Boy Scout,

Here it is. I honestly can't believe I'm giving this to you. This silly story was never supposed to be so long, but I got a really good response. Just check out the reviews and the followers counts (hell this thing got over 70k views). All I ask is that, if you read it, you won't think less of me for it. I wrote this when I was lonely and had nothing better to do and I'm not that person anymore- in part thanks to you. But ask and you shall receive I guess... or beg for months on end :P

Anyway, Merry Christmas babe.

Homeschool

A/N Welcome! Just some housekeeping really quick: I currently update once a week (on Saturdays at noon usually). Trigger alert: mentions of abuse, violence, family death, murder, cursing... ya know... regular Supernatural stuff. I don't own Supernatural just my OC bla bla bla. You get it right? I don't really want to say it again so this goes for the whole fic. Oh and for the moment, I'm leaving the Season 7, 8, and 9 finales a secret for those of you who haven't watched that far, but they're fair game by the time I get there. I will be loosely following the main plot lines, but I'm putting my own spin on things. Also, since I have been getting more and more questions about this, I might as well be as up front as possible about it so you don't read over 50 chapters thinking something will happen and then get disappointed. No- there will be no smut in this story. I don't write it and this fic is K+ not M. I don't care when you want to imagine them doing it. Whenever you want. If I ever decide that them having sex is important to the story, I'll tell you.

Anyways now that all that is out of the way... I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1

Zara knew it was going to be a hard night as soon as her husband walked in drunk and angry. If he had been drinking, he was the meanest person she knew. By the time he had fallen into a drunken coma on the couch, she had accumulated a black eye, a split lip, maybe a sprained wrist?, and various bruises all over the rest of her body. He would come home almost every night like this and she had always done "something" wrong to set him off. Bruises had been laid over more bruises and Zara was sure one of her ribs had been broken somewhere along the way. It had been getting worse as Sean's work had been getting harder. He had been threatened with getting laid off and tonight it had finally happened. He was so angry he seemed to have tried to drink the entirety of his last paycheck.

Zara took refuge in their room and turned on her favorite show, Supernatural, to calm down while she tried to patch up some of the scratches on her arms and torso. Sean never wanted to see the "fruits of his labor". It would only start another argument that would end badly for her.

Sam and Dean's voices filtered in the background as she looked herself over in the mirror. Two haunted looking gold eyes stared back at her, the right eye now rimmed with purple bruises. Her eyes were her favorite feature and it saddened her that they would be marred for a while. What would be the excuse this time? "Bee stung me while I was smelling daffodils? Poked my eye with a spyglass 'cause I was pretending to be a pirate?" It didn't matter what it was. Whatever bogus excuse she gave would be enough. No one ever dared to ask if her husband beat her. No one wanted to open that can of worms. At least her darker complexion hid some of the bruises if not all of them.

She pinned up her long black hair and decided she'd finally watch the finale she had been saving for a rainy day. It was definitely, as least figuratively, pouring. She snuggled under the covers of the king bed and decided to spread out. Sean was in no condition to move by himself right now and she certainly wasn't helping him. "Carry on My Wayward Son" blasted through her laptop's speakers and Zara suddenly forgot all her troubles in the happiness all Supernatural fans feel hearing that song after 9 seasons. She belted out the lyrics with all her heart not caring who heard her.

"Carry on my wayward son.
There'll be peace when you are done.
Lay your weary head to rest.
Don't you cry no more."

As the episode went on, Zara could feel herself relax and her injuries throbbed a little less, that is, until the last ten minutes of the finale. The unthinkable happened and then it just... ended.

Zara just sat dumbfounded with her mouth wide open and her eyes blinking rapidly. Suddenly she snapped out of it and jumped up. "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" It seemed to be the only comprehensible thing she could get out of her mouth. She started pacing around the room. "THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING! No no NO!" This was just not her day. First Sean and then THIS had to happen. And she had to wait until October for the next season!

Zara needed to breathe, yell, do SOMETHING so she decided to go on a walk. It was a late summer night so she just decided to go out in her shorts and a t-shirt. Someone might see her bruises but it was around 3am so no one should be out.

She walked out of her apartment and started down the street toward the city park. Where she lived wasn't that crime ridden so she wasn't afraid to let her mind wander as she walked in the nice summer air.

She thought back to the day she married Sean three years ago. She was 23- just out of college and too naive to notice she was marrying a jerk. She was so happy then. That was before she became Sean's personal punching bag. The first time she just thought it was a mistake. He apologized so sincerely she believed him. Then it was every other week, then every couple days, then every night. Gone were the days of apologies. It was always her fault. Now she tiptoed around him constantly, praying he wouldn't notice her in her own home.

She knew what he was doing was wrong but she couldn't seem to get out of the bad situation. She always hoped that one day she would wake up and the kind man she married would be smiling next to her. Maybe he would change. Maybe it was all a bad dream. Sadly she knew it wasn't likely, but she could hope couldn't she?

As she made it to the park she went to her favorite spot near the cemetery. There was an old oak with a bench underneath that overlooked all of the gravestones. She sat on the cold stone bench and looked over the headstones at the stars. It had an eerie quality that Zara quite liked for some reason. Her brother, Brennon, was buried in one of the plots nearby and she always felt he was watching over her when she sat there. Before he left for Afghanistan, they did everything together. He was her idol. As children, he would convince her to go out late and catch lightning bugs. He would call her his little lightning bug because he said her eyes simply glowed when they caught them. He was always good at getting her to do things. He was the one who got her into watching Supernatural back when she was 17 with season 1. She kept watching after he left and, when she could talk to him, their conversations always included some comment on a new plot development. She was just devastated when she got the call that he would not be coming home.

"You wouldn't like how this season ended up Brennon. I can't even talk about it..." He would have gone off on a rant about how the writers loved angry fan mail. She sighed, her heart weighing heavily. He always knew what to say. She wished he had met Sean before he had died. Maybe he would have recognized the situation she was walking into or at least gotten her out of this. He would have known what to do. "I wish you were here."

The wind picked up and Zara imagined a whisper floating by "Oh lightning bug, you know what to do." She knew it wasn't real but she liked to imagine it was him, if only for a moment. And it was only a moment before her quiet moment was shattered by the sound of a twig breaking behind her. She could smell the alcohol coming off of him in waves and she let out a small shaky breath before turning and looking at her husband.

"I knew you'd be here." he slurred. Zara honestly had no idea how he managed to be upright let alone walk the five blocks to the park. "Talking to your dead brother. You're always talking to him. When are you going to get it through your thick head that he's dead. He's not coming back!" He leered and came closer to her. "Or are you trying to run away from me? Are you running from me RaRa? You don't love me anymore?" He roared. Something Zara had never seen glinted in his eyes. Was that black? No. She was imagining it.

She tried to make a placating gesture and back away from him but he grabbed her and slapped her. Hard. She started tearing up. "No no. I just needed some fresh air. It was nothing." He was having none of it. He was just getting angrier and angrier. Zara knew she couldn't do anything when he was this mad.

"No. You're running away. I lose my job and you don't love me any more. You only wanted my money you filthy gold digger!" Suddenly he had a gun in his hands, she didn't know where he got it but now it was pointed at her.

All the blood drained from her face. He wouldn't. He couldn't. "No please..." She heard the gun go off and she let out a bloodcurdling scream but, suddenly, there was nothing. No pain. No Sean. No gunshot wound. She was still in the cemetery on the ground next to the bench, tears streaming down her face. It was bitter cold and there was snow on the ground. What in the world? Wasn't it summer just a second ago?

She could hear voices in the cemetery. "Who screamed?" "I don't know. I thought we were done here… I think it came from over there" Zara scrambled behind the bench before they could see her, but when she saw who they were she stood straight up. What is going on?

"Jared? Jensen?" She half whispered. They came closer.

"What did you say?" Jared asked. "Are you okay?"

It might have been the fact that she has just almost been shot or that the actors from her favorite show were standing in front of her or that it was way too early in the morning but Zara felt her vision flicker and her knees give out. She heard someone curse and then broad arms caught her. She felt herself being carried out of the park and she caught a glimpse of the dawn sun. She almost could hear "It was the best I could do lightning bug." as she completely blacked out.