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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟎

The sound of James' laptop keys clicking was going to drive Emma insane. She and James had been doing research for the past two hours on his laptop and James and Andrew using the books from the library.

Sighing, she closed the thick book she'd been looking through. "Anything?" Emma asked, looking between them.

James shook his head and Andrew closed his book as well. "Nada," he replied.

Emma groaned, slumping back in her chair and letting her head fall back. "Great. So now we've got, what? An ID on this monster but no way of killing it?"

James sighed in response, then pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. "I'm gonna go out for food, considering that Andrew already ate everything we bought on Monday," he grumbled, jerking his thumb over at Andrew who was grinning from ear to ear.

Emma laughed and closed her eyes, happy for the break from research. The words had started to get blurry after staring at them for so long. She didn't bother to open her eyes as James gathered his things and left the library, heading for the garage.

"I'm so tired," Emma finally sighed, slumping farther down in her seat and rubbing her hands over her face.

"I can tell."

Opening her eyes, she looked up at James, who'd gotten up from his own seat to stand behind her own. Emma offered him a little smile, which he easily returned despite the exhaustion in his eyes.

"Come on, sweetheart. You should get some rest before Andrew comes back here and tries to put us back to work," he murmured.

She laughed a little one of those short, one-breath laughs that she always did when she was tired and nodded. Sliding out of her chair, Emma stood and stretched her arms above her head. James followed her as she headed towards the bedroom the two of them shared, and when he stopped her and scooped her up in his arms, she didn't argue. Emma was exhausted, and leaning her head against his chest and closing her eyes seemed like a much better option than trying to get him to put her down.

James carried her all the way to the bedroom, where he set her down on the bed and tugged her shoes off, setting them by the dresser before tucking her underneath the covers. He was quiet as he moved, but she opened her eyes slightly when she heard him start to walk away.

"Stay," she murmured sleepily, reaching out to grab his hand. Emma's fingers barely brushed over his skin, but he nodded in response. Satisfied, she closed her eyes once more and let herself fall asleep as he climbed into bed beside her with one arm wrapped around her midsection.

When Emma woke up, James was gone. Confused, she sat up and blinked a few times, rubbing the grit from her eyes as she yawned. She sat in the bed for a moment longer before slowly climbing out and making her way into the hallway.

"Dude, I just want to make it perfect," Emma heard James say as she neared the kitchen.

Make what perfect?

Andrew responded a moment later, though he was quieter than his best friend, "Well, maybe if I get her flowers. Emma likes flowers, right?"

Is James planning a... date? For us? Emma smiled as the thought took hold and she walked into the kitchen.

"Of course I like flowers," she said as she crossed the threshold. James turned to face her, eyes wide, and Andrew's face broke into a wide smile as he tried not to laugh at her boldness. "Why, am I getting some?" she smiled cheekily at James when he set down his coffee mug and walked to meet her in the doorway.

"Maybe," he answered.

Andrew rolled his eyes at the two of them and got up from the table, squeezing past her and James to leave the room. He mumbled something about research as he pushed past, but she was distracted with James to pay him any heed.

"Why am I getting flowers, Dean?" Emma asked, tilting her head slightly so she could look up at him in what she hoped was an attractive way.

"Because," James kissed her on the cheek, "we're going out."

"Out?"

"On a date."

"An actual date?" Emma straightened up now, surprised.

"Yes, Emma," he laughed, "an actual date. Like normal people." Squealing happily, Emma kissed James and threw her arms around his neck as he said, "First, we're going to go out to eat."

Emma paused for a moment to ask, "Where are we eating? Hopefully not another burger place. No offense, but if I have to eat another burger this week, I might go on strike."

James' laugh emptied in the otherwise empty kitchen. "No, not burgers. I found an Italian restaurant a few towns over. And then," he kissed her on the nose, "then we'll go see a movie. Maybe we'll take a walk. I'll bring you home and give you a goodnight kiss."

Emma smiled up at him and his smile got even bigger, if that was possible. Standing there in that moment, her life was perfect.

"James! Emma!" Andrew shouted. "I found it!"

Sighing, she extracted herself from James' loving arms and padded into the library. "And?" she asked, prodding for more information.

"And we need to leave now. This thing can only be killed one day a year, and that day just happens to be today."

James walked in as she glanced over her shoulder to make sure he'd heard Andrew's find, too.

"Andrew, does it really have to be today?" Emma looked back at him, pleading with him to disagree, pleading with him to tell her that she could have her date and her one perfect day with James.

Reluctantly, Andrew shook his head. "I'm sorry, Emma, but we need to do this today. It's our one shot."

Emma swallowed and nodded. James hadn't said a word and when she turned to ask him if she could have her date another day, he was gone. Looking back at Andrew, he only offered her a shrug and she sighed, heading to her room to grab her things for her work.

An hour later, they were on the road. Andrew was sprawled out in the passenger seat as James drove, and the older of the two kept casting cursory glances at Emma, who was stretched out in the back seat, napping.

"So much for taking Emma on a perfect date, huh?" James asked, glancing at his best friend.

Andrew nodded in agreement. "I'm really sorry, James. I would go on this hunt alone if I thought I could do it."

"You know she wouldn't want you to do that. She'd give you a talk about not going on hunts alone and how they always end up badly for us."

"She would, wouldn't she?" Andrew chuckled.

The conversation dissolved into a comfortable silence as the miles passed by. Soon after they entered the tiny town where Andrew had located the monster, James yawned and stretched languidly, sitting up and blinking the sleep from her eyes.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," James teased, meeting her eyes in the rearview mirror and smiling. She returned the gesture and ran her fingers through her hair, wincing when they got caught in a knot.

"Alright," Andrew began, clearing his throat as his best friend stopped the car in the parking lot of the motel the monster was using for its hideout. "This thing can only be killed with this mixture," he held up three silver flasks and the liquid inside sloshed around. "Don't waste it, this is all we have."

James snatched his out of Andrew's hand and Emma reached forward and took hers as well. Twisting off the cap, she sniffed it, then gagged. "What is this?"

"Chrysanthemum, holy water, ground bat bones, and blood of lamb."

Grimacing, she put the cap back on and slipped the flask into her jacket pocket.

"Let's get this thing over with," James sighed, getting out of the Impala. Emma followed his lead and Andrew did as well, heading towards the motel before her and James.

As they were moving to follow him, James started to say something then stopped and shook his head.

"What?" Emma asked.

He shook his head again and began walking after his best friend. Shrugging, she trailed after them. Andrew was already at the door when she caught up with them, and both boys pulled their guns out. Emma held the flask in her hand.

Sam counted down silently. When he reached "one," James kicked the door open and they barrelled into the room, guns at the ready. The monster was sitting on the edge of the bed in a pair of sweatpants and a faded shirt, watching a soap opera on the television and looking like any other red-blooded American. For a brief second, James hesitated, but when the monster jumped up and bared a set of two-inch-long incisors, he leapt into action.

As the boys distracted it, Emma opened her flask and circled the monster. She managed to grab it from behind and pry open its jaw, then poured the solution from the flask straight into its mouth. It sputtered and gagged as the liquid went down, but froze a moment later.

"Get back, Emma!" James shouted. He lurched forward, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the monster. She stumbled towards him as the monster exploded, covering her, the boys, and the motel room in a thick, greenish-brown sludge.

"This is the worst hunt," James groaned, shaking her hand and making the goo fly off in every direction. Andrew and James stepped out of the way.

James echoed her displeasure. "Really?"

Emma turned and saw him wiping off his face and laughed. "Oops. My bad." Smirking, she flounced out of the room, making sure to bump into him. She glanced over her shoulder at him and laughed again at the expression on his face.

Andrew chuckled as Emma sauntered her way out of the room, earning himself an annoyed glance from his best friend. He ignored it, and the two boys began cleaning up the motel room. They were used to doing most of the dirty work when it came to situations like these Emma refused to work whenever she was covered in any kind of ooze or monster guts. She'd vehemently protested about it on their very first hunt together, and even though both Sam and Dean hated cleaning up while she tidied herself up, Sam knew that Dean would bend over backwards when it came to making Emma happy. So, he stuck by his best friend's side and helped clean up the crime scenes.

When they were done, the brothers left the motel room and met Emma at the car, where she was standing in front of the open trunk, wiping herself down as best as she could with a dry rag.

"Hey, toss me one," Emma said, holding out a hand as they neared the car. She tossed him one of the other ones, then gave the last one to Sam when he came up on her other side. They cleaned up in silence, and Emma gave a tight, uncomfortable smile when a wary young couple passed by them, holding hands as they hurried to their room.

"Guys, I'm done for tonight," Emma sighed as they climbed into the Impala. "It's too late to start going back, we might as well get a room for the night."

James turned the key in the ignition and the car rumbled to life as Andrew closed the passenger-side door, nodding in agreement.

"Sounds good. One room or two?" James asked.

"Two. Two rooms," Andrew quickly replied.

"Yes! I got my own room!" Emma exclaimed from the backseat, and both boys sighed.

The drive to the motel was short, but by the time they arrived, it was dark outside. Both Emma, Andrew and James were exhausted and in need of longer showers than the motel's hot water would allow.

After getting the rooms, Emma went into hers and showered the remaining monster goo off of herself, then changed into her pajamas and fell asleep the minute her head hit the pillow. Andrew and James did the same, but James found himself lying awake, wondering if Emma even remembered the hope their impending date had promised.

"Emma! Emma!"

Someone was shaking her and she carefully peeked out through her eyelashes, making sure to keep her eyes mostly closed. Still pretending to be asleep, Emma shifted onto her stomach and wrapped her hand around the silver handle of the gun stashed beneath her pillow. Quickly, she rolled over onto her back and kicked a leg out, pushing away the person standing at her bedside and aiming the gun at them. Emma's heart was beating hard in her chest as her sleep-addled brain tried to catch up with her hunter instincts.

Laughing, James knocked her extended leg back onto the bed and grabbed the gun, easily disarming her. "Good morning to you too, sunshine," he teased.

"James?" she croaked. "What are you doing in my room? How did you get in here?" He only smiled wider and she squinted at the clock.

Eleven o'clock?

"James, it's not even morning. Get the hell out of my room."

"Go get dressed. Wear something warm," James instructed, ignoring her complaint.

Emma sat up, the covers sliding down her torso, exposing the old Stanford shirt you'd snagged from a storage unit when she and the boys had gone searching for one of Mason's old, unfinished hunting journals.

"What? Why? James, what's going on?"

James sighed, irritated, and upon seeing the look on his face, she reluctantly left the warmth of her bed and went to go change into the only clean outfit she'd brought with her. The bathroom's tile floor was freezing and she let out an unhappy squeal, causing James to laugh as she shut the bathroom door behind her.

After changing clothes and running her fingers through her hair to smooth out any bedhead, Emma put on her coat and boots, then followed James out of the room. He opened the car's passenger door for her when she neared the car, standing back and gesturing grandly for her to slide onto the leather seat. Laughing, she did so and then pulled your hat down over your ears as he gently shut the door before getting in on the other side.

"James, come on. Where are we going?" Emma laughed. He just shook his head and smiled, turning on the car and driving smoothly out of the lot. "Okay, okay. I'll play. But if this turns out to be something stupid, you owe me. I'm missing out on precious sleep right now."

That earned her a tiny smirk and she smiled in response, proud that she'd been able to crack his air of mystery. Turning in her seat, she watched out the window as the world flew by outside the car. The town dissolved into open roads, blanketed by a never-ending sky. Soon enough, her questions were beginning to be answered as James pulled the car down a small road. The trees around her thickened as the asphalt turned to dirt, and the sounds of the nighttime forest filled the otherwise silent car. Rolling down her window, she breathed in the crisp air and the smell of pine. Emma pulled the car off the makeshift road and parked it in a clearing. Before she had a chance to get out, he was at her door, opening it for her. He was still grinning and she eyed him suspiciously.

"What are you up to, Douglas? What's with all the secrets?"

James simply smiled wider and went around to the back of the car. Opening up the trunk, he reached in and pulled out a plaid blanket, draping it over one arm before opening the door to the backseat and pulling out the small green cooler.

Now you were beginning to catch on. "Is this a date? Did you just kidnap me from my room in the middle of the night to take me on a date?" Emma asked, a smile blossoming on her face.

"Not just any date," James answered. "The perfect date."

He closed the trunk and the side door, then walked over and took her hand in his. James led her to the warm hood of the car and patted the empty spot next to him once he was settled on top of it, the blanket spread between him and the car.

"Seriously? You haven't let anyone sit up here since you touched up the paint."

James nodded in response and Emma couldn't help but smiled a little wider, giddy at the prospects of her surprise date. Carefully, she climbed up and settled down next to him, leaning slightly against his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her.

"I got Chinese," he said after a moment. Emma laughed. "It's not exactly fancy Italian food, but-"

"It's perfect," she interrupted, kissing him sweetly on the cheek.

James pulled away to get the food from the cooler with a smile. He handed her a white paper container and she opened it, inhaling deeply and closing your eyes as the food's delicious smell rose with a cloud of steam.

Emma and James ate in silence, listening to the crickets nestled in the forest around them.

"Emma?" James murmured once the food was gone and the containers had been put away.

"Hmm?"

"Look up."

Following his instruction, Emma looked up and gasped. The sky was ink black, but it was dotted with a thousand sparkling stars, twinkling merrily above her.

"It's beautiful," she murmured. "I love the stars, James."

Emma saw him smile out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't look at him. The stars were captivating, and she didn't dare to look away. She didn't want to miss a single thing. When a shiver ran through her, however, she felt James wrap his arm around her once more.

"Better?" he asked.

"Mmhmm." she leaned into his warmth a bit more as she watched the stars twinkle, craning her neck to get the best view possible. "Hey James?"

He pulled back slightly to look at her, watching her expectantly. Tilting her face so she could meet his gaze, she continued, "Guess what? I love you. I love you more than I've ever loved anything, and I'm not even sorry that I don't have any love saved for anyone else. You've got it all."

"I love you too, Emma," he responded quietly, smiling softly. Leaning down, James kissed her softly, and she smiled into it. As she pulled away, she turned her eyes up towards the sky once more.

The two of them stayed on the hood, sitting together, until the last star faded out and sunlight soaked the earth. More kisses were shared and she was drowsy on the drive back to the motel, and even though the leftover Chinese had long gone cold and the tops of her only clean socks had been soaked through by the morning dew, she was the happiest she'd ever been when James dropped her back off at her hotel room. He even kissed her goodnight, and she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

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