"Hey!"

Grabbing the strap of Skye's bag, Dean ignored her protests, drawing her attention to the cop car parked in front of the office. And the officers currently talking to the motel manager. And the manager just casually lifting a hand to point right at them. How nice of him. "Are you armed?"

"What? No, I don't generally walk around armed." Holding out a hand for her bag, she slipped it off and gave it to him, relinquishing it without a fight. Would wonders never cease. Maybe she knew when to shut up and do what she was told after all. "At least, not for a couple of years now. "

Not anymore? Another note to add into his growing 'the fuck?' list. "Good. You're not wanted anywhere, right?" At this point, it really wouldn't surprise him if she was. A hand hovering near the small of her back, Dean quickly lead the way across the parking lot to the Impala, keeping his voice down as the uniformed officers started in their direction. "Is there a criminal record I should know about?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Minor shit as a kid but my record was expunged like two years ago." Arms crossed, Skye stepped back and let Dean toss her bag into the backseat before he hit the door locks. "I'm taking a shot in the dark that the same cannot be said for you." Glancing at the two officers rapidly approaching, she looked torn for a second, as if she wanted to say something but maybe wasn't sure how.

"Spill it, and make it quick, 'cause we are outta time." Digging his phone out of his pocket, Dean flipped it open and punched in Sam's number from memory, letting out a breath he hadn't known he was holding when Sam answered on the first ring. "Dude, Five-Oh, take off."

"What about you guys?"

"Uh, they kinda spotted us. Go find Dad." Snapping his phone closed without waiting for a response, Dean glanced over at Skye as he swung around to face the officers.. "...you got about three seconds, Tink."

Side-eyeing him, he could see her trying not to smile as she shook her head, slowly taking her hands out of her pockets and keeping them in clear view as cops closed the distance between them. "I just wanted to say thanks and I didn't really get a chance to last night. You saved my ass, Batman. I appreciate it."

"Batman, huh? That's a new one. ...and you're welcome." Clearing his throat and raising his hands, Dean stepped toward, putting himself between them and Skye. This should be interesting, at least. And was that Officer Franks from the bridge yesterday? He did not look happy. Fun times. "Problem, officers?"

"Where's your partner?" Franks stopped a few feet away, exchanging a glance with his partner before crossing his arms and looking down his nose at Dean. Not an easy feat when Dean was a solid four inches taller. Peering past Dean, Franks nodded in Skye's direction, "And who's the kid?"

"Partner? What partner?" Feigning bewilderment, Dean shrugged a shoulder as he half-turned to look at Skye, the smug smirk on his face doing a pretty decent job of hiding his anxiety, even if he did say so himself. "Do you know what he's talkin' about?"

Dean wasn't worried about himself, he'd get out of this one way or another. He always did. And at this point he had no doubt Sam was half a block away and would be long gone by the time the cops checked Dad's room. Skyler, however… If she resisted or even said the wrong thing, this could all so easily go very, very badly. Or just maybe he should give her some credit for not being a total moron. Still, it was one thing to admit to himself that she wasn't totally useless and a whole other thing for her to have to prove it.

Franks' partner, a skinny kid in his mid-twenties with a badge that read 'Cooper', stepped up. A hand on his hip just a few inches from his cuffs and gun, Cooper eyed Dean critically before looking past him to Skyler. "Come on, kid. Where's the other guy?"

Wrapping her arms around herself, she glanced over at him and Dean could have sworn he saw her wink at him before she turned to face the cops, her entire demeanor shifting between one breath and the next. The bitchy young woman who'd been giving him nothing but grief vanished, replaced with a timid teenager that looked a good two years younger than she had two seconds ago. How the hell did she do that?

A shy smile gracing her lips, Skye kept her head down, looking up through her lashes at Franks and his partner. "I-I don't know, sir. I just-I'm sorry, I don't know who you're talkin' about."

"Of course you don't." Franks sighed and shook his head, not looking at all thrilled with Skye's answer, but at least he seemed to be buying Skye's little performance. Hell, just about anyone would have. That 'sweet and innocent' thing she flipped like a switch was damned convincing. Too bad Dean knew better. And was he hallucinating or did her accent suddenly get a lot thicker? "What are you doing running around with this guy? He's bad news."

Hands clasped in front of her and eyes downcast, Skye looked up at Franks from under her lashes, her voice soft and nearly inaudible with no sass or snark anywhere in evidence. Definitely a first. "I'm startin' to get that, sir." Cute.

"And you." Turning his attention to Dean, his hand hovering near his hip, Franks gave him a good once-over. "Fake badge, fake ID, fake credit card… There anything about you that's real?"

Nodding slowly, as if he were giving the question some serious thought, Dean bit back a grin as his anxiety faded. This was turning out to be more entertaining than he'd anticipated. "My boobs." That was probably the wrong answer, but he just couldn't help himself sometimes. Okay, most times. Jerking his head in Skye's direction, he somehow managed to keep a straight face. "Probably hers too."

"I thought as much." From the brief glimpse he got of Skyler before Franks stepped between them, cuffs in hand, Dean could see her fighting to keep a straight face. Too bad neither Franks nor Cooper seemed to have a sense of humor. Cops so rarely did, in Dean's experience. Gesturing for Dean to turn around, Franks sighed and started issuing orders, "Turn around, hands behind your backs, we'll take you both in and get the girl sorted at the station."


Leaning her forehead against the cool glass, Skye watched from the backseat of the police cruiser as Franks bent Dean over the hood of the Impala and cuffed him, being considerably less gentle than Cooper had been with her. It probably helped that she'd been completely quiet and cooperative and also that she hadn't been armed. Apparently Dean could not say the same and the small pile of weapons and God knew what else stacked on the hood next to him was reaching comic proportions, like something out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. No wonder he wore so many layers, he had to have a place to conceal it all.

And yet, rough as he was being treated and as many charges as the City of Jericho was about to bring against him, Dean was smiling. Smiling. Was he seriously having fun with this? He really was psychotic.

Sitting up as Franks and Cooper started back toward the car, Skye tracked their progress, keeping her expression carefully neutral when they cracked the backdoor and shoved Dean onto the seat next to her. Shifting to ease the pressure of the metal around her wrists, she flashed Dean a strained smile, her voice low so the officers outside had no chance of overhearing, "You're having entirely too much fun with this, you know. Totally touched in the head."

"You have to learn to enjoy the little things in life, Tinkerbell." Shifting so he was sitting partially facing her, Dean frowned, eyes narrowing as he studied her. "...you alright?"

"Oh, I'm peachy, Wi— Mr. Wayne." Halfway through the thought before catching the slip, Skye hastily corrected herself. No telling if they were being recorded and better to err on the side of caution.

"Mr. Wayne?"

In answer, Skye hummed the first few notes of the Batman theme, trying to brush off the previous question. Unfortunately, it didn't look like Dean was buying it. Not that she could blame him, she wouldn't have either. It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to notice the pallor of her skin, the rapid pulse, the sheen of sweat that was starting to pop up on her brow. Good times. "Okay, so I may or may not be a little claustrophobic…" Usually it was dark, enclosed spaces that did it but apparently the caged and locked backseat of a police car was close enough.

"Because of course you are." Glancing away as Cooper and Franks climbed into the front seat and started the car, Dean rolled his eyes and leaned in closer, his voice barely audible above the rumble of the engine, "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." In spite of her brain screaming at her that there wasn't enough air and trying to insist that the car was about to cave in around her, she was grand. Still, not her first rodeo and she knew she wasn't going to die, it just felt like she was. Taking a deep breath, she focused on Dean, a ghost of a smile playing at the corners of her lips as a sound caught her attention. "...are you humming the Cops theme?"