It was late. Comming up on 2 AM. They had another 3 hours or so befor they got into Indiana. They had decided to drive the Impala rather than the Mustang. Mostly because Dean refused to leave it behind. So to shut him up, Rachel agreed to leave her car at the motel. It was better than hearing him bellyache, and taking two cars was pointless.
Sitting in the backseat with the Winchester brothers in the front, tired and cramped from the long ride so far, Rachel looked out the window at the dark night and could bearly make out the trees as they whooshed by, even though the moon was full.
She was thinking about how best to get the most information from the detective they where on their way to see. The one who'd headed up the murder of Mary Worthington.
In the back of her mind she was the thought that she would love to be in a soft warm bed right now. Even a motel room bed rather than this uncomfortable bench seat. But this was part of the life of a hunter, she was well aware. They couldn't start the long journey to Indiana in the morning, it would be taking away time they couldn't afford to lose. Not with people dying. Mary had to be figured out and they had to speak to this cop A.S.A.P. in order to do that. And that meant spending the night on the road and loosing what was sometimes considered a luxury for a hunter; sleep. After Dean had filled them in on what he'd found, they'd finished their dinner in a hurry, threw a change of clothes in the trunk and headed out.
She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize that Dean had pulled into a bright gas station until the car came to a stop. Tuning the engine off he turned to Sam.
"I gotta get some caffine in me," He said rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I'm getting some white line fever."
"Good," Rachel said as she strechted a little in the seat. "I have to pee so bad I can taste it."
Sam chuckled weakly with his eyes closed, his head resting against the passenger side window.
"You want anything, Sammy?" Dean asked.
"No. I'm good." Sam said, drowsily.
With that Rachel and Dean both got out of the car and headed in opposite directions. He toward the all night mart and she in the direction the signs said the bathrooms where.
10 minuets later she headed back to the car wondering when she had developed the skill to pee hovering 6 inches above the toilet seat while half asleep and not get a drop on herself. She chalked it off in her head as yet again just another stipulation of the job. Kelly had even showed her once the best position she'd found for popping a squat when there was no toilet for miles and you had to go on the side of the road. She smiled at the memory.
WHO THE HELL SAID THIS LIFE WASN'T GLAMOROUS? She thought as she reached the Impala.
Climbing in back, she noticed two things: Sam snoring softly in the front and the fact that Dean wasn't back yet. She realized then that he'd probably needed to use the bathroom as well and that's what was taking so long.
MEN HAVE THE LIFE WHEN IT COMES TO THAT STUFF. She thought as she settled in more comfortably. THEY CAN PEE ANYWHERE AND NEVER HAVE TO TOUCH A DAMN THING.
Just then in the dark distance she saw his sihlouette walking toward the car. Cast in shadows, she couldn't make out his face but she knew it was him by his height and the outline of his jacket mainly. Secondly by the way he carried himself; the swagger that said he was a hunter and different from other men. In the short time she'd known him she could recognize it already.
Holding a coffe cup, he opened the driverside door and slid into the seat. The delicious aroma of the coffee comming with him.
As soon as Dean closed the car door he heard Sam snore.
"Sam." He called.
Sam responded with another soft snore through his slightly parted lips. Dean Rolled his eyes, the selfish bastard had fallen asleep and left him to drive another 3 hours alone with Rachel.
"Sam." He called again, louder this time.
"Leave him alone." Rachel said from the back seat, sounding annoyed.
He glanced in the rearview mirror to see he looking back at him with disapproval. He rolled his eyes but bit his tongue at the sharp retort at her intrusion.
"Can't you tell he's exhausted?" She asked.
Instead of waiting for his reply, she climbed out of the car on the passenger side. He watched her as shut her door softly and open Sam's just as softly.
Sam startled awake slightly when the door he was leaning against gave way. Rachel leaned over and gently took his wrist in her hand, he looked up at her with sleepy eyes.
"Come on, Sam." She whispered to him. "You can stretch out in the back."
Dean watched as she coaxed him out of the passenger seat and guided him into the back. It was almost a funny sight, His brother being 6'4" and muscular, Rachel almost a foot shorter and slight in frame, to see as she led him like a child, steadying him so he didn't fall over, placing her hand over his crown as he ducked into the backseat so he wouldn't hit his head, whispering that he'd be comfortable soon.
At that moment Dean couldn't help but feel greatful over his annoyance at her for caring so much about Sam. He coulnd't say that to her though. Not yet anyway. Even though he felt the last of his resolve give way as he witnessed this genuine concern for his little brother, his pride was still very much intact. For the moment.
She closed the door and took Sam's place in the front seat next to him. As she shut the passenger door she looked back at Sam to see him already asleep and snoring softly once again.
GREAT. He thought as he realized that she would be next to him for another three hours on the road. THIS WON'T BE AWKWARD AT ALL.
He looked over at his new front seat mate and frowned at her.
"Quite the mother hen, aren't we?" He shot befor he could stop himself.
Her beautiful green eyes met his with a scowl.
"I'm sure your aware that he doesn't sleep well these days." She said quietly. "Why does he need to be awake if he's exhausted and can't keep his eyes open?"
She was right. Sam's nightmares kept him awake alot lately and he looked peacful right now. Even as he had these thoughts he shrugged outwardly and started the car.
"What ever." He said and as put the car in gear.
"Yeah, what ever." She repeated and scooted in her seat as far from him as possible.
Pulling out of the gas station and onto the road once again they drove into the night in silence.
He drove and she sat in the passenger seat, both of them looking out the windshield into the dark night and the black top of the highway. No other cars shared the road, so the ease of the drive gave Dean time to think.
He was tired of his own attitude. The girl next to him had earned his respect as a colligue and now as a person for her care of his brother. Besides that he had been becomming aware more and more of how attracted he was to her dispite his self induced dislike for her. She was a hard sight to ignore even when he at the peak of his distain. Feeling the last of his resolve slip away he swallowed the lump in his throat that was the last of his pride and spoke.
"I'm sorry." He said never taking his eyes from the road.
In his perriferal vision he saw her head turn in his direction. He could almost feel the frown she must be wearing. She probably didn't think she heard him right.
"What?" She asked, dumbfounded.
He looked over at her and saw th e exact look he'd pictured on her face. Turning forward again he took a deep breath.
"I said I was sorry." He answered. "I've been hard on you since this whole thing started and I feel bad about it."
She was silent. Asessing him he guessed.
"Don't tell me your going to start being nice to me all of a sudden." She said.
He shrugged. "Maby not nice. But less of a bastard." He explained. "Would that be so bad?"
He glanced at her once again to see her give a shrug of her own.
"I'm not sure I could handle it." She answered.
He smiled and when he did he thought he saw something cross her features. It was gone befor he could really think about it.
"Look, not that it's an excuse but looking for Dad, Sammy and these dreams, not having a real case in weeks. I needed this case and I find you here first. It kinda got the best of me." He explained honestly, looking forward once agian, not because he felt he had to, but because he found her features where distracting him from his line of thought. "I guess I wanted this one all to myself."
She was silent again, contimpalting what he'd said he figured.
"I suppose I could understand that." She said finally.
"Besides, after that little talk you had with me I figured I should get my act together and not piss you off any more." He said with a smirk. "I've come to the conclusion that your a bad ass chick and I like my face the way it is."
She laughed then. He couldn't help but smile at the sound.
"Yeah, dude I was very ready to kick your ass." She said.
"After what you said about my dad I was ready to kick my own ass." He admitted.
She was quiet again, a glance in her dirction revealed an sorrowful look on her face.
"I hit a nerve there huh?" She asked.
He shrugged once again. "My dad is very commited to this job. After my mother he did everything he could to make sure my family was never hurt by these things again and that included surrounding himself and learning from people who already did this. A team player you could say. You were right when you said that he never would have treated another hunter like that. He would have had my skin if he saw how I was acting, he thought me better than that."
"My dad was the same way." She said. "You know I bet they knew eachother. My dad started hunting a few years befor I was born, around the same time yours started hunting I suppose. And we're from Colorado, we where practically neighbors."
He knodded, keeping his eyes on the road. "I wouldn't be surprised if they did. There a reason your dad started?"
"If there was my mother never told me. She doesn't like to talk about what he did, every time I ever asked her anything about it she was very vague and changed the subject. I guess she felt that talking about it would encourage us." She replied.
For the next hour they talked about their fathers the hunters. He found out that she and her sister where tought almost in secrect how to hunt from a close friend of their fathers that lived close by and they exchanged stories about some of the things they'd seen out there.
There were light moments and they even laughed a few times when they had sibling stories to share.
Dean was surprised by how quick they had managed to get along after so many days of being at eachothers throats. Not that all the tension was gone, but in the place of most of it was an easy conversation which after a while turned to things like movies and music.
She was a hard rock fan and listened to things like Korn and Evanescence as opposed to his classic rock tastes. She was into horror movies and disliked chick flicks, an oppinion which he was more than ready to share. They both found it kind of odd that they leaned toward movies that involved the supernatural considering what they did and for a little while debated why that was.
He was surprised by how much they had in common. He felt comfortable talking to her and found that he really liked the sound of her voice, which bothered him.
There was no doubt in his head that he was attracted to her, an admission that he found a little more exceptable now that he didn't hate her so much, but thinking about things like that was uncharactoristic for him when it came to females and it sat uneasily with him. He shook it off to the fact that he never really spent much time actually TALKING to girls he was attracted to, who had the time when you where constantly on the move like he was?
He counldn't think of her like that now though, he realized. Besides the fact that she was beautiful, she was his partner right now. So any ideas of comming on to her where out the window. At least for the moment.
He pushed the thoughts out of his head and continued talking as they drove. They where about 30 miles outside of Indiana when their laughter woke Sam. He sat up in the back seat, his hair messy and his eyes swollen. He frowned at them.
"Ok, what'd I miss?" He asked confused to their sudden tolerance of eachother.
They burst into laughter as an answer.
Rachel still sat in the front with Dean as they crossed the line into Inidana. The sun was just comming up and the three of them had been talking for the last 20 minuets of the ride. She listened as the brothers spoke and relalized what a turn she and Dean had made since leaving the gas station.
Talking to him as Sam slept she found him funny and charming at not at all bad when he was himself and not being a jerk.
He was easy to talk to and she didn't like it one bit. How was she going to stop from thinking he was sexy now when he gave her no reason not to think it?
So once again, for a totally different reason now, she made a promise to herself to finish with Mary and get the Hell away from Dean Winchester. She didn't need to be around someone who could make her forget that she didn't need to be miserable for Kelly's sake. And she was petrified that he could do that if she let him.