I groaned as I leaned against the cold concrete that made up the long hallway in front of me. Sliding down to the cold hard ground. I winced as I felt the skin around my wounds pull painfully. 'I should have stayed with them' I thought to myself as I allowed my tired eyes to fall shut with a sigh.
[Flashback]
I frowned as I watched Sam twitching in his seat. "Stop staring at him Gia, he's going to think you're creeping on him in his sleep." Dean hissed throwing a look over his shoulder at me. I turned my gaze away from Sam to glare at his older brother. "Shut up Dean," I growled back in response before reluctantly leaning back against the leather of the backseat. "I'm worried," I muttered turning my head to avoid his eyes. "He'll be okay." He said quietly as he also watched his brother twitch in his sleep, no doubt in my mind suffering from another nightmare.
"Should we wake him up?" I asked Dean as I continued to watch Sam struggle to leave his nightmare behind. "No." He responded, though his voice gave away his own concern. "It's better to just let him wake up on his own." He explained with a shake of his head dismissing my idea. I sighed, grumbling under my breath as I leaned back against the soft leather of the backseat watching as Sam shot awake body jerking upright with a gasp.
"You okay?" Dean asked as Sam rubbed the sleep from his eyes, probably trying to force the rest of the nightmare away. "Yeah, I'm fine." He replied dismissively not meeting Dean's eyes. "Another nightmare?" Dean pushed, glancing over at Sam, earning a glare from me. Sam cleared his throat shifting in the seat no answer leaving his mouth. "Want to drive for a while?" Dean offered, leaning toward Sam a little, my head snapped to look at Dean in surprise my eyes widening. "Are you okay?" I asked him, barely dodging his hand as he reached back to try and hit me.
"You are so mean to me sometimes," I grumbled a pout forming onto my lips as Sam chuckled, shaking his head at his brothers' question. "In your whole life, you never once asked me that," Sam said as he turned in the seat to look directly at his brother. Dean rolled his eyes. "Just thought you might want to. Nevermind." Dean said, backtracking as he avoided looking at either Sam and me. "Look, I know you're both worried about me, I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay," Sam reassured us as he met my eyes in the rearview mirror. Dean hummed his disbelief earning a smack to his shoulder for his response.
"Alright, where are we?" Sam asked as he snatched the map from the dashboard. "We are just outside of Grand Junction," Dean answered his question as Sam continued to study the map in his hands. "You know what?" Sam started with a sigh as he shifted the map closer to his face. "Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon," Sam spoke as his eyes scanned the map. I winced looking away from him, shooting Dean a look through the rearview mirror. "Sam, we dug around there for a week, and we came up with nothing," Dean said is voice soft as he tried to reassure his brother that they had done all that they could have been done in Standford.
"If you want to find the thing that killed Jessica." Dean began shooting Sam a quick look. "Got to find Dad first." Sam finished with a defeated sigh as he continued to avoid our gazes. "Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years?" Dean mused aloud. "It's no coincidence, Dad will have answers, he'll know what to do," Dean stated confidently drawing a hum of agreement from me, though a strong sense of dread slowly started bubbling to the surface.
"It's weird man, these coordinates he left us, this Black Water Ridge..." Sam spoke up again cutting the conversation of their father short. "What about it?" I asked leaning forward in my seat to pop my head over the top of the front bench seat so I could look at Sam. "There's nothing there, It's just woods," Sam explained moving the map into my view so I could get a closer look. "That's a little odd," I muttered, brows furrowing in confusion.
"Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" Sam asked aloud as he finally tore his eyes away from the map looking over to Dean. "This is going to be fun, I love camping," I muttered sarcastically as I flopped back fully into my seat crossing my arms over my chest. "Come on now Gia, it won't be that bad." Dean teased shooting me a grin over his shoulder. I sighed trying to fight the smile that was threatening to surface. "You say that now; but the moment something goes down you can bet your cute little ass I'm going to say 'I told you so,' and you can't get fault me for it," I told him simply as I stared into his gorgeous green eyes through the rearview mirror.
Dean scoffed and broke the staring contest long enough to roll his eyes at my declaration. "Fine, if anything goes wrong you can say whatever you want." He huffed simply, turning his eyes back to the road in front of him. I smiled closing my eyes with a quiet sigh, leaning my head back allowing myself a moment of rest.
[Time Skip]
I sighed leaning against the table displaying the forest in the area, watching Sam and he moved around it, "So Black Water Ridge is pretty remote, It's cut off by these canyons here," He spoke as he pointed to the map display under my crossed arms, "Rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place." He rattled off ignoring my ever-growing wide eyes. "And we're just going to walk in blind?" I grumbled rolling my eyes as I pushed away from the display moving to stand behind Dean.
Dean settled his green eyes on a picture of a man kneeling behind the large dead body of a bear. "Dude, check out the size of this friggin' bear." He spoke clearly not having listened to a word his brother had just said to the both of us. Sam rolled his eyes as he pushed away from the display coming to a stop beside Dean crossing his long arms over his chest. "And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area." He sighed also locking his eyes on the photo. "It's no nature hike that's for sure," I muttered running a hand through my hair, "You guys aren't planning on going near Black Water Ridge by any chance?" A man's voice suddenly cut in from behind us drawing our attention from the photo.
Sam smiled shaking his head, "No sir, we're environmental-study majors from U.C Boulder, just working on a paper." He lied smoothly the charming smile never leaving his face. "Recycle man." Dean throw in simply raising his fist in the air earning an eye roll from me behind his shoulder, "Jesus," I muttered gently slapping him on the back. "Bull." The Ranger retorted simply placing his coffee-free hand on his hip.
Sam clenched his jaw in anticipation shooting a quick look at Dean and me before moving them back to the park ranger in front of them. "You're friends with that Hailey girl, right?" He questioned pointing his coffee cup at the three of us. "Yes," I answered after a second of hesitation from the two brothers, "Yes, we are Ranger Wilkison," Dean cut in walking toward the Ranger. The Ranger chuckled shaking his head as braced his hands on his desk, "Well, I will tell you exactly what I told her," He began giving the three of us a pointed look.
"Her brother filled out a backcountry permit, saying he wouldn't be back from Black Water until the twenty-fourth." He stressed, "So it's not exactly a missing person case now, is it?" He asked removing his hands from the desk and throwing them out to the side. "Tell that girl to quit worrying." He said moving his hands back to his desk all the while never moving his eyes away from our persons. "I'm sure her brother is just fine." He continued moving out from behind his desk, beginning to walk away from us.
"We will." I called after him, "Well, that Hailey girl is quite a pistol, huh?" Dean commented with an easy smile earning a glare from me. The Ranger turned, "That is putting it mildly." He spoke, "Actually, you know what would help if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit." Dean pressed moving to stand directly in front of Ranger Wilkinson. "You know, so she can see her brother's return date." Dean continued quickly after and was shortly rewarded with a curt nod before the Ranger left the room to get the copy of the permit.
"Well, that was a little easier than I expected it to be," I muttered quietly to avoid the Ranger from hearing me. "Yeah," Sam agreed with a quiet laugh. "My question is, Dean, is this a genuine desire to help, or are you just cruising for a hookup?" I asked smirking at the man in question over my shoulder, Dean shot a glare at me causing a laugh to bubble from my chest. "I love you," I commented with another chuckle shaking my head at his antics, missing the raised eyebrow look Sam throw in Dean's direction who was avoiding eye contact by looking at the picture of the bear. "Wow," Sam muttered under his breath running a hand down his face in frustration.
"Here's your copy." Ranger Wilkinson spoke as he joined us back in the main room of the station, holding out the folded paper to Dean. "Thank you," I spoke up with a kind smile, "No problem at all." He said returning his own smile as the three of us headed to the door of the station.
A/N: I'm sorry for not writing for a while, covid has really thrown a wrench in my life and it has been hard finding the motivation to really do anything that I used to enjoy, but I'm going to start pushing myself out of this depression and get back to what I truly love doing. On that note, I hope you all enjoy and I apologize once more for taking so long to get this update to you. I hope you all have a wonderful day