Chapter 23

Out in the parking lot, Sam was busy adjusting J's driver's seat and mirrors to fit his ginormousness inside comfortably. She went straight to her trunk and popped it. She then began looking through some of the stuff. Which Dean found to be quite intricate. Even for a hunter.

Upon first inspection, it looked like any person's trunk. There were a few bags of clothes, a massive toolbox, boxes of shoes, and some other odds and ends you'd expect to find in a closet. Or in the trunk of a car.

Dean's attention was caught by, what looked like, a pair of at least 6-inch tall stiletto pumps with red bottoms. More so what J would look like wearing them. Before he could think any more on it, she reached out, obscuring his sight of the Fuck-Me Pumps.

When J reached, she reached for something hidden in the corner; a little dial lock was revealed. She put in the combination and a large section of the trunk's bottom popped up. Only enough for J to reach her fingers into and lift the hatch of the opening back. When the hatch was fully back and J had propped it up with a built-in kickstand, she revealed a hunter's treasure trove of weapons.

Dean could now see all kinds of knives. Blades made of every material you could think of, of every possible varying length. There was even a blade that had three edges spiraling towards the hilt that Dean had never seen before. They lined the walls of the compartment in various holders and sheaths.

There were wooden stakes, and a whole array of blunt objects, too. Most looked home-made. There was even a variety of what looked like various pieces of bomb-making equipment, a few pieces looking familiar from their last hunt. Dean's eyes were attracted to a baseball bat with inches-long nails driven through the top.

As he looked on in awe, he could see there was an arrangement of guns that Dean didn't even know the name, or even caliber of. His eyes must have been wide with child-like wonder. He felt like a kid in a candy store.

"Is that a fucking rocket launcher?! Or was that a grenade launcher? Either way, that thing can fucking launch something at somebody. Holy shit!" Dean thought to himself as he openly stared at the artillery. He never wanted to ask a girl to a gun range so badly before in his life.

"When have I ever wanted to bring a girl to the gun range to begin with?" Dean wondered monetarily to himself.

"I have something I think you two will appreciate and will like using. They come in handy sometimes, and I have to admit they are fun on long drives." J said over her shoulder at Dean while she continued to rummage around the bottom of the compartment. He was prepared to be handed a fucking I.E.D at this point.

J grabbed a few pairs of batteries from a box at the bottom of the hidden compartment and handed them to Dean before she closed it again. It was imperceptible where it was. Even now that Dean knew it was there. He couldn't see the seams at all. It blended flawlessly. He wondered if she had done this customization herself or if she had had someone do it for her.

She then reached in towards the back corner and pushed another hidden button, revealing another lock. She entered the code into this one, too, and another compartment opened. This one was a little smaller and had all kinds of flashlights, flares, and other luminous items. Dean also caught sight of some jumper cables, a couple of sets of wrenches and tools, and other odds and ends related to mechanic work. He was impressed that she had both metric and standard. She reached in and pulled out a pair of two-way radios.

"Aha! I knew they were still in here somewhere." J said triumphantly as she held up two hand-held radios. Those batteries should work. I never keep batteries in anything I'm not using so there shouldn't be any old ones in the chambers." Dean looked, and sure enough, they were empty on both sets.

"Smart. Never need to worry about batteries corroding and bursting, ruining perfectly good electronics. But then again, it would suck to have a flashlight without…" Dean couldn't finish the thought, J interrupted him with a look.

"Except for the flashlights. I keep batteries in all the flashlights. That would just be dim not to…" She laughed at her own joke, putting a hand on her knee with the effort. This made Dean laugh. He found her laugh to be quite infectious. Her smile, too.

"Are those walkie talkies?" Sam asked as he back to the trunk where Dean and J stood. A smile spreading across his face. Sam knew he had just interrupted something. But for now, Dean was glad for the mental interruption.

"Yeah. They work at a distance of a few football fields, at least. I figured you two could have some fun with them on the drive today. Jo and I used to use them all the time when we meet up on hunts and had separate cars." J said.

"Try it out. Go walk over to the other side of the parking lot, Sam. We will stay here and make sure they work."

Sam started walking, excited to try them out. He was busy looking down at his handset, turning it on and tuning it in as he walked away. J now turned and looked at Dean.

She just kept looking at him. Like she was expecting something. He was frozen. She just kept looking. The tension in the air was mounting.

"What?" Dean said self-consciously, looking everywhere but at her. When he finally looked at her, J was looking at him with a funny look on her face now. Dean's stomach knotted unpleasantly.

"You wanna turn it on?" she asked sarcastically. Like an IT person asking if it's plugged in.

Dean blushed and turned the radio over in his hands. Of course. He was standing there like an idiot with the fresh batteries still in one hand, and the handset in the other. When he inserted them and adjusted a knob, it crackled to life. Dean adjusted the volume a bit as Sam reached the other side of the parking lot and turned his handset over in his hand and raised it to his mouth.

The walkie talkie in Dean's hand fizzed to life and Sam's voice came across loud and clear.

"Breaker, Breaker One-Nine. Do you read me? Over."

Dean found the 'Talk' button, pressed it, and spoke into his handset. "10-4, Big Moose. You are coming in loud and clear on this end. How do I sound? Over."

"Crystal clear over here, Squirrel. Over." They could see Sam giving a Bitchface from where they stood. Dean returned it as he brought his handset up to his mouth again.

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

Dean had a feeling these would be fun to have on the drive today. It wasn't often Sam and Dean had different cars. He thanked J as she grabbed a few other things from her car and threw them in her bag that she then threw into the back of the Impala. She grabbed her jacket and closed the trunk of her car. Sam was just getting back to them from the other side of the parking lot as she was pulling it on.

"I'm going to go ahead and check out, guys. I'm going to plug my headphones in so I'll be all but oblivious to the world. You'll probably have to scream my name to wake me up. Just so you're aware if the need arises. I won't be able to hear shit." J said as she pulled out a pair of headphones from her bag.

"Oh, I'm sure Dean will have absolutely no problem screaming your name when the need arises, J." Sam said insinuatingly as he wiggled his eyes at Dean behind her back. Dean threw him a look that should have set Sam on fire.

"I saw that Sam Winchester," J said as she rolled her eyes at what Sam had said in Dean's direction so only Dean could see. Sam couldn't. Sam's face fell and Dean could not help but laugh. J just smiled at him apologetically. His face warmed slightly.

"I was only meaning you two are free to talk over the handsets without having to worry about bothering me. Dean, you can play your music as loud as you want. Do not worry about me, please. If I need you to shut the hell up, I will tell you so. Also, don't forget I'm back there when it comes to pit stops." She fixed a pair of headphones into her ears and connected it to her phone.

J reached up and released her hair from its confines of her bun. It cascaded down around her face and shoulders, covering the headphones entirely.

"If you need me or anything, just poke me." She said with a small wink to Dean as she climbed into the backseat of the Impala. She had her bag behind the front passenger's seat and was in the process of removing her boots.

"If you need anything just let Dean know. Take care of my little POS, will you Sam?" J asked jokingly towards the other brother. "Although, I'm sure you will find this particular car to be more than satisfactory. I worked on her myself. She's got a little something extra under the hood." J concluded with a little smirk. Leaving Sam with a questioning look on his face as she closed the door on them and laid down on her back in the backseat of the Impala.

Both Sam and Dean looked at her through the window as she settled in and pressed play on her phone and relaxed back into the seat. Dean realized that she would be able to see him from her position with her head in the back passenger's seat. His stomach flipped this time.

"At least she looks somewhat comfortable. That backseat of hers is nothing to write home about. I checked it out. I wouldn't be too comfortable back there sitting normally." Sam said.

"You should have her show you the trunk sometime, Sammy. Then maybe you will see exactly why that may be. I wouldn't be surprised if it as smaller than factory standard with the amount of stuff she has stored back there."

Sam couldn't help but wiggle his eyebrows at Dean again.

"Are you impressed with the junk in J's trunk?" he said smoothly. Tauntingly.

"Very impressed actually. I was actually wondering who did the work, I was going to have to ask her, but she said she did all the work herself. I may have Baby overhauled. It's about time I did something with it. It's been getting more and more crammed over the years. Hers was pretty fucking nice. Let's say I feel inspired." Dean said with a slight grin on his face.

"You will have to ask her about that when she wakes up, then." Sam said, slightly surprised at Dean's reaction. He had not been expecting that one. Yet, he had not seen the trunk, he had been too busy adjusting everything to fit and to see properly at the time. Dean didn't miss the slight smile on J's face.

Is she still listening? Dean thought to himself.

"Seriously, I'm going to ask for a formal tour when we get there. I'll have the radio on if you need me." Dean said as he turned away from Sam and headed towards the driver's side of the Impala. As he opened the door, he looked back over at Sam who was about to get into J's car.

"Drive safe, Sammy." He said right before he slid into the driver's seat of the Impala. Not waiting for a response from Sam. When he was seated and the door was closed, he heard something. It sounded like muffled heavy metal music.

Dean glanced behind him into the backseat and caught sight of J. She was laying on her back with her hands supporting her head, her legs tucked in, knees towards the roof. Dean was thankful to see her boots on the floor behind him. She was certainly courteous, and he appreciated that.

Her head was moving to the beat Dean could not-faintly hear and she was mouthing the words to the song. She wasn't kidding when she said not to worry about bothering her. It must have been impossible to hear anything over the sound of the music she had playing. He was going to have to ask for whatever she was listening to. It sounded like a good song.

Dean averted his eyes put the keys in the ignition and fired up the engine. Baby purred to like once again.

"Ready to leave when you are, Moose. Over" Dean said into his radio.

It crackled almost immediately. "10-4. Been waiting on you, Squirrel! Over." Came Sam's response. Dean made a face and chucked the radio into the passage seat. He stole another look back at J before throwing it in Reverse and pulling Baby out of the parking spot.

Sam was close behind as they made their way to the interstate.

By the time they were heading East, Dean looked in his rearview again. J was fast asleep, music still loud enough to hear over the sound of Baby's engine and her tires on the road.

Once they hit the interstate both Sam and Dean knew what J had meant by 'more than satisfactory' when it came to her car. There were definitely more horses in this engine than in a standard Toyota. This wasn't factory. Like, at all.

As Sam chuckled to himself as he easily overtook Dean in the Impala on the onramp, he thought of how he was going to have to ask what kind of work she had done.

The radio in the passenger seat crackled to life next to Dean.

"The last one to that major truck stop about 200 miles down the road buys gas?"

"You're on."