jobs for awhile, but when I have downtime, I take classes.” The last person in line returned to her seat, leaving only Dean at the microphone, and it looked to Jo almost like Dave sighed in relief. “If there are no more questions --”

“Wait, I think my wife has a question, too. Hey, honey, what did you want to ask him again?” Dean grinned out at the audience. “Honey? Don’t be shy.”

Jo slid down in her seat and pretended she hadn’t walked in with him and didn’t know him at all. She couldn’t wait to get to the bar and have a drink.

Across the room, Marissa craned her neck to see her and gave her a thumbs-up with both hands.

“Jo? Where are you, sweetie? Stand up.”

He could see her, she knew he could, because he was looking right at her, daring her to actually stand up. That expression made her grit her teeth in annoyance. This was all an attempt to further his view. He was trying to embarrass her so thoroughly that she’d agree to leave the hotel. Glancing at Gwen, she saw a mischievous twinkle in her eyes and whispered, “Don’t you dare.”

Gwen grinned, raised a hand over Jo’s head, and pointed at her.

“There you are,” Dean said cheerfully.

“I will so get you back,” Jo told Gwen as she stood up.

“I know,” was her unconcerned reply.

“What was your question again? I can’t remember.” The microphone wasn’t cordless, but Dean dragged it as far as he could to her without unplugging it.

Jo cleared her throat. “Okay. Hi, Dave. What’s your favorite method of dealing with obnoxious fans.” She gave Dean a quick pointed look and returned her attention to David Angle with a smile.

On the small stage, he smiled back and half laughed. “That’s a very good question.” he paced a moment. “Ignoring is always an option.”

Didn’t work for him with Dean.

“I also remind myself that fans are passionate people. After all, the word fan comes from fanatic. They can easily get carried away, but I’ve found most are polite. The obnoxious ones, as you called them, are maybe one out of twenty depending on the fandom. Some fandoms it’s more like one out of a hundred. Still, if neither of those things helps, there’s always alcohol.”

The audience laughed.

“No, I’m kidding about the alcohol.”

Except she thought he wasn’t. Neither was she. She really wanted a cocktail or two with lunch now.

“Who here would like to hear a quick message from Darrin?”

The cheering was loud enough to hurt Jo’s ears.

Dean put the microphone back and left the room without a glance her way.