Chapter Two.
Before I launch in, I want to thank those people who not only read the story but also reviewed it and added it to their follow and favorite lists. I literally smiled ear to ear and you pretty much made my night, and believe me, it was crazy. It actually reminded me a bit of this episode which is partially why I wanted to make sure to get it out here for you. :) You guys are awesome and I love you.
Disclaimer on the show. Disclaimer on the song [Hot Blooded-Foreigner]. Disclaimer on your cow... Whoa. Mulan reference. (Disclaimer on that too.)
Alrighty then. Read, review, enjoy, smile, re-read. Thanks.
It was like a week since Jess had died in Sam's place and we were finally leaving Stanford and anything near it. I know the whole thing hadn't happened to me directly and maybe I was the worst sister and most selfish human on the face of the earth, but I was as glad as a monkey with a bunch of bananas to be leaving. Sam was depressed and on a mission while Dean and I did everything we possibly could to help him get answers. Fact of the matter was, there were absolutely no friggen answers about Jess dying. So now we were on our way to Blackwater Ridge near Lost Creek, Colorado to finally figure out what it was our father wanted us there for. Hopefully he was there so I could find out why he thought it was cool to leave me stranded in some Podunk town with no outlet outside of burley truckers who liked staring at my, ahem, above average size chest. Yeah, guess who still hasn't told her over reactive, protective, crazed big brother that she hitchhiked across state lines to find him. Talk about a fight waiting to happen, let's ring the bell on that boxing match later on, shall we?
"I'M HOT-BLOODED, CHECK IT AND SEE! I'VE GOT A FEVER OF A HUNDRED AND THREE! COME ON, BABY, DO YOU DO MORE THAN DANCE?" For the time being, I was sitting in the back seat of the Impala, gracing Dean with my wonderful singing voice that may or may not have sounded like a loud shout, to the song that he had coming out of the speakers when Sam gasped and lurched up in his seat as he awoke from the stupor he had been in. "HOLY MOTHER OF BATMAN!" I jumped at his sudden movement as the book I had been attempting to read fell from my hands and onto the seat next to me.
Dean being Mr. Cool like he thinks he is just looked at Sam and didn't even swerve the car, "You okay?"
Sam wiped the sleep from his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Friggen liar, you don't jump like that because you had a dream about butterflies and rainbows, Sam. You were having another nightmare and pretending it didn't actually happen. Leave it to the Winchesters to push their feelings deep down until they friggen explode. Come to think of it, I'm pretty positive that our daily lessons went: target practice, emotional avoidance, how to feel guilty 101, and sarcastic jokes as a cover for emotional avoidance. I picked up the thick book that was sitting beside me and began flipping through its pages trying to find my place when Dean asked Sam if it had been a nightmare. Which I noticed that Sam didn't really answer but instead cleared his throat as the words "You don't have to read my mind" came through the speaker. Ironic, no? And then the words I'd never ever heard in my entire life came out of Dean's mouth.
"You wanna drive for a while?"
That's right. Friggen Dean offered Sam the opportunity to drive! Can you believe that? No one drives the Impala, no one! I don't even think people were actually allowed to think about driving the Impala. There was one time, way back whenever I was younger, like seventeen. I merely grabbed the keys off the table and slid into the front seat, sticking them into the ignition like a good sister does for her brother, and he snapped all over me! Seriously, he yelled for so long I can't even tell you everything he said. It was a lot of "What do you think you're doing?"s and even more "If you even think…"s and that was when I stuck the key in the ignition from the passenger side of the bench. Clearly by Sam's next statement, I was not the only person to be shell shocked.
Well, first, he laughed. He actually laughed. Who laughs at that? This was a serious thing, and Sam is sitting there chuckling. "Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that."
"Just thought you might want to. Never mind," Dean grunted as he adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. I bet those words are signals of regret, huh,
Dean?
"Look, man, you're worried about me," Sam said over the song.
Clicking my book shut, fully decided that now was not the time to be reading, I leaned forward and crossed my arms before setting them on the back of the front seat and sighing. "He's not the only one, Sam. You've been having these nightmares since Jess died. Are you -" he cut me off.
"I get it, Becca, and thank you… both of you. But I'm perfectly okay." Liar.
Dean didn't seem convinced either. "Mm hmm," he grunted.
There was silence and I just rolled my eyes before leaning back to settle into the leather of the back seat once more when Sam grabbed the map. Whispering along with the song, I stared out of the window while Sam unfolded the paper on his lap. "What you're doing after the show…"
"All right, where are we?" Sam asked.
"Now it's up to you…"
Dean answered him without hesitation after sighing at me. "We are just outside of Grand Junction."
I ignored his sigh of frustration and continued my singing. Who made him ruler of the vehicle? He may drive it, but he couldn't control what I did in it, am I right? Well… probably not. Dean had crazy control to every aspect of that vehicle and he pretty much got his way whenever he told me to do anything. Compliments of Dad saying "Listen to your brother" all my life. "We can make a secret rendezvous…"
"You know what?" Sam pressed suddenly as he began rereading the map after he just stared it for a second or two.
"Just me and you…"
"Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon," he said over my voice in the back of the car.
Oh geez, here we go. I sighed audibly and began singing louder, attempting to drown out the voices in front of me. "I'll show you lovin' like you never knew…"
"Hey, can it back there will ya?" Dean said from the front seat, catching my gaze in the rear view mirror. Grumbling, but stopping my singing, I glared at the back of his head when he started talking to Sam. "Now, Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica -"
"We gotta find Dad first," I growled from my spot in the back, making sure to glare even harder to Dean when he looked at me in the rear view once more and narrowed his own green eyes.
There was silence between the three of us and the music continued on and I relaxed a bit as the words passed into my ears. Music always calmed me down, and I liked Dean's music. It's what our Dad listened to and it made me feel close to him, especially when he wasn't there. I felt like it was some sort of connection that he and I could have and when Sam left, it was one of the few things that helped Dean and I grow closer. I could feel the smile spreading across my lips as the words started coming out in a quiet whisper once more, gaining volume with each line.
"Dad disappearing," Dean started calmly, his eyes no longer narrowed and his grip not nearly as tight as it had been, "and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence."
"Come on baby, do you do more than dance?" I sang out freely now, not too loud, but loud enough.
Dean continued right over my signing, not seeming to even be bothered by it this time. "Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do." Yeah, there's wishful thinking, Dean. Let's be honest. Dad had answers, yeah, but if he had all of them and knew what it is that had to be done, would we still be here trying to fight this thing? Um, no. We'd be somewhere else and this thing would be dead. Call it pent up frustration for the past I've had if you want… I do.
"It's weird man," Sam said as he hung onto the map but didn't look at it.
"Hot-blooded!" my voice was gaining volume and excitement as I continued with the song. I was feeling better and the moment of Sam's nightmare seemed to pass.
"These coordinates he left us, this Blackwater Ridge."
"HOT-BLOODED!"
Dean threw a hand up in the air and his voice came out loud and angry. "BECCA, WOULD YOU FREAKING SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!?"
Whoa! Unnecessary roughness on the field! I raised a foot and actually thought about jabbing my heel into the back of his seat when I sighed and just flung myself down to a lying position of the car and stared at the hard top of the roof. So I'm dramatic. Kill me.
"What about it," Dean asked Sam in a much calmer tone as he reached over the back of his seat and punched me in the thigh. I'm sure it was meant to be some playful big brother love tap or something, but that bastard knuckle punched! And if you don't know what a knuckle punch is or how it feels, imagine running into the corner of a counter. Yeah, that crap's not fun! And this beast was a brute! He was way stronger than me!
I clung to my thigh with a cry of despair while Sam chuckled and I glared at them both, now bringing myself to sit up and still holding onto my leg. Shoving Sam's shoulder forward I grimaced as he laughed harder and I flicked Dean in the temple before throwing myself directly behind him so he couldn't reach me as easily.
"There's nothing there but woods," Sam finally answered folding up the map. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"
"Maybe he wants us to ditch Becs like he did. I mean, did you smell her that day?"
I glared at Dean's spikey-haired head before shouting, "HOT-BLOODED!" at the top of my lungs, a satisfactory smile spreading across my face when he cringed and covered his ear nearest to my mouth.
So now we were at the ranger station after finally arriving to Lost Creek, Colorado, and I was staring at the stuffed animals that were attached to the wall while Sam and Dean looked at other crap around the room. "So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote," Sam informed us. I turned and saw this pretty sweet 3-D map sitting on this table in front of Sam and he was gazing pretty hard core at it. Walking beside him, he pointed out specific things on the terrain as he talked to me. "It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place."
"Dude, check out this bear," Dean interrupted from where he stood a few feet away, looking at a picture.
I walked beside him and looked at the bear. Holy guacamole, that bear was a big as a house! "That bear is as big as a house!" I told Dean with wide eyes and a gaping mouth as he smirked at me.
"My god, it's like there's two of you," I heard Sam sigh. I just smiled while Dean rolled his eyes and shook his head. "And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area, Dean, it's no nature hike that's for sure," Sam said as he walked over to where we were and looked at the photo over my head. The kid's gigantic.
I heard the footsteps before I heard the voice, and then turned around only to be staring at the back of Sam's coat. Awesome. "You boys aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" a voice asked from the other side of the giant. Clearing my throat, I pushed past Sam and Dean and they each stumbled to the side before narrowing eyes at me and frowning. "Oh," the ranger said with a shy smile. "I didn't see you back there. How are you, Miss?"
"No sir, we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper," Sam spoke before I could get a chance to answer the man. I just grinned and it stretched when the man's eyes sparkled at me. I won't lie, we are some pretty attractive people, and the worst part was that all three of us knew while only two really used it to their advantage. One a bit more than the other, and that was only because he was a hypocritical, man whore who… whoa. Getting back on track here…
"Recycle man," Dean grinned while raising a fist. Fight the power, Dean, fight the power.
"Bull," the ranger's voice snapped quickly and I chuckled and tried to cover it with a cough. "You're friends with that Haley girl, right?'
I composed myself and nodded to the ranger. "Yes. Yes we are, Ranger Wilkinson," I told him after making sure to check his name tag. "She and I are practically sister's," I lied before receiving an pinch to the side while Sam gave me wide eyes and Dean closed his eyes briefly while tightening his jaw.
"Well then you know exactly what I told her. Her brother filled out a back-country permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing person's now is it?" Um, I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that Ranger Wilkinson definitely could have said that with way less attitude. Dean just shook his head in response to Ranger Cranky-Pants before he continued talking down to us. "You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine."
"We will," Dean cut me off and grabbed onto the back of my shirt as I began to lurch forward out of instinct. I don't like being talked down to, especially when you aren't my brothers or dad. If I don't know you, don't act like you are better than me. I narrowed my eyes but didn't fight Dean's silent order to shut my hole and chill. "Well, that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?"
The ranger eyed me questioningly for a moment before sighing and turning to face Dean. "That's putting it mildly."
"Actually, you know what would help us is if I could show her a copy of that back-country permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date," Dean told the ranger.
I spun on my heel to go back to stand next to Sam who was looking at the 3-D map once more while we waited for that permit. Once we got it, we booked it from the station and Dean started laughing before he folded the permit and stuck it in his pocket.
"What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam asked as we came to the Impala. I snorted at his assumption and Dean just looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?"
As Sam walked around the front of the car and stared over the hood at Dean and me; my eldest brother and I exchanged a quick glance before facing our sibling. We each had an eyebrow raised and looked at Sam as though he was crazy. "I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" Dean told Sam. I mean, duh. The reason was obvious to me, and it should have been to Sam.
There was a pause while Dean and I stared at Sam and watched him become clearly uncomfortable under our gaze. I stuck my tongue in my cheek and tilted my head to the side and he eyed me with a lowered brow and slack jaw. "What?" he practically exclaimed when the word finally made it out of his mouth.
"Since when are you all shoot first ask questions later, anyway?" Dean questioned.
"Since now," Sam stated simply as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. He then got in the car without another word, leaving Dean and I to stand there with a loss for words.
Dean looked at me and smiled. "Really?" he asked.
"He's back," I sang with a grin before following the motion of Dean and sliding myself into the Impala.
We were standing outside of this Haley girl's house and Dean just smiled. "Can't wait to meet the girl that's practically your sister, Becs, tell me, what is Haley like?"
"Shut up," I rolled my eyes as I pressed the doorbell.
It was only seconds later when Haley Collins opened the door and looked shocked to see two giants and their average height sister standing on her porch. She was actually a really pretty girl with brown hair that appeared to curl naturally. Before she could even say "Hello" Dean was speaking and in full blown "figure out the case" mode.
"You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam and Becca. We're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother, Tommy."
Haley hesitated and I couldn't blame her. What kind of idiot believes that some ranger in the small town she lives in sent over three random people to ask her questions, come on now.
"Lemme see some ID," she told Dean with a nod.
Dean pulled his fake ID and held it to the screen while Haley looked at it, and then at him. I watched as he smiled at her, and then my face went into shock when she opened the door and told us to come on in. Yep, the girl was definitely clueless to what it was that was logical out there.
"Thanks," Dean told her as the door just swiped past the edge my nose and into his calloused palm. I saw Haley look over my shoulder and towards the street. Turning, I saw what she was staring at; the shiny Impala that was parked on the curb outside of her charming small town home.
"That yours?" she asked no one in particular.
Dean looked at the car and that twinkle of pride entered his eye and a genuine smile crossed his face. "Yeah," he addressed as Sam looked to see what everyone was staring at.
"Nice car," she said before leading us into her home. Great, poke the sleeping bear that is my brother's ego. Way to go, Haley. I joined Sam in the rolling of the eyes when Dean mouthed what I'm sure was some sort of dude thing for "she so wants me" or the like.
I followed Dean into the kitchen and saw some kid sitting at the table on a computer, only looking away to glance at us quickly before he did a double take and scanned my body. Oh, if Dean could be the playboy and milk it, I was so milking this. I sidled up beside the boy and stuck out my hand and straightened my posture while also sticking out my chest. "Hey," I grinned. "I'm Becca."
Apparently his name was Ben and he was Tommy and Haley's brother. I was now sitting beside him on the chair, leaning maybe a bit too much towards him and listening, or at least pretending to listen to every word he said as though it was air I needed. He was telling us, along with Haley, about how he was positive that something was seriously wrong with Tommy.
The sound of Sam and Dean's simultaneous throat clearing broke my moment and I sighed before turning to look at them with annoyance. "So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" he asked Haley.
She walked back into the room with a bowl of something, placing it on the table. "He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos… We haven't heard anything in over three days now."
"Well… Maybe he can't get cell reception," I told Ben with sincere hope in my voice as I placed a hand on his forearm, making sure to smirk at my older brothers as I did so. Ben didn't catch on, but Dean did, and from the look on his face I was mimicking his playboy actions perfectly. Score. Maybe now he'll know what he looks like when he drools over almost every attractive girl we meet, Haley being no exception.
"He's got a satellite phone, too," Haley cut in with a "matter of fact" tone that I didn't really enjoy.
"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean asked as I opened my mouth to respond.
Ben answered the question quietly. "He wouldn't do that." I frowned, not understanding why Ben looked away quickly to stare at his plate again until I lifted my eyes and saw Dean and Sam's faces. They had that crazy "touch her and die" look.
Standing up, I stood next to Sam, not wanting to escalate the moment any further. I mean, kill a chick for having fun why don't you.
"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other," Haley told us quietly after she continued to set the table with food. I don't know why she seemed to want to keep the parent thing a secret. I'm pretty sure that if Ben lived there, he was aware of the fact that their parents weren't. Maybe it's my "get over it" attitude, but you can't dwell, and if you are going to dwell, you dwell by yourself. You don't flaunt that crap.
Leave it to good ol' Sam to break the tense moment. "Can I see the pictures he sent you?"
"Yeah," Haley nodded her head without hesitation.
Standing behind Ben's chair, we all stared as Haley pulled up photos on the laptop that they'd moved before she started setting the table. Pulling up a photo, she let it sit on the screen for a moment. "That's Tommy." She clicked on one video and pressed the play button.
"Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow." Tommy spoke on the video. I smacked Sam as we watched. I wasn't sure if he saw it, but I sure as hell did. Something outside that tent moved, and whatever it was, it was friggen huge. Like, Sam size or bigger. His eyes met mine and he nodded. He saw the shadow too then. Good.
"We'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing," Dean told Haley while I replayed the video for Sam and me.
Haley turned away from us to speak to Dean. "Then maybe I'll see you there. Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself." What? Is this girl insane? Did she not see the shadow on the tent wall? Apparently not, because if she had, she would have realized that there was something out there after her brother. This lack of logical thinking was beginning to aggravate me. If it was Sam or Dean out there, I mean, yeah, I would totally be doing going after that thing. But there's a difference between Haley and me. I'm aware of what could be out there, and she's clueless.
"I think I know how you feel," Dean told her with sincerity. The tone of his voice made me look at him and furrow my brow. He was being legit with this girl, and that was a first. Now I felt like a total douche for playing with Ben, even if he didn't know that I was intentionally flirting with him. Great, now I look like a sleeze.
"Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asked, breaking me out of my new self loathing.
Haley looked at him and nodded her head with a small smile. "Sure."
I carried three mugs of beer to the table that Sam and Dean were seated at and talking. This bar was crowded and I was trying to avoid spilling the beer, but because I am me, I tripped and dropped the mugs. Great. Catching an eye roll from Dean before he turned back to talk to Sam, I stuck my tongue out at him and returned to the bar to attempt my beer run once more. Setting the glasses on the table successfully, I caught the end of Sam's sentence.
"…of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move."
"I take it you showed him the video?" I asked as I sipped on my mug, staring at Sam with raised brows and receiving a nod.
I raised a brow when Dean hit Sam and caused him to look with surprise.
"Told you something weird was going on," Dean said.
"Oh yeah, you're a natural," I joked as Sam just agreed with a "Yeah."
I watched as he closed the laptop and then pulled out a newspaper article and handed it over to Dean. Stepping around the table, I leaned against Dean's back and read the article over his shoulder.
"I got one more thing. In fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid… Barely crawled out of the woods alive," Sam explained.
I glanced over the article while Dean asked the question I was trying to find the answer to. "Is there a name?"
I was told to sit in the car. Like a child. Am I a child? Hell no. Do I act like a child? If I can't, then neither can Dean, so good luck making me "act my age". The rebel part of me was the instigator that led to me not actually sitting in the car, but instead leaning against the door facing the house that sat in front of me. Bad ass, I know. The sky was dark and filled with so many stars I couldn't even believe it. The view was incredible and I smiled to myself as I stared at them. There were constellations I didn't know, and some I was able to point out, so that was pretty cool. I felt at peace as thoughts from the past week rushed at me. Sam was different, even if he was back. Dean was right when he'd asked the "shoot first" question. Sam was not an impulse kind of person. He researched, he took steps, he thought things through and always tried to find some sort of outcome that didn't result in any type of hunter tactic. He was logical and I definitely respected that. But these nightmares he was having were not good. He would jolt awake and always had a face filled with terror, and that scared me. I didn't like knowing that he was having an internal fight, even if we had been taught to keep that crap to ourselves, Sam and I had always shared before… but that was before. If he thought he was the only one keeping stuff held in for the past two years, he was wrong. When he walked out so did my daily venting system. Then I was left with a pissed off father and a guilt ridden brother. Ugh, so much for peace.
Groaning as a crick began to form in my neck, I looked around me. It sure was cold in Colorado, not to my surprise. I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed my hands up and down, trying to create warmth. It was not working. There was a snap of a twig in the distance and I jumped. I tried to create a shape out of the dark abyss that was the woods in front of me, and that wasn't working either. Now, I know I said ghost babies freak me out, but they aren't part of the three things that scare me most. The three things that do cause me to go into full blown terror, tears and all, are bugs, being in the woods, and skin walkers. Ghost babies are right there though, most definitely. But being in the woods alone trumped all other fear. Especially at night when you couldn't see what was going on around you.
Convinced I was going to die I flew into the car and looked out of the window, sighing as a raccoon emerged. Yep, I need to get this fear in check. Sam and Dean were walking towards the Impala and a smile spread across my face as I lied down in my seat. Even if I was still scared, they would save me from any raccoon I crossed. Dean started the car after sliding in and turned around, knuckle punching me on the thigh, again.
"OW, you bastard! "
"Get your feet off the interior!" he roared as Sam shot me a sympathetic smile. Man I wished Dean was a girl…
The ride to the motel was filled with typical bickering and laughter that usually accompanied Dean and I picking on Sam, which then always turned into Sam and I picking on Dean, which then sadly turned to Dean and Sam picking on me… and once we hit that landmark, it never friggen switched back to picking on either of them. By this time, I was defending myself against them for the time I stuffed my bra and Dad caught me. Not one of my brighter moments in life, but hey! I didn't have anyone to help me out and I didn't like the fact that the material hung off of me like a wet swimsuit that was two sizes too big. What shocked me was that when I mentioned that I no longer had to stuff my bra, they then made fun of me for that! Yeah, I'm Sam's twin, but was it really necessary for Dean to say that if I didn't have boobs I'd look just like Sam? The answer is no, it was completely unnecessary to say. I did not look that much like Sam. None the less, the minute I could do it without them noticing, I looked in the window of the Impala and checked. And no, even if I did have a flat chest, I wouldn't look like Sam. I'm way more attractive.
We were walking down some stupid hallway of rooms on the way to ours while the guys told me about what Mr. Shaw said.
"He said it for sure was a demon?" I asked.
"Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors, Bec. If they want inside, they just go through the walls," Dean told me with a smug look that I assumed to mean I was an idiot.
I just frowned. "Oh yeah."
"So it's probably something else, something corporeal," Sam said as he wrapped an arm over my shoulder and squeezed me reassuringly. Corporeal? What the hell did that mean? Now I have to buy a dictionary? Ugh, I'll just Google it or something later on Sam's laptop. Freaking corporeal? Who uses words like that? The only other time I'd ever even come across that word was in Harry Potter. He makes a corporeal Patronus, right? Now I gotta look that up too. Friggen Sam and his big words.
"Corporeal? Excuse me, professor," Dean bit back.
"Shut up. So what do you think?" Sam pressed.
Dean thought about it for a second. "The claws, the speed that is moves… could be a skin walker…" I stopped listening. Did he just say skin walker? Oh hell no. Uh uh. No. I am not going against a skin walker. Those nasty pieces of disgrace touch you and BAM, they look like your clone! Now, I'm not an idiot, as you very well know, but it's just a smidge hard to tell when you're talking to someone who isn't actually the someone you thought you were talking to. And the gross slime puddles they leave behind… Bleck. They're just nasty. Skin walkers need to die and become extinct like the Dodo bird. Both are useless. "…we can kill it." Damn right we're gonna kill it, we will not be saying "vive les skin walkers" any time soon.
Climbing out of the door my excellent twin held open for me, I smiled and basked in the warmth of the sunlight. Ah, fresh air. An amazing change of pace from the dingy motel room we'd been sleeping in with that horribly uncomfortable couch that I'd been forced to sleep on.
"You're shortest, you get the couch," Dean said.
"Screw that! You take the couch!" I bit.
Dean flung himself onto the bed with such a force I thought that it would break beneath his massive… mass.
"Listen up, little sis, you get the couch and the grown-ups get the beds. That's just how it works, got it?" he teased me as he crossed his arms behind his head and gave me that shit eating grin.
I glared at him from where I dropped my bag on the floor in front of me. "I'm twenty-two, Dean. Pretty sure that makes me a real adult."
"You act like you're twelve."
"You act like you're seven!"
"I do not."
"You so do."
"Prove it!"
"SHUT UP!" Sam cut in as he walked out the bathroom. "You guys fight like a married couple."
I looked at Dean and I'm pretty positive our expressions matched. We both looked at Sam with complete disgust. "Ew, Sammy. Incest?" Dean inquired.
"Way to cross the line, Sam. I mean, that's just wrong," I teased as I passed him and made my way to the shower.
"Wait… I, but I didn't," Sam tried defending himself to Dean who only winked at him and then clicked on the television.
Still, thanks to this sunshine, I didn't see how my mood could go south. At least I didn't until I saw Forest Ranger Khaki up ahead, scowling at us with his shot gun. Were tag-a-longs necessary? No. Did I agree with Sam who said multiple times that he thought they shouldn't join us on this case? With every fiber of my being. Did I think Dean was just trying to get chummy with Haley? Little bit. Was I walking forward and missing out on a conversation that I felt like I should be listening to? This is me we are talking about.
"That's right," Dean flashed his pearly whites towards Ranger Khaki.
"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley asked with a taken back, second guessing expression.
Dean and I scanned him up and down, taking in his outfit. Seemed fine to me and it really wasn't that far off from my jeans, tee shirt, and old sneakers. We were just walking through the woods right? It's not as though we were climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and needed special clothes and gear. It's a hike Haley, as in go take one, in a different direction.
"Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts," Dean teased. There's the brother I love. I grinned and sped up to him while nudging him with my shoulder before passing and catching up with Sam.
Ranger Khaki whose real name was actually Roy, got all snippy with Dean then. "What? You think this is funny? It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt."
Sam stopped and turned, and I bumped right into him, falling to the ground. "Brake lights are out, Sam," I told him as he helped me up with a smile and eye roll.
"Believe me, I know how dangerous this could get. We just wanna help her find her brother, that's all," Dean told Roy with truthfulness behind every word. He was really a good guy, my brother. Trying to help out as many people as he could while getting his mission accomplished; a real go-getter, and I was happy to call him my brother. Until he freaking tripped me as I was walking and then passed right by me with a smirk, leaving Sam to help me up again.