Chapter 10

Sam's done his best to clean the wounds and stitch them up, but there must have been something in the creatures claws, because Dean's starting to run a fever. Honestly, Sam's wounds have been infected too, but he's banking on his angelic healing to take care of him while he tends to Dean. He figures that if Balthazar can go around being all upbeat and annoying with a punctured lung, then he should be able to take care of Dean with his own injuries.

Dean wakes up feeling safe and warm. His wounds are dressed and Sam's sitting in a chair by his bed looking exhausted but stubbornly still awake.

It takes hours for Dean to prove he's well enough to take care of himself for a while and to force Sam into getting some rest himself. He only manages by promising to get some sleep himself while Sam does and they end up both crashing in Dean's bed, mostly clothed, but at least under the blankets.

Sam's still asleep the next time Dean wakes up. It's the first time Dean's ever seen Sam sleep, and he looks young in a way Dean never would have expected. He doesn't look peaceful, his face is wrinkled up a little bit, like a kid with a bad dream, and he's holding on like Dean's his teddy bear. It's strangely cute.

Dean looks for a while longer before he decides that watching Sam sleep any more is a creepy stalker thing to do – and it's supposed to be Sam who's creepy, don't want to mess up their dynamic, so he'd better get up now. Sam's pretty well cuddled up with him so it's slow going and he only manages to get about halfway out of Sam's hold before he apparently jostles Sam too much and his eyes slowly open. He's blinking slowly up at Dean, looking all ruffled and sleepy, and he has to say, before was cute but this is absolutely adorable – not that he'll ever admit that.

Sam's apparently mostly still asleep because the moment he manages to focus enough to see Dean his face splits into a warm smile, dimples and all. Dean's thought about sex with Sam before – he's kind of had to – but this is the first time the fact that Sam is incredibly hot has struck Dean. He feels himself flushing, half kneeling above Sam, before Sam drags him right back down and snuggles in.

All this leaves Dean even more trapped, and pressed up against a man his brain is now unhelpfully reminding him is really hot. He decides he's way to tired to deal with this revelation now, and settles down to go back to sleep.

They're both feeling better by the time Sam wakes up. Those glances of Dean's are back, now accompanied by a blush, but Sam figures he'll find out what's going on eventually and leaves it be.

The injuries present a problem though. They're well enough to travel, but not to hunt. From the years he spent hunting with his brother Sam knows that if they stay idle for too long they'll end up driving each other nuts. So they've got to find something to do that will keep them occupied and interested without straining any of their injuries.

Sam's coming up empty on ideas until he remembers the roadhouse. He's pretty sure this Dean doesn't know about it and he's been wanting to have the man meet Ellen, Jo, and Ash. A trip there now will kill two birds with one stone.

Dean agrees immediately when Sam proposes the idea of showing him a gathering point for hunters. He sees through the ploy to get them doing something useful and non-strenuous, but he knows it's a good idea, and he'd agree to a wild goose chase at the moment if it got him out of this hotel room.

He'd realized in a single moment that Sam was hot – and not only that, but that Dean himself was attracted to him – and now he couldn't seem to stop seeing it. He had a wild hope that getting out of the motel room where he'd had his revelation would let the intensity of it fade somewhat, let him go back to the comfortable friendship – friendship? - they'd had before.

The bar, Sam had called it the roadhouse, is about half full when they get there. They choose a booth for themselves and sit listening to all the discussions going on around them.

And they meat Jo.

Jo who's interested in Sam, who keeps smiling at him, while Sam seems to stay oblivious to the whole thing. It ticks Dean off. Sam's his alpha damn it. He may have no idea the status of their relationship and he's only just realized that he's attracted to Sam, but that doesn't change the fact that Sam belongs to him.

He ends up being rather unfriendly with her, and getting some odd looks from Sam for it. It leaves him pissed off with her, himself, and Sam. This was supposed to keep him and Sam from getting overly irritated as they wait to heal, but so far it's had rather the opposite effect on Dean.

Still, Ellen's nice enough, if rather overly amused at Dean's reactions to Jo, and Ash is a cool dude, and definitely an asset to any hunter, so it's not like the trip is a total bust. Dean will just have to concentrate on the positive aspects and wait out the irritating pieces. But can he really be blamed if all he really wants to do is get back out on the road again where it's just the two of them?

Dean's been really weird around Jo.

His brother Dean had flirted with her – which Sam certainly wasn't expecting this Dean to do – and when he stopped thinking of her as a potential lay he'd related to her as some strange mix of little sister, friend, and hunting protege. Sam was really expecting this Dean and this Jo to get along and how antagonistic they're being with each other is rather jarring, especially because Sam has no idea what's caused the hostility.

Still, cause aside, it's looking like leaving the roadhouse is probably the best option all round, which still leaves the question of how they're going to keep themselves occupied until they're fit to hunt again. Honestly Sam would rather like to spend the time catching up on all the differences between his world and this world – he's had enough of sudden surprises that the history here is different – but he's fairly sure that Dean would neither want to research with him nor want to find other things to occupy his time while Sam answers his questions about this world.

Sam's got no good ideas, so he does the sane thing and asks Dean if he's got a clue how they could spend their time.

Published: April 20, 2013