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I also put the wrong name for her brother in Chap 7. I put his name as Ted and that's my dogs name. I fixed it though. Her brother's name is Chance. Just so you know.
"I'll pray for you." I opened my eyes at Dean's voice and realized that I wasn't dreaming about this conversation. I stayed as still as possible, curled up on the couch. Even though I was relatively small the couch was still a little too short and now that I was awake all I wanted to do was stretch my aching legs. And go to the bathroom. Maybe both at the same time, but I didn't move because from what I remember of my 'dream' Layla and Dean were having a serious conversation and I didn't dare disturb it.
Dean had been so down about this whole reaper situation since we got here and he met Layla. I had a feeling that he needed this to help him get over it, if he ever could.
"Well there's a miracle right there." Layla said before leaving the room with the soft click of the door.
"Some one needs to saint that woman." I said as I rolled off the couch and stretched and the same time. He still looked sad as he watched me stretch before turning back to his bag. He's packing? We're leaving? Wow, they really don't stay in one place for long. I groaned as I climbed up from the floor and cupped my aching butt as I shuffled to the bathroom.
"Get packed. Sam found something in Pennsylvania." I heard him say before the bathroom door closed. I looked like crap. My hair was all over the place and the lines from that cheap motel pillow were still imprinted on my left cheek. If my butt and my arm didn't hurt so bad I'd be embarrassed that Dean saw me like that. Wait, arm? Why did it hurt? I didn't fall on it. I quickly pulled up the sleeve of the long sleeve shirt I'd slept in and saw what was ailing me. The dark purple hand print on my right forearm was so dark against my normally tanned skin that it almost scared me. Now that I see the damage I really am surprised that Dean didn't break one of the bones in my forearm. The bruise wrapped around my whole arm and most of the fingers were distinct. I'd seen a bruise like this around the neck of a woman who came into the ER and insisted that she'd been hit with a board and that her husband had nothing to with it. Yeah and I was born yesterday. My arm only hurt when I touched the bruise and it just ached a little when I twisted my wrist, turning my hand over, palm up. I just pulled the sleeve back down and went to brushing my teeth and hair.
I left the bathroom with the foamy toothbrush still in my mouth to grab a change of clothes before heading back in. Sam was back in the room now, helping Dean finish packing up all the stuff from the hunt. It was interesting how they could just pack up everything they'd done and learned while here and just put it away until it was needed again. If it was ever needed again.
There was little talk from any of us as I threw my few belongings into the duffel bag that Bobby had given me. We all moved pretty quickly and soon I found myself in the back of that black car who's roar drove me crazy and that Dean loved so much. Sam was already giving Dean the specifics on whatever he found Pennsylvania but I didn't follow much of it. Nothing sounded unnatural about three people dying in their home from carbon monoxide.
Nobody said a word about the reaper. Or Layla. Or even looked back in that general direction. I could probably bet that I was the only one thinking about it. Sam and Dean sat up there and acted like all that mess never happened. Like Dean hadn't almost died and they hadn't just stopped a woman who'd been trapping the Grim Reaper. Oh, correction, A grim reaper. Cause there is more than one. How did they avoid spending all their time thinking about this stuff? Maybe it was because they're guys. Every man I've every known had that light switch in his brain where he could just turn off his emotions and thoughts as if they were the light in an unoccupied room.
As the time went on I just got cold and more restless. The never changing scenery was boring me and the damn engine roar was going right through my brain. Out of habit I began bouncing my knee, which didn't take long for them to notice.
"What is that? Is one of my tires unbalanced?" Dean asked suddenly and I realized that my bouncing was bouncing the whole car. I quickly stopped, but he looked back at me when he noticed that he couldn't feel it anymore.
"Was that you?" He asked before looking me over. "What's wrong?" I was sitting there prone in my seat with my arms hugging my sides while still stuffing my frozen hands stuff under my thighs.
"I'm cold...and bored." I didn't miss the annoyed look that Sam threw Dean when he turned on the heat. Who woke up on the wrong side of the bed today? I slid to the middle of my seat and leaned against the front seat, my arms draping over it as I reached for the heat. Even though I take up very little room in the seat back here, their shoulders were pretty close to touching so as I reached for the vent to suck up the heat my arms were touching both of their shoulders. Sam shifted uncomfortably and it was obvious that he was trying to readjust so that we wouldn't be in contact.
What the hell was his problem? When had we done this one-eighty? Back at Bobby's he was the one being all nice and apologetic and I was the one who'd bit his head off and gave him the cold shoulder. And even though I was just covering up my actual feelings with a temporary solution of 'forget it ever happened' at least I was trying. Now he was ignoring me and just basically making me uncomfortable. And sometimes I even felt like I'd done something wrong or like I was in the way or something. But then I would remember that he had nothing to be mad about and it was actually me who should mad and I would then be in a bad mood. I need to think about something else before I become cold, bored, and aggravated.
Sam might have scooted away from me but Dean did not and I was relishing in the heat he radiated and the heat billowing from the vent onto my hands as I held them out to collect it. Even with Sam so obviously bothered by my presence I oddly felt very comfortable. Like how you feel when you're curled up under a blanket at home on a rainy day. Well I would be warmer if I was under a blanket, but I kind of felt like I wasn't in the way here. I sure wasn't contributing, but at least I hadn't hindered them at all yet. I even helped out a little last night with the reaper. Just a little. And suddenly I didn't feel so bored and hopeless...and lonely.
"When we get about halfway there we'll stop an get something to eat and rest a little. We gotta do laundry." Dean was explaining while digging through a cardboard box that sat on the seat between him and Sam. It held what looked like a bunch of old cassette tapes, but who on earth uses cassettes anymore? I moved my hands from my view to check and sure enough there was and old radio and cassette player set right into the dashboard. I can't remember the last time I even held a cassette much less used one. I went through have my life fast forwarding, rewinding, fast forwarding and rewinding just to find the actual song I'd wanted to listen to. Bleh. Good riddance.
"We gotta stop and get me a new phone too. Someone dropped mine in a puddle." You couldn't miss the accusing tone if you tried and I just couldn't keep my mouth shut.
"Well your brother was getting his life sucked out of him by a...reaper thing. So sorry I didn't stop to think about your phone."
"I'm sorry, I don't remember saying that it was you." Sam stated innocently and I just wanted to slap him.
"You insinuated that it was me." I bit back. Wow, I've never felt like such a child since I was in fact a child. Even though I'm sure I didn't know the word 'insinuated' or any children who did know it when I was a kid.
"Alright alright," Dean interrupted our tiff, "We have to stop around noon to get some food and do some laundry anyway. We'll get you a phone there. And you should see if you can find something to keep you occupied. A lot of what we do is driving around." He turned his face to me when he addressed me and I was forced to back up slightly so that I wasn't pressed against the seat anymore. Just simply resting my elbows on it. Funny how I didn't feel like I was that close to him until he faced me. I hadn't felt like I was in his bubble or he in mine, but when he turned and I locked with those deep green eyes, I'd instantly felt like our proximity was bordering on intimate.
Its also funny that I didn't feel that way with Sam. Maybe because I was mad at him for being mean or maybe because I'd been way closer to him before. Hell I'd been pressed between him and wall so close that a hydrogen molecule couldn't pass through so I'm guessing that even though we weren't together anymore my body just couldn't see the sense in getting all flustered by his closeness.
Now that I was thoroughly warmed up, in more ways than one, I fell back into my seat and started making a mental list of the things I should probably get to help with the boredom. Hopefully the place we stopped had some kind of book store and maybe a Wal-Mart or something equivalent so that I could look into getting my own Ipod. There were some perks to no longer having bills. But I also no longer had an income, luckily I'd gotten renters insurance that covered the loss or damage of personal properties so I should be hearing back from my agent about that any day. Or Bobby should at least. Before I left with these two I told anyone who was important to call me at Bobby's. My brother had, of course, wanted to know who this Bobby was that I was staying with a whole state over from my home of Blue Earth. God it sucked not having a phone, but Bobby had insisted that I not get a new one. At least not under my real name. He says that its a way for the demon or anyone else to track me, but I flat out refused to get one with a fake ID, on someone else's credit. That aspect of this whole hunting thing just wasn't for me. Actually most of it wasn't for me and I don't plan on changing that any time soon. I'm happy where I'm at, with cleaning the guns and helping with the research and playing nurse.
Before I knew it and thankfully before I went crazy we stopped at the halfway point and started our hunt for a laundromat. Thankfully it wasn't too hard and we even got some more crappy fast food to eat on the way.
"Here can you load my clothes while I go get Sam a new phone?" Dean asked as he dumped his duffel bag on top of the machine next to mine.
"Does this have to do with the fact that this is laundry and I'm a woman?" I asked suspiciously. I didn't take Dean for a sexist, but he'd already used me for something once before so I couldn't be sure.
"No this has to do with the fact that you wanted to be involved and you agreed to be our intern." That devilishly handsome smirk adorned his face as he dropped a sock full of quarters on the washer with a metallic thud before turning and leaving me there with double the work. I cut my eyes at him as he left the laundromat and practically skipped down the sidewalk and out of sight. Jerk.
When all the clothes were loaded I sat on one of those crappy plastic chairs someone near Sam who had his computer out and was intently studying something. I know I keep saying it but he just looks so different. So much more haunted now than when I'd first seen him. You could almost see the painful and sorrow filled aura that hung around him and drained him of all the color and life he once had. I don't know if I'd even been that attracted to him if he'd looked like that when I saw him on the beach.
I propped my legs up on the closest washer and pulled up my pant leg to inspect the stitches on my leg. They looked nice, neat and clean. The surrounding skin was healing nicely and now the nice light pink color of new skin. Unfortunately the gashes would leave scars. Even the cuts that hadn't required stitches were probably going to scar. The new skin around the stitches was dry and tender, but of course now that I'm looking at it, its itching like crazy. I only got to scratch it for a few seconds before Sam spoke.
"You're gonna rip the stitches." I just pulled my hand away from my leg and cut my eyes over at him. Since when does Sam get the right to tell me what do to? Definitely not after the way he's been treating me. It was so ass backwards that the one who I barely know and who has every right to treat me like a nuisance was actually treating be better than the one who I should have some kind of connection with and should be treating me like an old friend. I don't understand what happened to make him so mad.
I just don't understand.
So I just sat there. I put my leg down and let my pants leg fall back down over the cuts and I waited for the clothes to wash. I quickly threw mine and Deans clothes in the dryer when the buzzer sounded and sat back down with a huff. Sam took longer to move his clothes to a dryer, taking his time with moving them over piece by piece. Thank God my OCD didn't apply to doing laundry. I hate doing laundry. Especially at a laundromat. Yeah they smelled great and they were always warm on a cold day, but I had mixed feelings about these places.
When I was around four years old my parents split for about a week. I went with my Mom and Chance, my brother, stayed with my Dad for some reason even though Dad wasn't his real father. I don't remember much else about it, but there are some things that stick out. Like the feel of the new carpet in the apartment that we stayed in. How my mom got an apartment for only a week I don't know and I never asked. I remember the fact that the little playground that the apartment had was full of stickers, even though the grass looked so green and lush, so I couldn't go out there barefoot. I also remember going to a laundromat. I think it was near the end of the week, but I just know that the washer that Mom picked ended up shaking like crazy and we had to sit on it to keep it from walking right out of the building. As a child that was the funniest thing ever, sitting on a washer while it shook like crazy. It was kind of like being tickled. And while, as a four year old, it was easy to think of the split as a little vacation with my Mom I began to miss my Dad and Chance. And halfway through that cleaning cycle I stopped laughing, because I wanted my brother to sitting on that washer with me. I wanted my Dad to be there laughing with us.
For the first time in long time I actually missed my Mom. Since she left I was nothing but mad that she bailed on us, on me. But now that I was sitting in a laundromat and thinking about that time so long ago I just wanted to see her, hug her, and cry. I jumped up from my seat and crossed to the door. Sam's voice stopped me.
"Wait, Lynn, where are you going?" He sounded worried and I was almost too upset to get mad at him for all this flip flopping he was doing.
"I'm just going right outside to get some air. I won't leave the sidewalk. Is that alright with you, Dad?" I bit at him as I pulled my jacket on and stepped out into the cold.
The chilly air pushed the my tears back from the brink and helped me catch control over myself. I'd just have to call Chance later and talk to him, that's all. I just missed him and thinking about when we were kids never helped anything. It just made me think about how close we were before I moved away. Before I ran from everything that reminded me of my former life, because I couldn't handle seeing it everyday. I already couldn't handle missing my mom and then my dad died and it was the straw that broke this camel's back. I couldn't stay in my hometown when everywhere I looked I was reminded of the two closest people in my life besides my brother.
I leaned against the glass window of the laundromat and took a deep breath before putting my hands on my thighs and bending over to let the blood rush to my head. This always made me feel better. The blood went to my head and even though the pressure was killer I felt like I could get a hold on my control and keep myself from spiraling into the ever looming depression that has threatened to take over since this demon has entered my life.
I took a deep breath as I heard footsteps near me and straightened up when they stopped next to me. It was Dean with a plastic bag in his hand and a worried look on his face. Even though I had no reason to be, I was aggravated at him. Why couldn't anyone just have a blank look on their face when they looked at me instead of always looking worried. Can't a girl get upset in a little peace? I guess it would be different if I knew him better. If my brother was standing there, looking worried, I'd be in his arms in a heartbeat. No matter how strong I try to be I always break down around my brother. Maybe its because he's the only person in the world who I'm truly comfortable around.
"What's up?" I asked as I pushed away from the glass and stood in front of Dean. Luckily the look on his face dissolved and was replaced with something not so readable and he thankfully acted as if he hadn't just seen me coming down from a potential melt down.
"Oh nothing. Got Sam a new phone." He sounded kind of uncomfortable as he spoke and another laundromat patron walked out the door and past us, lugging a clothes hamper with them.
"Oh...Okay." I said groping for the door to yank it open and return to the warmth inside, "The clothes are almost done." He surprised me with a hand on my shoulder that made me thankful of the cool weather. I gave up trying to get a hold of the door handle and turned back to him. His hand fell back to his side before he began using it to rummage through the bag and I immediately missed the feel of it. What was it about his touch that just made me...I don't know how to explain it. It was uncomfortable because I don't know him, but it was so warm and it spread so quickly that I didn't want it to go away. I imagine that it felt something like you're first hit of heroin after jonesing all day for it.
"I got you a phone too." He said sheepishly as he held out the little touch screen phone.
"You didn't have to do that Dean." Was all I could get out as I just looked at the phone that he still held out.
"Well its just for you to have in case we get separated like back in Nebraska." He shook the phone to rush me into taking it and even then I moved slowly as I reached up to take it from him. It was just about as long as my hand and the back of it slid out to reveal a full keyboard. It was the fanciest cell phone I've ever had.
"You didn't have to spend the money on me for a phone. I could have got it myself." I said again as I randomly touched the screen making the phone light up and flash a message that the phone was locked and there was something I had to do to unlock it. I didn't stop to read the rest of the message as I looked back up at Dean. He was looking from the phone to me as if waiting for me to throw it at him or something.
"Nah its not a problem. David Berkowitz is buying and I wanted to have all the important numbers transferred over from mine so you wouldn't have to add them all in. Its got Me, Sam, Bobby and even Pastor Jim in your contacts." I was going to ignore the fact that he bought the phone for me with someone else's money because the gesture was just so sweet. Now I didn't have to bother them for their phone to call Jim or my brother. And then all of a sudden this whole situation seemed easier. It was as if Dean had just walked up and offered me the solution to all my problems. Okay well not the solution. That would be the death of the demon, but this was the next best thing. All the loneliness that had built up and then crashed down on me seemed to dissipate with this one small piece of electronics.
Just how all those emotions had almost suffocated me earlier now they seemed to lift me up. The smile that adorned my face almost hurt as I looked back up to Dean and was happy to see him now smiling too.
"Well...thank you." The smile was probably so big now that I'm sure he could see all my teeth and most of my gums, but I couldn't tone it down even if I wanted to. "Thank you very much Dean. I really appreciate this." He didn't say I was welcome or anything like I expected he just kept looking and smiling at me and I wasn't in the slightest bit opposed to standing there and staring at his handsome face, but someone bumped into me as they were leaving the building. It wasn't bad or anything. I mean its not like I fell but I did jump forward a little at their contact and I guess Dean thought I was falling cause one hand returned to my shoulder and the other grasped right above my wrist, right where that horrible bruise was. I gasped and jerked my arm from him when his hand gripped perfectly over the tender spot. His other hand didn't move from my shoulder.
"Whats wrong?" He asked quickly and I just stuffed the phone in my jacket pocket and stepped back away from him again, missing the warmth.
"Its nothing." I said turning so that my arm kind of hung behind me.
"No show me. If you're hurt we should take a look at it." He said, holding his hand out like I was just going to do as he said and give him my arm. Not a chance.
"No, Dean, its okay. Just hit it the other day. I'm fine." I argued and leaned away from him defensively.
"Come on Lynn just show me." He said testily and reached out to grab my arm. I tried to lean back more to stay out of his reach, but he was too fast. He grabbed my hand and brought it out in front of me before yanking my sleeve up. I blushed all over when the nasty bruise came into view. I didn't want him to see it, because I knew that he would know how I got it.
I thought I heard him gasp lightly but I couldn't be sure. What I was sure of was the straight line that he pursed his lips into as the anger rolled across his face. Sorrow joined it as he held up my arm and lightly placed his hand over the bruise, lining up his fingers to match it perfectly. I barely felt his skin touching my arm he was being so careful. God I wasn't made of glass and wasn't going to break. The fact that my bone hadn't broke when he did this was a testament to that.
"Why didn't you show me this?" He ground out the question as if his voice box was full of granite and it kind of scared me.
"Why does it matter? You didn't do it on purpose?" My answer sounded more bold than I felt. "I mean really, you were having the life sucked out of you." I laughed a little and squeezed his right hand that still held mine to try and lighten the darkened mood, but he didn't laugh back. He just let go of my arm and pulled his hand from mine.
"Lynn I'm so sorry." His face was grim as he said it and I was automatically annoyed by this. I quickly pulled my sleeve back down and turned to the glass door.
"I'm not a china doll, Dean, you won't break me. Like I said you didn't do it on purpose. If you had you'd have one to match on you face." No he wouldn't. It was a lie. I wouldn't have the guts to hit someone in the face I don't think, but it made a small smile crack through the frown on his face and that's what mattered.
The clothes were done when we went back in and Sam had even folded all of them, mine and Dean's too. What got into him I didn't know, but I was thankful cause I was ready to get out of this laundromat. I just wasn't sure how I felt about him folding my panties. We stuff out clothes into our bags, got some food and hit the road. This time it wasn't that excruciating sitting in the back while Dean rocked out to songs that were too old and he played to loud. I had my new phone to play with and customize so before I knew it we were slowing and in fact turning around.
The bridge that crossed some large river I'd never heard of was out and we were going to have to find another way around. The decision to pull over at a little roadside store was attributed to Dean's apparent sweet tooth, but it also gave Sam a chance to find us another route.
The car was warm so I never even got out of my comfortable position stretched out in the back seat while the boys got out to do whatever they had to. I was going through the contacts on my phone when I realized that Dean had just copied his whole contact list into my phone. The amount of women's numbers that were there was unfathomable. I'd have to make sure none of them were important while deleting them later.
I heard Sam going on about finding a new way to Pennsylvania and we might be there sooner than expected. Hallelujah! I was done with the riding in this car. But then I heard Dean say we weren't going to Pennsylvania and that made me sit up to see what was going on.
"Just got a call from an old friend. Her father was killed last night. She thinks it might be our kind of thing." Are you kidding? This chick better not be farther away than where we were going cause I did NOT want to be in this car anymore. If I was lucky I could catch a nap later.
"Believe me. She never would've called, never, if she didn't need us." Did I detect a hint of some kind of animosity there or was I just going crazy from boredom. Dean didn't wait for Sam as he jumped in the car and started it up and then had the gall to rush him. My goodness he barely had time to gather up the map and all that. What the hell lit a fire under Dean's ass now? I watched Sam climb into the car with a huff and begin plotting a course in the atlas. I leaned up against the seat and watched as he plotted a course all the way to the town that Dean quickly told him. Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
It was back the way we came, but it was a hell of a lot closer than Pennsylvania so I was all for it. Other than the fact that Dean now sported a sour look on his face, I'd say that today wasn't too bad. I got a new phone, the tension between me and Sam seemed to ease off for some reason, and now our trip was cut short so I wouldn't have to be in this car anymore than I wanted to. Maybe things were starting to look up.
I hope you liked it! It gets more interesting next chapter! Review! love you guys!