When Sam woke up it was to the smell of cooking. Opening his eyes he saw it was light and he stretched, pleased to feel only a slight crick in his neck from squeezing onto the sofa all night.
Sitting up he shivered a little as the blanket fell down. He grabbed a couple of logs as he walked past the fire, throwing them on the glowing embers and prodding them with the poker until the flames caught again.
When he got to the kitchen he saw Dean standing at the stove, doing something with a frying pan. A sudden image popped into his head of his brother in an apron and Sam quickly stifled his laughter.
Starting the day by putting Dean in a bad mood wasn't a good idea.
Sensing someone there Dean turned round, and grinned when he saw Sam.
"It's about time. Any later and this would have been lunch." he said with a smirk.
Sam glanced at the clock and saw that it was in fact only 7:30. Walking over to the coffee machine that was bubbling already, he grabbed two mugs and started to fill them.
"This from the man who didn't know there were two six o'clocks in one day. What's with the early rising stuff anyway? You're starting to freak me out you know." he said.
"Hey, I'm always a morning person." said Dean and Sam snorted.
"Yeah, right – in a parallel universe maybe." he said, putting Dean's coffee on the side next to him and leaning back against the sink while he sipped his own.
"Keep it up, Sammy and you're not getting any of these eggs." warned Dean and Sam adopted his best innocent expression.
Ever since they were kids Sam had always loved the way Dean cooked eggs. It wasn't something that happened very often now, given the fact most Motel's didn't have stoves, so he didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. Dean glanced at him and smirked at Sam's attempt to look angelic.
It was funny how much stuff stayed the same, no matter how old you got.
"Alright, don't hurt yourself. Pass me those plates, would you?" he said and Sam dutifully held them out as Dean split the now perfectly cooked eggs between the two. Adding the slices of toast he'd already grilled, Dean took one of the plates and picked up his coffee as he followed Sam back into the living room. Sitting down at the table, for once it was Sam who dived in first. Watching with an amused look Dean took a mouthful himself, actually chewing and swallowing this time before he spoke.
"So you think you can get us to this gully today? It looks like it's dry, for now at least."
Sam looked up.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can work out where it was from the Sheriff's description. We should head out after we've eaten, just in case it starts raining again later."
Dean nodded and they both quickly finished their food. Sam headed for the bathroom while Dean cleared up and less than thirty minutes later they were ready to go.
Sam took a deep breath as Dean shut the cabin door behind them.
"You can't beat the smell of the woods after it's been raining." he said, without thinking, then blushed slightly as Dean raised his eyebrows.
"Dude, you start hugging the trees, I'm leaving you here." he said.
"I was just saying." said Sam defensively, which only made Dean even more amused.
Quitting while he still had some dignity left, Sam walked towards the car. Dean couldn't help chuckling at the way his brother sat there glaring at him through the window as he walked round to get in the driver's side.
The roads were still very wet and there was more than a little debris from the previous night's storm, so Dean drove extremely carefully.
And only stopped complaining about the broken branches in the road damaging the car after Sam threatened to shoot him.
It took a little under thirty minutes to reach the spot where Sam thought Jenna's car had gone off the road. Parking the Impala in a lay-by a little further down, Dean switched off the engine and got out.
"So you're sure this is it?" he said looking around and Sam nodded.
"Pretty sure, yeah. The Sheriff said it was on the bend and looking at the map this is the only real one on this stretch of road."
Dean didn't look convinced.
"You know 'pretty sure' means we could be wasting our time sliding about in the mud for nothing."
Sam held his hands wide.
"You got a better idea, Dean?" he said.
"Alright, no need to get defensive, Sammy. I was just saying." said Dean, opening the trunk.
"I was not getting defensive."
"Sure you weren't."
Glaring at his brother Sam reached round him to grab a bag of salt and one of the boxes of matches from the trunk. He also picked up one of the shotguns, checking to make sure it was loaded. Dean did the same – they'd decided a while ago after getting separated while hunting a Wendigo that it was a good idea if they were both armed with the right equipment – and he also slung a coil of rope over his shoulder. Given how wet the roads were, it was pretty obvious the gully was going to be no picnic to get in and out of.
"All set?" he asked Sam and when he nodded Dean shut the trunk firmly. Checking the Impala was locked and relatively safe – and ignoring the smirk Sam was giving him – he headed towards the fence line, Sam following just behind him.
It was clear that one section of the fence was definitely newer than the others and with a quick glance to make sure no one was around they climbed over it. Dean walked to to the edge of the grass ledge and peered over.
"Well that looks fun."
Sam followed his gaze and felt his heart sink. The bank was practically at a 90 degree angle and even from there he could see the ground was wet and muddy. He looked at Dean resignedly.
"After you."
"Oh, now you want me to go first?" said Dean dryly, even though he had of course been going to anyway.
Bracing himself, he started to half slide, half stagger down the bank. Despite his best efforts he was soon picking up speed and he could hear Sam cursing behind him as he had the same problem. By the time they reached the bottom he'd slipped twice and was now covered in mud. As he finally slid to a stop, mostly by grabbing the nearest tree, he looked down at his ruined jeans and coat and shook his head disgustedly.
He looked up as Sam arrived next to him and saw his brother had the beginnings of a grin on his face as he surveyed Dean's new look.
"Do not even think about it, Sammy." Dean warned, and Sam immediately turned the chuckle that had been threatening to break out into a cough.
Ignoring his clearly amused brother, Dean looked round. There were no obvious signs of Jenna's bones and he let out a frustrated sigh.
"Any bright ideas?" he said and Sam frowned.
"It was wetter on that night than it is now, so she can't have gone too far. We should start over here." he said, pointing to the left.
"Why the hell can't these people ever have the decency to be somewhere easy to get to, huh? Seriously, dude, we spend half our lives knee deep in mud." complained Dean as they pushed their way through the undergrowth.
Knowing Dean was venting, and therefore not requiring an actual answer, Sam concentrated on searching the ground for any signs of disturbance.
They'd been at it for about ten minutes when suddenly Sam spotted something.
"I think I got something!" he shouted and was rewarded with a whack on the shoulder.
"Dude, I'm right behind you and I'm not deaf." said Dean and Sam realised he might have been just a little overexcited about finding something at last.
Crouching down he pushed away the undergrowth and a skeleton came into view, leaning up against a tree.
"Think it's her?" said Dean and Sam looked up at him.
"No, I think this is someone else who happened to wander down here to die."
Dean raised an eyebrow.
"Cute, Sam. I'm serious though, if this turns out to be some dumb ass hiker who got lost I don't want to have to come back down here to look for the right bones this time."
Conceding that Dean had a point, Sam looked around for any evidence that what they were looking at was in fact Jenna's remains.
"Here." he said suddenly, pulling something out from under the skeleton's hands.
Brushing off the dirt he handed it to Dean, who could just about make out it was a smaller copy of the photograph back at the cabin.
"Well, alright then. Lets get this over with before the bunny boiler shows up."
Sam stared at him and Dean opened his arms wide.
"What?"
"Bunny boiler? Any chance you could show a little respect, Dean?" said Sam and Dean snorted.
"She tried to drown me, Sam, muttering about 'he has to pay'. So I'm gonna go with 'no' on that one."
Knowing it was pointless to argue with Dean when he was in that kind of mood, Sam stood up and reached into his jacket for the salt. Dean pulled away as much of the plants as possible and Sam poured the salt on the now exposed bones.
Just as he was finishing Dean felt the first large raindrop hit his head. He looked up at the sky in disbelief, noticing the dark clouds that had appeared.
"Oh come on! You gotta be kidding me." he said and Sam looked up too, just as more raindrops joined the first.
"Come on, lets get her lit before the salt gets washed off." said Dean, pulling out his box of matches.
He struck the first one but it fizzled out almost instantly. Cursing, he was just trying to light a second one when Sam grabbed his arm.
"Dean."
"What?"
"We've got company."
Looking up Dean saw they were indeed no longer alone, just as they both heard the rasping whisper
"He must pay."
"Oh, great – this is gonna go well."
