A month later.
Dean basked in the heat of the afternoon sun, its warm soothing rays penetrating every cell of his being, diffusing its life-giving energy throughout his body.
He hadn't felt so relaxed since...well, he couldn't remember.
He lifted his head lazily, his eyes searching for that one person who was all important to him.
He saw Sam's head bobbing above water, his dark hair sleek against his scalp, and he settled back down onto the threadbare towel that he had taken from their lodgings.
It was unusual, to say the least, to find Sam and Dean Winchester holidaying on a sandy beach but then, the brothers' lives were nothing if not full of surprises!
x
When they had returned to Bobby's from their last hunt, both had been so quiet and withdrawn that Bobby had begun to freak out.
He hadn't said anything for the first couple of days, but the lack of the usual brotherly bickering and their extreme interest for the musty old tomes in Bobby's library was just downright creepy.
He decided to give it some more time and see if the two would revert to their usual noisy life-style, ( which he couldn't believe he would ever have lamented the loss of ) but things just got worse.
The last straw that broke the camel's back came when he saw Dean take a broom and start to brush the kitchen floor, while Sam, never far away from his brother, had emptied all the kitchen cupboards and was setting everything back in its place in as orderly a fashion as the most obsessed housewife.
"Okay, that's it!" growled Bobby from behind his desk.
"You two get your butts over here right now before you drive me to drink! Oh,wait; you already have! I'll upgrade to drugs; some of those sweet coma-inducing ones!"
The brothers exchanged guilty glances and came over to stand together where Bobby had been researching.
x
"Right, what the hell is going on here? I've put up with days of silence and brooding, but I draw the line at having my kitchen messed up by you two idjits."
"Bobby, we...," began Dean.
"Don't go fishing for excuses, boy," interrupted Bobby. "Now start talkin' !"
"There's nothing wrong...," Sam began.
"I SAID TALK!"
Dean consulted Sam with a shared eye-exchange, gave a heart-felt sigh, and opened his mouth.
"You remember the werewolf hunt we finished days ago?"
"Yeah, so...?"
"Well something happened, something weird..." he continued. "Dean...!" Bobby growled.
"Sam read my thoughts...," Dean sprouted off as fast as he could; maybe if he said it quickly, it wouldn't be true.
"Okaay,... you mean that Sam knows what you're gonna do before you do it because he 'understands' you so well. So, what's new...?
"No, Bobby, Sam read my thoughts... literally, ...down to the last word, " Dean precised.
"Whoa, boy; you mean telepathy?" Bobby's eyes latched on to Sam's who nodded hesitantly.
x
The older man sat back in his chair, imagining the soothing oblivion of the afore-mentioned drugs.
He loved these two extraordinary boys, he couldn't pin the exact moment of that revelation but it was now gospel and every new complication that was thrown their way affected him too.
"Okay, boys, explain yourselves," he sighed.
"Well, " volunteered Sam eagerly, seemingly happy to talk about this now that it had come to the surface. " We were searching the woods for the werewolf and I sort of heard Dean voicing off about me and how he thought my life was crap and how he wished..."
"Sam, shut up! You don't have to tell Bobby ever word, he gets the picture." Dean barked, interrupting.
Bobby stifled a smile, Sam would no doubt get chewed out later by Dean for daring to expose his inner thoughts, even if it was only to him.
"Then," continued Sam, after flashing a strength-six bitch-face back at Dean. " When I called Dean out on all the moping he was doing, he turned on me as if I had bitten off his ass! Fact is, he hadn't opened his mouth and I had just...heard the words in my head..."
..."and then," chimed in Dean. "Something just seemed to switch itself on and I could hear Sasquatch here, in my mind, warning me about the werewolf jumping us. Well, honestly, it wasn't unusual for us to feel as if we could understand each other without needing words, but it had never been so friggin' literal until now! Bobby, we were so freaked out that we've been trying to avoid talking about it, even between ourselves."
Bobby pondered the fact that he wasn't particularly taken aback by what the boys had told him. He had been witness to the silent communication between Sam and Dean countless times and telepathy just seemed a natural progression to that.
"I gotta admit," he murmured to himself. "These two boys are never gonna stop surprising me."
He raised his head to find two pairs of apprehensive eyes watching him, as if waiting to hear the judge's sentence.
"You know what, boys..I think you two need to get away from it all! You need a holiday to deal with this. I got a friend who has a flat near the ocean, and I'm gonna call in a favour!"
"But Bobby... !" they began in unison. "No, buts, there's nothing goin' on right now, so you two are gonna get your butts on the beach and explore this whole telepathy business. If it works out, your huntin's gonna be a whole lot easier from now on."
x
So the Winchesters had found themselves in the unusual situation of chilling out in a sea-side flat with nothing to do all day but lie on the beach and frolic in the warm sea, and of course deal with that annoying telepathy business!
Dean wondered drowsily about Bobby, as he settled in more comfortably on the warm sand. He always seemed to have someone who was owing him a favour; a never-ending stream of people with cabins in the woods, houses at the sea-side, and all sorts of hideaways around the country.
He was beginning to believe that Bobby was really some kind of millionaire recluse and all these places were really his!
'Naa..'.was his last conscious thought as he drifted off into sleep.
tbc