Okay, here is the usual disclaimer: I do not own supernatural, nor any character created by the show, nor some of the ones in this story 'cause I stole them from almost 'real' life (my friends). Nor am I making any money from this unless my friends try and bribe me not to put it up, but I will anyway, so alas no money.
A/N: This takes place before 'Shadows' so haven't caught up to John and are still looking for him and the demon.
A/N 2: This is another in the 'Roadtripping' stories, basically what would happen if a regular person caught a ride with the Winchesters.
Beta'd: by the excellent morning sunlight.
Good writing to everyone
Serenity for all
Sincerely Rae Artemis
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Time To Hit The Road
"Okay Dean, one more time what's our cover?" Sam glared at his older brother as he changed into his clothes from the hospital gown. "I mean what does she think we're doing? The old road trip story again?" Sam rolled his eyes at the thought of the old story being used yet again. "And how did she not figure out what he was doing while she was riding with him?"
"First off Sammy what other story do we have that works better than the road trip story? And second Joshua wasn't going to hunt until he dropped her off but he got a phone call from Caleb. The phone call was to help a young hunter they know who got in over his head and needed help, Joshua was the closest and had to help the poor guy."
"How is he anyway?" Came a muffled question from Sam as he slipped his shirt over his head. "I thought he was just going to research and quit hunting, he's getting pretty old for it now."
"He's only a few years older than Dad and he was, but this hunter needed help and there was no one else, so he went in. Anyway he got pretty beat up by a shape shifter with a knife."
"Why do shifters like knives so much?" Sam grumbled as he carefully shrugged into his hoodie, very aware of his shoulder and the hole in it.
"Don't know, maybe they like the up close personal kill." Dean relied offhandedly, as he finished packing Sammy's bag, making sure his baby brother didn't forget anything. It was a routine that had been ingrained by a lifetime spent taking care of his family. Dean eventually became aware of Sam staring at him, an amused, somewhat sappy smile on his face.
"Dude, what?"
"Nothing…just…" Sam had missed these kinds of moments, the sense of safety and home Dean could create in minutes like these. Dean had a way of making every hotel room or hospital room comfortable and familiar just by being there. Living at Standford by himself and later with Jessica had been great, but had always seemed to be lacking a small detail and Sam now recognized this to be the perfect comfort of 'home'. "You said Dad sent co-ordinates?"
"Yeah something is going down in Florida and we need to head out there, the message said we get more in a few days after Dad has checked his sources." Dean kept his voice carefully neutral, not wanting to give away that he'd actually spoken to their dad and not received a text message.
"I still don't know how we can know its him, the man is technologically challenged. Remember when he blew up that microwave? Or the fact that anytime he touches a computer it melts down? Seriously how do we know its him?" Sam scoffed, not noticing Dean's far away look.
When John had phoned Dean, Sam had been unconscious and so had not seen the look of shock Dean had gotten from hearing his Dad's voice. He'd quickly left the room in case Sam would wake up at the ringing and received the orders from his dad. Apparently there was some kind monster in the Florida Keys that was eating tourists dumb enough to ignore the local's advice. There was a friend of Pastor Jim's who had alerted him to the occurrences and was waiting to fill Sam and Dean in on the goings on in the area.
It had sounded fairly cut and dry so Dean figured that he and Sammy could handle it without alerting Zoe to their unconventional day job. Now with the job staring him straight in the face he wasn't so sure and was a bit nervous about taking Zoe along for the ride. Especially since John had been so sloppy with giving details about their contact in Florida, which was very unlike him. A hunt was planned to the smallest detail with John Winchester or it didn't happen. With the lack of detailed intelligence and the fact he had invited a civilian on the trip Dean was beginning to feel a bit worried about the whole thing. His father's last few words of wisdom weren't at all comforting as they had been cryptic and terribly vague, 'be careful with these people, they're good but they might not agree with…our methods'.
"Dean? Dean?" Sam was staring at him, an exasperated look on his face. "Are you listening at all? Or are you thinking about our hitchhiker? Man the dumb things you've done in your entire life don't even compare to this. How are we going to do the job with her around? Seriously you need to let your upstairs mind do your decision making from now on."
"And you need to chill out, it'll be easy. We'll just drop her off with Pastor Jim's friend and get on with the job. No need to whine and bitch about it like it's the end of the world." Dean replied bluffing Sam and his own fear.
The last thing he wanted was for someone to reject him for his day job, again. After Cassie had done that it had nearly killed him, quite literally. On the hunt after she'd tossed him he'd been so distracted by her rebuff of his life that he'd been caught unaware by the ghost they were hunting and had been thrown out of a second story window, leaving John to finish the ghost by himself. Dean had been left at Pastor Jim's to recover and 'get his head in the right place!' according to his dad. Cassie had been the only person he'd ever told and she'd pushed him away, ain't love grand? He didn't really know Zoe and wasn't sure how he felt about her, it wasn't love but it was something and he did not want to lose whatever it was, not yet.
"Dude!" Sam was in front of him a look of concern plastered on his face. "Were you hit in the head or something on that hunt? I've been trying to get your attention for the last few minutes. What going on?"
"Nothing, just thinking about the next hunt."
"Really? You actually 'think'? Have thought processes and everything? Wow, who knew?" Sam snarked, still annoyed that Dean was bringing along the chick who he'd picked up while Sam had been getting the bullet dug out of his shoulder, curtsey of Dean. He knew it was an accident but the fact that Dean had gotten a one night stand out of the deal and therefore hadn't been there when Sam had woken up was upsetting. Now the one night stand, Zoe, was going to be with them on this hunt making it impossible for Sam to get Dean to open up about his feelings and talk out the shooting incident let alone deal with the whole 'looking for Dad' issue that Dean was so vigorously avoiding.
"Ha ha, very funny." Dean replied throwing Sam his stuff, a little harder than he normally would have. "We've got to get going or we won't make it out of town before that check bounces." He announced before slipping out the door to avoid further argument.
Dean strode down the hallway, not waiting to see if Sam was following him or even coming along.
