A/N: Takes place during chapter 13 of Caught in the Crossfire. Sam and Dean talk while driving to the girls' house. Let me know what you think!

Chapter 10: The Drive

"You have to tease your family. You tease the ones that you're closest to."
- Parvesh Cheena

The sun was barely up when Dean shook Sam awake, grunting to meet him in the car in 10. Sam had a restless sleep, but by the looks of it, Dean had slept even less, if at all. When the girls left, they'd argued, Bobby, trying and failing to mediate. Dean wanted to follow right after them, while Sam argued they should stay back for the night and give everyone time to cool off. Bobby, they knew, was relieved to have his house back to himself. Sam eventually won, but barely.

Dean was already in the Impala, engine running when Sam climbed in. Sam barely closed the door before Dean took off, peeling out of Bobby's driveway. The drive between the houses was about 3 hours but seemed Dean determined to clear it in less than 2. About halfway through the drive, Sam turned down the music that had been blasting.

"Dean, you know you can't roll in there pissed off."

"Like hell, I can't."

"Fine, you shouldn't." When Dean didn't reply, Sam continued. "I know you're worried about her..." Dean shot Sam a warning glare, "I mean them, but, they said that Spike couldn't hurt people. Even Giles agreed."

"A neutered vamp? You really buy that shit, Sam?"

"It wouldn't be the first time we met a monster who wasn't out to kill us." Dean huffed but stayed silent. "Listen, all signs point to them being these Gatekeepers, right? They have a role in this. This is it."

"When has having a role in any of this worked out for anyone in our lives?" Dean shot back.

It was Sam's turn to stay silent for a moment. He knew he had to come at this from another angle to get through to Dean. "We'll do what we can then. Prepare them the best we can. They've got Jane, and Giles training them. Cas can check-in. We can't be around 100% of the time, but I don't think they're going to take dumb risks. Especially now that they're not at Bobby's."

Sam knew his brother well enough to see he'd made inroads with that logic. They continued driving in silence for a bit longer before Sam decided to broach another topic nagging at him. "So when were you going to tell me what's been going on?" Sam raised his eyebrows at Dean.

Dean turned to look at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on man. I've seen the way you look at her, and her at you. Neither of you are as subtle as you think you are."

"Kind of like you and your puppy dog eyes at Michelle?"

"Listen, I don't care that you're hooking up with Kelly, so all I'm sayin' is you don't need to hide it from me."

"You get that if it's okay for me and Kelly, then it's okay for you to do something with Michelle, right?" Dean looked over at Sam, "Sammy, she's exactly your type. Why aren't you making a move?"

"Shut up. Jerk."

"Bitch"