The Bloated Worm [Chey]

[Ryder James Winchester]

Ryder tossed the liquid down his throat with a wince and then slammed the little shot glass on the bar counter to indicate he was ready for another.The Tequila went down with a burn and then settled in his gut like battery acid, but that was his 6th…7th one… (At this point who was counting) and each time it was a little more bearable.
Usually he went for the smoother stuff; Crown Royal was his favorite, but the rot gut Mexican liquor was hard to stomach, and for some reason the middle Winchester sibling thought he deserved to suffer. Besides…the bloated little worm floating at the bottom of the bottle was taunting him now. He wanted to get to that worm. That worm would take him far away from the thoughts that were plaguing him after the events that had occurred on Christmas Eve.

Even now, half drowned in a bottle of amber liquor, the young hunter couldn’t believe he’d been so drunk that he didn’t remember selling off his soul for a woman that he thought he couldn’t live without.
Was that even really the reason he’d done it? He thought back to those dark days and remembered that his biggest agony was the fact that he’d had to kill her. That he hadn’t known if turning vamp had stolen the life of the baby or it was -his- hand that had ended it. That he hadn’t warned an innocent woman about all the dangers that were out in the world because she was simply too innocent to believe it.

Reality had hit him in the jaw with irons fists, because the last few days with his newly risen bride-to-be had been one helluva’ wake up call.
It wasn’t as if he felt nothing for Cristine. Of course he still loved the woman. She’d been a good friend and someone with whom he’d shared his life with for a time. But Ryder felt emptiness in his heart that the chocolate haired female couldn’t fill. The absence was his heart mourning for the woman he really loved; the witch Simone James.

It was misery being without her. He ached to pick up the phone just to hear her sweet voice. He wanted so desperately to be in her arms again. To feel the velvet sensation of her lips against his…

And not only was there a dull ache in his chest from missing Simi, Ryder had a constant pang of wariness when ever Cristine tried to embrace him, or kiss him. She was…Cristine…but somehow…she wasn’t.
Of course he blamed it on the fact that she’d been dead for nearly a year. A person, even having no memory of that kind of tragedy, was bound to feel some residual after effects. But still… the man just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else wrong. She didn’t act like the Cris he’d fallen in love with. She was a completely different person. Much more affectionate and needy. Much more quick tempered and angry. The woman had taken the news of being turned into a vampire, killed, and then risen from the dead exceptionally well, too. Before her death Ryder had never spoken of hunting or the like, and yet, she acted as if all this was old news.

He kept telling himself it had only been three days. Cris was bound to remember something and maybe, just maybe…it would make things easier somehow.

Not that it would make his heart ache any less…

Taking the new shot that the tender had set before him, Ryder grimaced at the fire trail in his throat but recovered quickly; pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.
He hadn’t made the same mistake of running away from his family this time like he had the last, but he
-had- taken Cris somewhere that he knew his family or his friends wouldn’t find them. They had needed some space to try to sort things out without interruption and besides, that way Ben or his dad…hell, Chey for that matter, couldn’t show up on his doorstep to kick his ass.

Ryder had called them to let them know he was alright. He’d let Dean go off on him for being a dumb ass and not listening to the shit he’d been trying to teach them all their lives. He’d let Lisa sob in to the phone, and he’d made a thousand apologies and promises that everything would be okay.
Of course, who the hell knew if it was gonna’ be okay? The hunter had no CLUE which red-eyed-demon he’d made a deal with and where, and he sure as hell wasn’t ready to walk down the isle with Cristine.

Clumsily dialing the number, Ryder called the only person he knew he could lean on. No one had heard from Ben since that night, and the hunter was positive it was because he was out there trying to find a way to clean up the mess his younger brother had stepped in.
Ryder knew his baby sister would be his rock. She had to be. The doomed hunter felt like he had no one else in the world…

"Chey...I needjoooo..." Ryder slurred into the phone when her soothing voice came over the line.

They had a brief conversation with Ry drunkenly trying to explain where he was, and after letting the bartender give her directions, he hung up and waited; having a few more shots to get closer to that damned worm.

[Chevrolet Winchester]

Chey would love to say that this year had been her first family Christmas in years, but apparently the only thing she’d spent the year praying for, was too much for the universe to give her. Maybe it was wrong but after Ryder left on Christmas Eve, all she’d been able to focus on, was her daughter. As soon as Ryder left that night, Chey had got herself and Jessica in the car and drove to Lubbock. Deklan had always looked after her, she knew he’d do it again. Besides, he’d already offered to let her go down there for Christmas. She knew that her brother needed time. She knew he’d call when he was ready. She didn’t hate him or blame him. He’d promised her that he’d never leave again and she was holding him to that. She knew he’d call when he’d sorted his head out. She knew it. So she concentrated on making her daughters first Christmas, the best she could. While it wasn’t what she’d expected, what she’d wanted, in the slightest, it was enough. Jessica was happy and that smile on her face? That was enough. She’d come home the day after boxing day, so she’d only been at home for a day before Ryder finally called.

The youngest Winchester knew that her little girl was picking up on what was going on. It’d been easier to hide at Deklan’s. Deklan was great with her and his parents were fantastic. She swore he loved the little pumpkin like she was his own. Chey’s parents doted on her completely but it didn’t stop them from being obviously worried about both of the Winchester boys. It was getting to be a struggle just trying to keep her calm and drama free. Not that the child wasn’t a cheeky little maddam anyway. That night, she’d just gotten her to sleep when the phone rang. Chey sat there nervously as her dad shouted and her mom cried and finally the phone was handed to her. As she heard Ryder’s words, it was like her heart sunk into her stomach. “I know sweety. Tell me where you are and I’ll be there as quick as I can!” She wrote down what he told her, just in case and then ran up the stairs to get ready.

Typically as she was about the leave the house, the imp started screaming in her crib, meaning Chey had to practically hold her in a death grip and let her scream till she fell asleep. She’d have done anything to feel what her daughter was feeling, just so she didn’t have to, but she couldn’t. She missed her uncles. But Chey couldn’t do anything about that unless she was able to get out of the house. Eventually, her mother had come in and told Chey to go, taking the baby out of her arms and practically shooing her out of the door. She walked down the stairs, flipping open her cell phone and dialling Ben’s number. It was a long shot, and once she reached his voicemail it was a longer shot, but keeping her head held high, Chey opened her front door and spoke. “Come on Ben, it’s over now. We’ve gotta stop being mad and try and help our brother, and we can’t do that if you don’t come home. So I’m going to meet Ryder, and if you’re the person I think you are, the person I know you are, Ben, you’ll come meet us and help him heal.” With that, she left him the same details that Ryder left her and hung up.

Her bug was completely pushed to its limits, even in heels she could put the pedal to the medal. She was there in no time, though it was probably a lot longer after wrestling with her child. But she was there, and my god did she turn heads walking into the bar in her LBD and 6’’ heels. The mainly male clientele didn’t look used to 5’4’’, 21 year olds walking in. But their attention seemed to fade as she made a bee line for the depressive drunk at the bar. Walking up next to him, Chey slid into a bar stood and placed her purse on the shiny surface of said bar. The heel of her shoes tapped gently against the metal of the bar stool as her foot shook gently. Jade green eyes settled on the bottle in front of her big brother and her coffee colored curls flew gently as she shook her hair. “That dayum worm! There were few occasions that you could hear the southern drawl in Chevrolet’s voice, but sometimes she let herself embrace it, because something like that deserved to be drawled. She motioned the bar tender for another shot glass and then filled both hers and Ryder’s glasses lifting it up to hit it against her big brother’s and waited for the gently ting. “Bottom’s up!” and with that she threw back the first drink she’d had in about 3 and a half months. “WHOA.”

[Ryder James Winchester]

The amber liquid had become as effortless for the hunter to drink as water. By now he was mostly numb, so far in the bottle it was almost easy to forget the reason he had started drinking to begin with. Another shot was placed before him and Ryder threw it down his throat absent a wince, a cough, though the pound of the little glass on the bar counter was necessary to let the tender know he was ready for another. Besides, it was fun. The loud bang, which turned the head of other patrons, made the Winchester chuckle in foolish drunken amusement.
He didn’t even remember calling his baby sister to come join him, but then again, he gotten so much closer to that damned worm it was a miracle he could even remember his own name.

It was Jessie James, wasn’t it? Or…something like that?

When the young hunter’s blue-grey eyes landed on the virtuous face of Chey, he nearly fell out of his stool trying to throw an arm around her, (nearly being the operative word considering that it was Chey’s slight frame that caught him just before he went down) and he straightened himself with an obnoxious snicker as the bartender filled his glass and one for his sibling.
A candid grin spread across his face when his baby sister picked up her shot glass and tossed it back like a champ, and he was compelled to do the same, drinking his down just as quickly, with another pound to the bar when he was done with it.

“Chevrolet!” He slurred, wiping across his damp upper lip with the back of his hand. “What a coincidence you’re here. I was just thinkin’ to myself if there was anybody I wanted to get drunk wif tonight it would be you. My Chey. My baby sister.”
He leaned in to hug her again; wrapping his arms around her lithe shoulders perhaps a little too tightly, but god did he miss his sister. His best friend. It had been forever in a day that the two of them had sat down together and just talked. And drank.

The middle Winchester looked seriously, suddenly, and looked around as if he’d lost something. And he had, really; his wits, for the time being. Earlier he was lost in his misery and his fear, but the liquid courage had stolen his inhabitations and replaced them with silly contentment to be with a person that had always been his partner in crime.
Ryder felt a little like a high school kid, meeting his sister at the bar when he knew Dean was out of town and Lisa was too trusting for her own good. He hadn’t really been -that- bad an influence, but as the older brother it had been his duty to teach Chey how to hold her liquid lest someone try to take advantage of her while out partying. The Winchesters perpetually had a target on their back, so there were lessons to be learned at every corner.

[Chevrolet Winchester]

In an attempt to throw his arms around her, Ryder managed to go toppling off his seat, only to be caught by the significantly smaller Winchester. Despite a shake of her head that showed she was nothing if not shocked by the older of the two siblings. But he managed to get himself back up and the smile on her face showed a slight amusement at his actions. For her entire life, Chey aspired to be a ‘real’ Winchester. She wanted to be just like her father and her brothers and she did her best to get there. Drinking? Well drinking was one of the things she really did do like a real Winchester. Sometimes even to a fault, not that anyone ever noticed. Throwing back a shot of tequila was child’s play for Chevrolet. Ack and he went and did it, didn’t he? He called her Chevrolet in public. She swore, one day she was going to legally change her name. Her forehead wrinkled her brows coming together as one made an attempt to curl upwards, remaining unsuccessful. “Well is that so? ‘Cause I was just thinkin’ to myself, if I was Ryder and I could be in any bar in the world, where would I be? And lo and behold, here ya’r!” She could have told him that he rang her to get her there, but hell he’d just forget again in a few moments, plus she wanted to save him the embarrassment.

As her brother moved to wraps his arms around her, squeezing her till it hurt a little bit, her hands moved to pat his back. She didn’t mind being squeezed. In fact, she welcomed the motion. It proved this moment was real. While she wasn’t welcoming the relived knowledge that her brother’s life had turned to crap in a matter of seconds on Christmas eve, she did welcome knowing that she was really sat before him at this moment. He may be highly intoxicated, but he was alive. If she was here, she might not be able to do much, but she could at least try and help him. Best friends forever. That’s what they always promised. Even when the status of their friendship seemed foggy, both siblings had to know the other had nothing but love for the other. Lesson one when you were a Winchester, was that family was everything. As Ryder started looking around, Chey’s eyes followed his gaze, her hand slipping into his and gripping it gently. “Hey, whatcha lookin’ for, Ry Ry?”

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[Ryder James Winchester]

Ryder could help but laugh silly at his sister’s southern drawl. And man…they were best friends weren’t they? If she could just happen to wander into the same bar he’d been sat thinking about her…oh, wait. He had called her hadn’t he? Oh yeah! Well, it didn’t really matter to the intoxicated young man if it was fate or a lack of short term memory, she was here and they were going to have some wicked fun. Just like old times. Well, nearly, if Ben was here that is.
Turning to the bartender with a lop-sided grin, he pointed like he had suddenly seen an old friend. “My man…it’s been…it’s been forever. hic. Keep ‘em coming!”

Shaking off the hiccups that were trying to throttle him, Ryder fisted the little glass filled with amber that was swiftly placed before him and tossed it back with less than a wince.
It got rid of those hiccups real good.

What was he looking for again? Oh…yeah. The hunter squeezed his baby sister’s hand and shook his head, beaming at her so wide that the dimple on his cheek appeared, and he looked all of 13 years old. “Ah, nothing. Just doing the regular parameter check like Dad always taught us to do when we were out in town. Gotta’ take care of my litter sister…you know. Dean would kill me if I ever let anything happen to you on -my- watch.”

Ryder smirked, glancing at the bar for a moment and pushing a newly refilled shot glass towards Chey before wrapping his palm around his own. “Here’s to….best friends…drinking…and family. What could be a better reason to live, huh?” The middle Winchester downed the shot with a slight grimace, but moved passed it quickly in order to wrap his arm around Chevy’s shoulder again; this time much gentler. If he fell down now he was never getting back up.

“Jooo know baby girl…I know I’m supposed to be taking care of you. Like…watching you right now, all that Dad would kill me shit…but the truth is…the truth really is you’ve always taken care of me. You are so much stronger than I am. Lookitchoo… I mean…look at Jessie…” Ryder got a proud smirk on his face that aged him a bit, and then he looked serious a moment, but even that was swiftly replaced with something like drunken amusement again. “You are the strongest of us, baby girl…and I mean that.”
Ryder hiccupped again and let a string of curse words escape before using another shot to douse the breathing glitch. Once more, the shot worked to ease the hiccups and he sighed, trying to remember where he’d just left off.

[Chevrolet Winchester]

It had been so long since Chevrolet had seen her elder brother in this kind of state, though that didn’t mean that the youngest Winchester was unaware of the fact that, up until a few months ago, this was an almost constant state for the middle sibling. The sheer fact her big brother kept hiccupping was the biggest indication that he was so far over the limit, that the limit was now a not only a blurry line, it was also dancing around, much like the worm at the bottom of the bottle would have once done. But she was already kind of enjoying just being sat there with her best friend. Was that wrong? That she was happy to be there with her brother, despite the fact she knew that so many people she loved where in so much pain? She let an obvious smile rest on her face as he grinned at her. It was so good to see him with that look on his face. More so when she considered there was a time she didn’t think she’d ever see it again. His hand squeezed hers and then his words forced a harsh chuckle out of the young girl. “Oh yeah. Gotta protect me from all the big bad drunks?” She winked playfully at him and shrugged. “Besides, as long as you stay under the drinking limit, you could take dad easy. In case you hadn’t noticed, Papa’s getting creaky in his old age.”


Chey caught the shot glass as it headed her way and grinned at his toast, gently lifting her glass and throwing the harsh liquid down her neck in unison with her big brother. With a little choke, Chey came out with a quick. “There aint one. Just gotta hope the booze dun kill me.” She was kidding of course. Not only did Chey have the capability of holding her liquor, but she did so often. Probably more often than one should normally do so. In fact, scrap the probably. The only time it had ever been apparent was when she found it hard to stop during her pregnancy. Luckily for her though, she had someone that cared enough to notice and stop her for the sake of her little one. To look at her little Jessie Bean now, she’d never been so glad about anything in her life. If she’d done anything to jeopardize the life or quality of life for her little girl, she’d have never forgiven herself. This fact made what Ryder said next so bitter sweet.

No matter how unsure she was that what was being said, was in fact true, the fact her brother, the one person who’s opinion had always been respected by Chey, the one person she’s made a big effort to impress throughout her life, felt that way... well the tears just would not stop streaming down the young girls face. At first they came slowly. Over the years, Chey had developed one of her Papa’s skills that they affectionately nicknamed the ‘single man tear’, but soon her hands clung to Ryder hard and the tears followed suit. It was like river flowed down her face. Chey didn’t think he was even aware how much that meant to her. All she ever wanted was to hear she was good enough, so to hear that her brother considered her stronger than he was? That was the best feeling. There were so many words Chey could say but instead she settled for a smile that said thank you better than she ever could and a simple “I love you Ry Ry.”

As Ryder hiccupped a big giggle broke through the tears. She felt her breathing shake slightly as she tried to stop crying and wipe her face as she laughed at her brother. “You’re such a loser. If Ben was here, he’d so be laughing at your loser ass!” With that, Chey turned to look at the bar again, more meticulously than she had before. “Bro, I gotta say... Next time you get rat assed in a bar... Least pick a decent bar.” A bright pink tongue snaked out of the twenty one year old Winchester’s lips. If Ryder looked like a teen with that crazy smirk on his face, Chey looked all over Seven right now.

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[Ryder James Winchester]

Ryder had meant every word that he had said to Chey, and with a conviction that made his own eyes gleam with moisture and a reflective smile played on his lips when thoughts of the pair of them running around as kids played like a re-run in the television of his mind. Ry hadn’t been expecting her tears, or the little female wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him around the neck so hard that for a moment the young hunter believed she would asphyxiate him, but when she did, whispering those three words and her nick-name for him since childhood, Ryder snaked his arms around her back and simply held his baby sister.

He had wasted so much time.
The months he had been in a fog of depression the middle Winchester had come to understand were some of the hardest Chevrolet had endured. The young woman had needed her older brothers there to comfort her, and Ryder wished he would have realized it had been all he’d needed too. The misery, the binge drinking until he blacked out… where had they gotten him besides into an even deeper hole? The hunter realized that if he couldn’t find a way out of the deal he had gotten himself into, he was going to leave his baby sister again. And for good.

And not just her, but everyone. Everyone Ryder had ever loved. He was such a piece of shit! How the fuck could he put them through that?! The drunken hunter waved down the bartender but this time after the man poured out the smooth amber fluid, Ry caught him by the wrist so he couldn’t take the bottle away. “Mayas well leave it.” He slurred, and slammed the newly poured shot back with a hazy shake of his head.
Pounding his palm on the table in a show of inebriated excitement, the young man howled and the worry was suddenly forgotten as Chey went and brought up his sorry ass excuse for a big brother; Ben. Okay, so…he happened to be like the best big brother around, but Ryder knew to admit such would only give Benjamin an even bigger head and that thing was already one massive grape.

He smirked and went to lean against the bar, but missed, nearly sliding all the way to the floor. Laughing his ass off, Ryder righted himself and looked around, feigning surprise at his little sisters comments about the bar. “Wha? I think this place is ace. …Oh…didjoo hear that? Ima poet and didn’t even know it!”
Silly, intoxicated hunter. He went right back to laughing again and poured them fresh shots.

“Speakin’ of Ben…where the fuck is that asshole?” He slurred and knew Chey wouldn’t take offense to his pet names for the elder sibling. It was just how they were. It had started a long time ago with Dean and Sam Winchester. It was just how their kind showed affection.
The tawny haired young man got serious then, and he grasped his little short glass as if it were a life jacket and he’d been thrown overboard. “You think he’s out there…looking for my…my…you know.”

The contract. The biggest mistake he’d ever made. God damn him.

[Chevrolet Winchester]

Chey couldn’t help but laugh at Ryder. He was so funny when he was drunk. Maybe that’s why Chey had such fond memories surrounding being drunk, because of the first times she was ever drunk were with her big brother in this giggly mist he seemed to be in right now. She daren’t tell Ry she couldn’t quite work out where his sentence rhymed. Hell, he’d clearly been messed up lately so why would she break his heart more by telling him the truth on the matter? She couldn’t do anything but shake her head and try and keep up with him with the shots as they were poured and he intended them to be thrown down her throat. The shake was however joined by a giggle when Ry said what he did about Ben. She spotted the way his eyes went darker as he asked where he was and Chey didn’t want to hurt him. Instead she just twisted the truth a little. “Well….. Last Benjamin was spotted he was getting into a car with the one and only Makayla Rhys-Damara. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ran off and got married in Vegas or something. We have always said they were born to be together. She’s just evil enough to shut him up and he’s stubborn as a damn mule.” It wasn’t a lie. Her and her Mom had already joked about it. It’d definitely be funny if they did come back with a big rock and a caesars palace t-shirt.

Chey’s hand moved instinctively to Ryder’s. A smile on her face. “Oh Ry. You have to see this picture of Jessica. It’s the cutest thing.” Her spare hand reached into her pocket, gently shuffling out the phone and finding the picture before turning the screen towards her brother. (http://bp0.blogger.com/_bgdDViL0ffA/R-7AxDmUW1I/AAAAAAAAAyA/XDRbaHXurFM/s400/Baylee%27s+Party+073.jpg ) She was trying to bring a sense of normal back to the conversation. She wasn’t sure if Ryder wanted to talk about the deal and she knew that if he had wanted to, he wouldn’t have been so skittish about the subject. She was sure he knew that when the time was right to talk, he’d talk. But if he wasn’t, she was gon’ let her Princess Jessica be a distraction for him.

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