Sam knocked on the motel room door and took a few steps back to be visible in the peephole. He moved the duffle bag of clean clothes from his right and to his left and shifted on his feet awkwardly.
"How do we know that he didn't just take a shower and then take off?" Dean glanced at his slightly taller but younger brother. "What? Don't look at me like that. He could have."
Sam huffed and shook his head. "Why would he? He was going to take a shower and he wanted to wash his clothes. He's wearing clothes that have to be about six sizes to big. Where's he going to go in clothes like that. This small town's police officers would be all over him. Just give him a second."
They ended up waiting close to five minutes for Rowan to crack the door open. Dean pushed it the rest of the way open as Rowan retreated to stand with Q in front of the closed bathroom door. Dean sniffed the air. "Smells like eucalyptus and wet dog in here. Did Q get a bath too? Why do dogs have to smell so freaking bad all the time?"
Sam punched his brother hard on the arm and ignored the yelp and pout that followed. "Were you able to find everything you needed?" he asked Rowan.
The boy nodded before turning to Q. The brothers watched as Rowan caught the dog's attention by pointing a finger towards his blue eyes. Watch me. The dog perked his ears and his tail stilled. This was followed by a closed fist raised to shoulder height. Q sat. The next command was a flat palm pushed slowly toward the dog's snout. Stay. Rowan turned, went to stand next to the still open door, and looked at Sam with big eyes.
"Right. I promised we would go shopping. Just give me a second to put my stuff down." Sam dropped his bag on the nearby bed and jumped when Q began a sudden low growl. He glanced up to see that Dean had moved as if to enter the bathroom, but had quickly aborted that plan at the canine's warning.
"Whoa, Q. Sorry I said you smelled. I just need to go to the bathroom!" Dean had his hands up, palms out, in an attempt to soothe the dog. He tried to take a step forward only to be rewarded with more growls that were slightly louder than before. Dean quickly retreated and the growls abruptly stopped. He lifted his foot as if to step closer and Q began again. "Are you serious! I'm not even allowed to use the bathroom in the motel room that I paid for?!" He turned around to look at Sam and Rowan gesturing widely with his hands.
Rowan just shrugged and Sam chuckled. "Chill out, Dean. Q is just protecting their territory. Your book bag is still in the bathroom right?" He turned to look at Rowan. The teenager gave a small nod. "See, he's just doing his job. You'll just have to hold it until we get back. I need the car keys." Dean muttered something about territorial dogs as he tossed Sam the keys to the big black car that sat right outside the door.
Sam herded Rowan out of the room being careful not to crowd or touch the boy. "I noticed a little store on our way back from the laundromat. It looked like they had a little bit of everything there. We'll get you some clothes and toiletries and also pick up some food and drinks for dinner tonight. I'm pretty sure there was a microwave in the kitchen area."
Rowan shrugged again and nodded. She could do her own shopping while Sam picked out food. She was thankful for the too large, baggy clothes she was wearing. They would make "shopping" things like underwear a little bit easier. She climbed into the passenger side of the car and glanced around before settling into the leather seat.
"Pretty nice huh? Dean takes really good care of his car. It's almost sickening sometimes." Sam started up the car, pulled out of the motel parking lot, and headed for the store. He glanced at Rowan from time to time during the trip, noticing how small the kid actually was. Rowan was wearing on of Sam's oldest and smallest shirts and the collar was still trying to slip down the young boy's shoulders. Rowan was holding the front of the collar to keep it from doing so. The pants were rolled up at the ankles and, judging from the bulge around the kid's middle, rolled several times at the waist too. He was too small, Sam would have to make sure that the kid was getting enough to eat while he stayed with them. The boy was staring out his window at the passing scenery but was tense all over, like he was ready to jump out and run at any given moment. It was awful that a kid this young was living on his own out on the streets.
When they reached the store, Sam laid out the plan of attack for the shopping trip. "We'll divide and conquer. I'll get the food, you can do toiletries and clothes. I'll find you when I get finished. Sound good?"
Rowan nodded, exited the car, and headed for the store. She went inside and then waited to Sam to head off to the small grocery section before making her way toward the toiletries. She picked up a toothbrush, toothpaste, and looked through the deodorant options. After smelling a few different sticks, she decided to go with Irish Spring. Not too manly, but not super girly either. It would do it's job and help her keep her secret. She was walking through the rest of the section making sure that there was nothing else she needed. Down towards the end of the aisle were the feminine hygiene products. She had a few left in her bag, but those were something that a girl never wanted to be out of when the time hit. Rowan glanced towards the ends of the aisle using her peripheral vision and then snatched a small package off the shelf. She was lifting up the hem of her shirt to stick the pack under her waistband when a large hand latched on to her elbow. Rowan temporarily froze before dropping everything in her hands and preparing to run.
Sam browsed through the meager pickings of the grocery aisle trying to find something that could be made in the small kitchenette of the motel room. It was mostly just snack foods on the shelves; chips, crackers, a few loaves of bread, cans of fruit and some of vegetables, and a small cooler unit with milk and cheese. He grabbed a loaf of bread, a couple of cans of mixed fruit, and some cheese from the cooler. After thinking about how badly Dean was going to complain about cheese sandwiches, Sam also grabbed a few bags chips and placed them into his basket.
Finished with the grocery portion of his shopping Sam headed over to the Health and Beauty section, where he last saw Rowan. He spotted the top of Rowan's dark haired head and hesitated a little. Sam was a tall man and could easily see over the shelving units that made up the aisles in this small store. It looked like Rowan was standing in front of the display of feminine hygiene products. Sam began walking a little slower and a lot more quietly, waiting to see what his charge would do. When he got to the end of the aisle that Rowan was in, he saw the teen's hand shoot out and grab a small package. Puzzle pieces in his mind began clicking into place as he reached out a hand to stop the youth from hiding the package in the oversized clothing.
"Hey," he whispered, trying to calm Rowan down from the very obvious flight response that had kicked in at being caught. "It's just me. Rowan, it's just me."
The teen looked up with watery eyes, chest heaving rapidly with heavy breaths, and body shaking with fear and panic. One hand came up and began rubbing circles in front of that rising and falling chest. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Blue eyes fell away from hazel ones and fixated on the floor.
"Hey, hey," Sam placed two fingers under the small chin in front of him and lifted until he could see the bright blue eyes again. "Hey," he said a little more firmly than before, "look at me. You aren't in trouble, Rowan." He knelt down and picked up the offending package. "Are these something that you need?"
The eyes shifted away again before Rowan gave a tight quick nod.
"Okay. Then we'll get them. You don't have to steal them. How about we get a bigger sized package so that you don't have to worry about running out so soon." Sam replaced the small package on the shelf and picked a larger package of the same product before placing it into the basket that he had set on the floor. "There we go, problem solved. Let's pick up the rest of your stuff up off the floor and then we can head over to the clothing section." He gathered up the rest of Rowan's chosen toiletries and placed them into the basket as well. Rowan stood stock still, almost as if locked into place.
Sam sighed. "Rowan, it's okay. I'm not mad. I mean, I have a few questions, but I'm not going to do something like dump you on the side of the road or anything. Shoot, if I did that, we'd never be able to get into the bathroom at the motel because no one would be able to tell Q to move! And my favorite shampoo is in there!" He grinned when he saw Rowan's lips twitch a little at the corners. "So, we'll go finish up our shopping, get you some real underwear. Makes sense now why you hated Dean's decision. And then we'll go back to the room and everything will be okay."
Rowan felt the tension slowly start to leave her still shaking body. This, this whole situation right here is exactly why she took Q with her everywhere. He was a great watchdog and kept her from getting caught. At least Sam had taken it all in stride and wasn't being a jerk about it. He had yet to call her names or say she was weird or disgusting or some other ridiculous thing that people say when they jump to conclusions. She reached forwards and grabbed the older man's arm as he moved to stand up. She placed her index finger over her lips, hoping he would understand what she was trying to say.
"Don't worry kid, I won't say a thing." He picked up the basket and hesitated for a second before opening his arms slightly and moving a little closer to her. "Can I-"
Rowan shrank back at first but then took two small steps forward and buried herself in the embrace. It had been so long since she had felt the positive touch of another person. His arms wrapped around her tightly, and she sighed, content.
Sam was shocked when Rowan actually moved forward into his hug. The small arms that wrapped around his waist squeezed tightly, almost desperately. He tightened his own in response and held on, waiting for Rowan to break the embrace. When the teen finally stepped back, face red with embarrassment, Sam just wrapped an arm around those skinny shoulders and walked toward the back of the store where the clothing was. He took Rowan to the women's section and then stood back, letting her make her own clothing choices. It wasn't long before she was back, slipping a small package into the basket and then heading across to the men's section to pick out a few size extra small shirts and pants. Sam handed Rowan a box with some sturdy boots inside and had her try them on. When they found a pair that fit, the two gathered up their purchases and returned to the front of the store to check out.
"Hold on just one second. I need to buy one more thing." Sam handed the basket to Rowan and walked briskly over to a section of the store that they hadn't been in. He returned with a notebook and a package of pens. "Okay, I think we're ready. Do you want to go on out to the car or wait with me?" After seeing the confusion on Rowan's face, he explained his question. "I just wasn't sure how comfortable you are with being here while the cashier rings up our purchases. If you want to wait in the car, you can. But if you don't want to, well, as far as the cashier knows we are buying necessities for our sister, right? You do what makes you comfortable." Sam wanted Rowan to feel safe and didn't want to expose her to the ultra closed mindedness that too many people displayed these days. He had to laugh though as Rowan simply shrugged and moved forward to stand in the checkout line.
Turns out he needn't have worried, the teen running the register obviously couldn't have cared less about what items came across his till. They gathered up their bags and returned to the car, depositing them in the trunk. Sam pulled out the notebook and the pens. When they were both seated in the front of the car, he handed the items to Rowan. "These are for you. I'm not trying to force you or anything but, I don't know very much sign language except for the alphabet and it may take me a while to learn and then teach Dean. Old dog, new tricks and all. But until then if you need something you could write it down? Just an idea. You don't have to do it if you don't want to." He ducked his head and rubbed at the back of his neck.
Rowan flipped to the first page of the notebook and began writing. She showed it to Sam with a smile. The word thanks was written darkly and underlined.
"Not a problem. Um, Rowan I just have one question that I need answered. And then I won't ask anymore. Are you, uh, do you, I just, I mean, do you want to be a girl?" He watched as Rowan's mouth dropped open and then popped shut again. Her shoulders began shaking as her eyes crinkled up. "I'm sorry, I just need to know what to...are you laughing at me?"
Rowan nodded her head emphatically. She finally got herself under control and wiped away fake tears before looking at Sam's flushed face. She made eye contact and then began writing in the notebook again. She wrote slowly and angled it so that Sam could read as she wrote. I. Am. A. Girl. She underlined the whole thing several times.
"Okay. Okay. I get it. I just wanted to make sure. I didn't want to accidentally call you the wrong thing or anything like that. Even if it was just in my head. Can I ask why?"
Rowan cocked her head to the side. B-O-Y, she signed.
"Yeah, why dress like a boy? You do a pretty convincing job by the way. I was fooled. Dean is still fooled. Probably will be for a while actually."
Rowan shrugged and tore the page she had written on out of the notebook. She folded it up and tore it into tiny pieces before responding, fingers twisting and curling again. Easier. Safer.
Sam just nodded and started the car. "Well, let's get back before Q has to take a chunk out of Dean."
Rowan smiled and leaned against the window. She had gotten lucky today. Very lucky indeed.