Sam Winchester bit his lip in empathy as he heard Dean turn over in his bed for what seemed like the 50th time that night. Ever since coming back from Purgatory a few weeks ago, Dean seemed hyper-vigilant all the time, constantly on alert and never letting his guard down. The exhaustion was getting to his brother, he knew. But Dean just couldn't seem to get more than 2 hours of sleep a night.
Whether it was the sound of a passing truck, or the wind snapping a branch outside of their motel window, Dean would startle awake almost instantly, leading Sam to wonder if his brother was getting any sleep at all. He would try to settle his senses down and go back to sleep, but after a few fruitless hours of tossing and turning, he would go out for a run. He would return when the sun was just cresting the skyline, hoping not to wake his "sleeping" brother. Sam pretended his was still sleeping, then "wake up" when his brother was in the shower. But Sam was already awake, worrying and waiting for Dean to come back.
So went their new routine.
As if on cue, Dean snapped awake, his hand snaking underneath his pillow for the knife Sam knew he kept their. As Dean completed his customary scan of the room, Sam heard him sigh in relief when he found they were still alone. He slipped the knife back under his pillow, exhaling heavily as he did so. He rubbed a hand over his face, then turned to get out of bed.
Gathering his sweats from his duffel next to his bed, he pulled them on silently, then slipped a t-shirt over his head, one that Sam noted used to seem bigger on him. But the shirt now outlined his well sculpted physique. After putting on his shoes, he moved to the door. He stealthily opened the door, turning back and glancing at Sam before heading off into the dark for his nightly run.
After Dean had left, Sam sat up and put his legs over the edge of the hard hotel mattress. They couldn't keep doing this; Dean couldn't keep doing this. Ever since coming back, they'd been hunting nonstop at Dean's insistence. But one of these days, his brother was gonna keel over from fatigue, or worse, not be fast enough to outrun his seemingly routine brushes with death.
