Sam headed back to their room, after leaving the Inn's office. As he neared the door, he stopped. What would he do, once he went inside? There wasn't any pressing research that he needed to do. He could probably just get on the net and… Nah, he really wasn't in the mood to get on the computer. Maybe, he could read a book. Nope, he really didn't feel like doing that either. He had managed to get their laundry done, during the last hunt; so, he couldn't even do that. Dean's injury was not the type of injury, which required Sam to clean and treat it. So, he couldn't even busy himself with caring for Dean's injury. Sam sighed. He was bored. This forced break was really throwing Sam for a loop. He wouldn't have any reason to see the waitress, until lunch time and that was still a few hours away. Sam looked out at the Inn's parking lot. The main street was nearby and Sam saw and heard the traffic that was on it. To the left was a park and Sam could see and hear the kids playing there. Sam could also hear birds singing. Sam sadly closed his eyes, as he realized how much Dean was missing out on, due to his deafness. Dean?! How would Dean spend his down time? Dean couldn't listen to the TV or listen to his music. Dean couldn't even go to a local bar and chat up the waitresses. Dean was going to get so bored that he was going to probably drive Sam crazy. Bored Dean tended to mean that Sam became the target of pranks. Sam lifted his head and squared his shoulders. No use putting it off, he better get back to Dean.

Dean was sitting at the table and looking at the door. After pacing the room a bit, he had quickly gotten tired of it and sat down to wait for Sam. Dean was bored. The weapons were already clean and laundry was already done. The Impala was up-to-date with its oil change and the tires didn't even need to be rotated. Normally, when Dean was bored he came up with pranks to pull on Sam; but, Dean didn't feel up to doing that. Even if he pulled a prank on Sam, Dean would miss out on Sam's vocal response to the trick. And since Sam's verbal outbursts were always good for a laugh and since the hearing loss wouldn't allow Dean to hear the outburst, Dean just didn't see any reason to even plan a prank. When Dean saw the door open, he was surprised by how happy he felt to see Sam.

Sam entered the room and found that Dean was just sitting at the table. That seemed innocent enough, unless Dean had already set up a prank and was waiting for Sam to walk into it. Sam closed the door and stopped. He looked at Dean and saw… something. Dean didn't have that spark in his eyes that he usually had. Dean looked tired and something else… lost… melancholy… something like that. Sam was now a little concerned. Was the deafness already affecting Dean's mood? If so, that was understandable. But, Sam just had a hard time seeing his brother like this. Sam quickly spotted the pad and pen and grabbed them.

'Want to go out for a bit? The town is nice and not too busy. I heard that the beach isn't far from here and we could even head out there for a bit.'

Dean just shrugged his shoulder and said, "sure, whatever you want."

Sam wished that Dean would have shown a little more enthusiasm; but, he was glad that Dean had agreed to leave the room. As they headed towards the Impala, Dean tossed Sam the keys. Sam gave Dean a questioning look.

"What? Kinda hard for you to give me directions, when I can't hear, isn't it?"

Sam gave a quick nod of his head and got in on the driver's side of the car. Dean's reason made sense; but, Sam didn't like how easily Dean used his deafness as an excuse.

Together, the brothers drove around and looked at what the town had to offer. Despite being a small town, it had a nice variety of shops and places to stop. To Sam, it was obvious that the town had done what it could to come up with ways to encourage tourists to spend their money in town, instead of spending it all at the beach. A small smile ghosted across Sam's face, as he recalled the waitress's remark about the money-hungry, beachfront businesses.

In less than an hour, the boys had driven around town and seen what it had to offer. Sam then directed the car in the direction of the beach. It may have been winter and the beach was surely going to be cold; but, Sam wanted to keep Dean out of their room, as long as he could. They soon reached the beach. As expected, the beach was deserted. Sam parked the car and got out. He walked onto the sand and looked out at the ocean. Without turning his head, he listened for the Impala's door to open and for Dean to join him. After a few minutes, Dean finally got out and came to stand near Sam.

A cold breeze was blowing off the ocean, with a few gulls gliding along its wind current. Sam and Dean both breathed in the salty air. Sam closed his eyes and listened to the waves lapping onto the shore. A couple seconds later, he quickly opened them. He had gotten so caught up in enjoying the change in scenery, that he had forgotten about Dean's deafness. As Sam listened to the waves, he felt guilty, as though he was cheating Dean from the complete experience. Sam knew he wasn't to blame for Dean's hearing loss. But, as Sam listened to the sounds of the beach, he felt like he really shouldn't be enjoying himself. Sam tried to shut out the sounds of the beach, in order to understand what Dean was experiencing; but try as he might, Sam just couldn't ignore all the sounds that surrounded him.

Dean stood next to Sam and stared out at the ocean. He rarely spent time at the beach. Most of his hunts were inland and were rarely near the ocean. Even when a hunt brought him to a beach, he never really had time to enjoy himself. Sure, he enjoyed the bathing beauties as they soaked up some sun; but, he only got to do a little bit of that, since most of his focus was usually spent on the hunt itself. And now when he had some down time to spend at a beach, there were no nearly naked beauties sunning themselves and he couldn't hear the sounds of the ocean and beach. To be honest, with the exception of the breeze and ocean air, he might as well have been watching a video, of a beach, with the volume on mute. Not being able to hear the water and gulls really seemed to minimize the entire experience. Despite his limited beach exposure, Dean knew what he was missing. He knew how the sound of waves lapping onto a beach added to the whole experience. And since it was the winter time, he didn't even get to enjoy a hot, summer sun. The entire outing was getting more and more depressing by the second. Dean turned and went back to the Impala.

Sam soon joined Dean back to the car. Grabbing the pad and pen, he wrote:

'Want to get something to eat?'

After reading the note, Dean shook his head and replied, "Nah, just take me back to our room. Then, you can run out and get something. Perhaps, you'll even run into that chick of yours again."