"Along for the Ride"
A/N: No, I still don't own Supernatural. Please don't sue me as I have nothing of value to anyone but myself. If you do sue me, you've been warned. You won't get much out of the deal. I defer all ownership of Supernatural and any characters used from the show to its proper owners. I do claim the OFC as mine, for better or worse. I've already written one ficlet in my AU universe and Dean wouldn't be denied so this is his 'views' on Emerson Weir. It's set later in my series and once I know for sure where it fits, I'll make sure I put that in here but for now, this is basically a 'future' fic without it being too far in the future if that makes any sense to anyone but me.
Feel free to review. Those are always lovely and they keep my muse well fed and happy which means I write more. And please read my other stories in this 'universe' (Unfinished Business, A Mother's Love and You Don't See Me) as it'll help you understand this story, I think. And now that my notes are almost as long as the story itself, I'll let you go read that now. :)
As they drove away from a particularly 'messy' hunt in Iowa, Dean finally decided what it was about her that finally made him come around, made him finally really like the girl who was currently riding in the backseat of the Impala.
It was her smile that did it. That damned smug, self-important ...
He knew even as he thought it that it wasn't true. At least not the 'bad stuff'. Dean really did like her smile though. It lit up the room and was infectious as hell. Even if he didn't always smile back when he saw it. But maybe it wasn't her smile after all. No, he decided again, it was the way that she didn't pull any punches, the way that she didn't treat him with 'kid gloves', the way that she stood up for herself no matter what.
Well, maybe not exactly 'no matter what'. He had noticed that she backed down for Sam. She was 'softer' with Sam. Dean liked that about her too.
Emerson was a sweet girl when he got right down to it. And tough. And stubborn as hell. And smart. And stubborn as hell. And feisty. And stubborn as hell. And to top it all off, she was an asset to their little 'team', even if he didn't always say it. Hell, Dean didn't even tell Sam something like that so it wasn't like he was suddenly going to get all 'touchy feely' with her either. That kind of thing was never his style anyway.
But there she was in the backseat of the Impala, a part of 'team Winchester' now, in spirit at least. Although Dean figured that if Sam had half a brain, she'd be a 'Winchester' too one day. He joked about that with his brother often enough actually but somewhere, deep down, Dean knew that he meant it too when he told Sam to 'marry that girl'. He hadn't really had an opportunity to see his brother with Jessica but he'd seen Sam 'with' Emerson (at least to some degree while working with her and going out to bars with her to unwind) and he thought those two would 'work' anyway.
Glancing in the rear view mirror, he could see her asleep now, her head against the window and he softly sighed. He had to fight to keep from shaking his head at the sight although it was one of those sweet little things that she did, something that hadn't escaped Dean.
Sam looked over at his brother when he heard the soft sound. "What?" he asked, even glancing in the rear view mirror to see what Dean could possibly be looking at.
"She's going to smudge the window all up leaning on it like that," he said, sounding annoyed, although he knew that he said it half-heartedly.
Sam chuckled a little and shook his head at his brother. But when he thought Dean wasn't looking, he even took another glance at her.
Which Dean did notice but he didn't mention it. It wasn't like it would accomplish anything anyway. They could joke about it – even in front of Emerson – but they didn't really talk about it. Which was fine with Dean although he could tell that sometimes Sam wished that they could actually talk about it.
Still Dean found that he'd grown to love her. Not like he knew that Sam loved her, even if Sam wouldn't say it himself. It was more like Dean was stuck with an annoying new little sister now. And he loved her like family.
Dean rolled his eyes at that thought as it crossed his mind and kept on driving.