When Sam got up, Dean was still conked out, star fishing across the entire bed. He managed to tread silently, avoiding the lose floor boards, and just took the time for a quick catlick (A1).
Dean would be up in a few and although he'd be pissy and hungover he'd want to leave town today.
They'd been at Miriam's for three days now and although she was a nice old lady there was only so much of nice old lady and nice old house Dean could bear before getting antsy.
She was actually an old friend of Ellen's so they'd officially been put on a job for once. She'd invited them to stay after they'd gotten rid of a nix for her.
A few drops of Sam's blood and the thing had gone wild, it had pulled Dean into the water and thrown him around six ways from Sunday till Sam could gank it.
He'd always hoped that if they ran into a nix it would be somewhere warm, or at least it would happen in the summer. Caldwell, Idaho in October had been at the very end of his wish list.
Since they'd been low on cash and pretty beat-up they'd agreed to bunk with Miriam for a few days, more precisely until Dean had poker luck and came home stinking drunk, hence the human debris currently draped over the bed closest to the door.
Back in the room he quickly threw on a few layers –up here it wasn't just useful to cushion his fall if he got in a fight- grabbed his wallet from the nightstand and strapped a knife to his leg. Back in Stanford he'd thought he'd be safe if he stopped hunting but he'd only become defenseless and lulled by all the stepfordy normalcy until…
He swallowed, pulling the door shut. No messages from Bobby or Ellen, which meant they could either drive around until they liked a place enough to stop or he could find them a hunt. Since Miriam didn't have wi-fi he'd have to go to a café for that anyway, so Dean wouldn't suspect anything.
After he'd had at least three black coffees –'cause the mornings after Dean had kept him up with drunken snoring all night just called for extreme measures- he flipped open his notebook and actually got some work done, before searching for what he needed online.
Sam found what he was looking for on a website called mardiqueen(dot)com.
He was sure Dean had never seen so much pink in his life, it was the teethrotting kind of sweet that made women call their daughter's their little princesses. In fact, it actually came with a tiara and a pink magic wand with a star on it. Fun times.
Just why they even produced Dean-sized costumes of this particular style and who bought stuff like that apart from poor guys who were dragged out of Stanford to get drowned in water that was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey kinda escaped him.
He paid with John Beck's credit card and typed in the address of the lockbox closest to their next hunt. He'd just go out for coffee and donuts and stash it away while Dean was in the shower. For once he'd let Dean use up all the hot water and not say anything when he came out with one of those freaking shower turbans. He'd have time to laugh later.
He bought a few of those palm-sized chocolate chip cookies and started eating while he made his way back to Miriam's. Dean was probably up by now and even when Dean had an upset stomach it was ill-advised to leave food around him.
+#+
"Hey Sammy, find something?"
Sam eyed his brother suspiciously but closed the door behind him, one arm pressing the bag of greasy take-out he'd mercifully decided to get Dean closer to his chest.
"Christo!"
Dean rolled his eyes, slinging the towel he'd draped around his shoulders over a chair to put on a shirt. "I'm fine, thanks."
"Yeah, I can see that. Scary fine."
"So long on the road with me and you still don't understand the awesomeness that is Dean Winchester?"
Dean winked and grabbed the bag from him, prying it open and inhaling deeply. "Miriam actually brought me coffee and homemade bagels, but I second the decision for a burger in the morning."
"Dude, you're gross."
"Whatever, Mr. Rabbitfood. I left you some bagels."
Sam shucked off his jacket and sat down on the bed to eat his bagel. Maybe they should stay another day, he'd happily listen to more stories if that meant they'd get a home-cooked meal and he'd get to sleep in fresh linen for one more night.
"I know what you're thinking, man, but we're not staying," Dean said between bites, trying to get his hamster cheeks to move around to forming the words. "We should hit the road, maybe go somewhere warmer for Halloween."
Sam grunted in response and tossed him some notes he'd taken at the café.
A guy in Glendale had gone completely MIA for two years and come back saying he didn't remember a thing. Started killing his neighbors one by one and worked his way through to his ex-affair till the police stopped him. Just another case of "the voices made me do it" that might or might not lead them closer to Lilith.
"So what are we thinking? Shapeshifter? Demon riding piggy-back?"
"I dunno but I guess it's worth checking out, right?"
Dean nodded and balled up the take-out bag to three-point it into the trash can.
+#+
A1: My Betas told me that "quick catlick" might cause some confusion. It simply means rushing things in the bathroom a little, no use of glitzy products aso... just splash a little water in your face and you're good to go.
