Nothing Else Matters
Chapter Four: Getting to know you
.o0o.
He held the door open for her like a gentleman and she snickered as they headed for the back booth.
Sam experienced an amused moment of confusion when his companion rushed passed him to grab the seat against the wall but he shrugged it off and slid onto the vinyl bench. A moment later the waitress popped up beside them with a wide smile for the girl across from him. Margie wasn't working nights, instead they were met by a woman in her late thirties with red hair Sam was almost sure wasn't natural.
"Hey Toni" Kim said returning the smile, only less obnoxiously.
"Kimmy, not getting yourself into trouble still are you?"
The woman's voice was thick as honey and she delighted in the blush that spread over the girls face.
"Storm into a Sheriff's office once and they'll never let you live it down." Kim muttered with a shy grin.
Sam felt the side of his mouth pull into a smile as Toni laughed outright. "Oh honey you are a card!"
Then her attention turned to him and he straightened in his seat. She was eyeing him like a side of beef.
"Well now, who do we have here?"
"Oh" Kim gestured slightly to Sam "This is Agent Young, he's just questioning me about my brother over diner."
Toni's eyes glittered in some repressed emotion "Agent?" She nodded in understanding but Sam caught her narrowing gaze. He filed that away for later and ordered the least unhealthy thing off the menu, Kim following suit.
The two fell into conversation after the woman wandered off to tack their order up.
"So your partner… he back at the motel?" Kim asked stripping her straw before plunking it into her sweet tea.
Sam nodded his jaw flexing. "Yeah, I'll uh… I'll get him something to go later."
"I could sense a bit of tension between you two back at the pit" she hedged, but decided against prying. "Well, better to let sleeping dogs lie or whatever." She waved her hand and took a pull from her drink.
He was glad she'd dropped that line of dialogue.
She seemed unassuming but he had a feeling she was sharper than people gave her credit for.
He steered the talk back her way. "So ah, tell me about your brother, Kevin was it?"
Kim ducked her head once and folded her hands on the table top like a little kid would, leaning up against them while swinging her feet below.
"Kevin Dalton Reid" she beamed "Like that movie Roadhouse."
Sam grinned at her obvious affection for the man.
Then her smile shifted and there was an underlying sadness she had hidden away.
"He really wouldn't just run off Sam" her sudden seriousness hit him in the gut.
"He loves Lisa more than his own life and, it wouldn't worry me so much if he was with her…but this is different. I mean he does love to roam but my brother is a man of principles. He has this… creed he lives by and he wouldn't throw it away like it was nothing."
He watched her shred a napkin as she struggled to make him understand and he could almost feel it across the narrow space between them. She reminded him of someone else just then and he frowned deeply.
Swallowing hard he leveled her with his curious stare.
"You know, earlier you seemed… less than forthcoming about family?"
Kim sighed heavily, meeting his eye with a frown of her own.
"Family… family doesn't always mean loyalty." She pushed out uncomfortably.
Sam's eyebrows went up and "I know" was out before he had a moment to think.
She held his gaze, her own shining with understanding, and he let the sudden tension fall from his shoulders with a sigh.
"Well, anyway Kevin, he may have his faults like anyone, but he's a good guy. So much better than me…"
Then she smiled sweetly catching him off guard. "He has his angel watching over him."
Sam gave her that clueless look and she blushed.
"Well, don't tell her I said that, Lisa's awesome but she can have a bit of an ego." Kim coughed out a discomfited laugh, making Sam chuckle.
The girl swirled her straw through the ice in her glass, thinking hard.
"My family was strong, once. My Granddad held all of us together, like glue."
She sat back, crossing her arms over herself. "After he died, everything began falling apart. No one came around anymore, holidays or not. Then my Grandmother had a stroke, my Uncle committed suicide." She took a shaky breath. "Kevin, he was always gone, Mom was a mess and then Dad… it sort of crumbled like wet sand." She picked at the napkin again, absentmindedly.
"What about you?"
"Me" she asked arching her brow. He was taken aback by the sardonic smirk that darkened her eyes. It was eerie how two people could be so similar.
"I stayed and cleaned up the mess like always." Kim said finally pushing the mutilated paper aside with a huff. "I took care of Mom until she remarried after Dad died. It didn't take long. She likes being taken care of so she found me a step-dad pretty quick. Kevin hated it, but it was her way." She shrugged and Sam frowned. It sounded messed up. Even normal families had crap dragging them down.
"Yeah my, ah… my grandfather kind of betrayed us, left me and my brother for dead."
Kim shook her head. "Family man…" They laughed, releasing them from the weight of the exchange.
He appreciated that she understood so well and didn't offer platitudes like others might.
"You remind me of my brother."
It came out unintentionally and he sucked in a breath, holding it.
Kim looked at him strangely for a moment and said softly. "I hope that's a good thing."
Sam's eyes dipped to the table, then back up. "It is" the serious tone impressed his meaning and she shared her smile with him.
The mood lifted and he felt lighter than he had in a long while.
There was a momentary lapse as their food came out and they busied themselves with unrolling utensils and pouring ketchup. As Kim shook salt and dribbled honey over her mashed potatoes Sam's brow shot up.
"What?" She asked forking up the doctored spuds.
"That's disgusting."
She swallowed the mess and pointed her fork at him. "You haven't tried Carl's naked potatoes yet so don't judge."
Sam eyed his food warily making her laugh.
They ate slowly, letting the conversation flow in a companionable air that felt easy and normal. He was enjoying it, he found, and it surprised him. He didn't think he'd be …okay again for some time after Amelia and everything. It was nice. Especially when she didn't react to the salt he spilled over her hand.
Cardboard mashed potatoes and demon tests aside, the food was pretty good and Kim insisted on a plate of peach cobbler to share between them, reminding him to order Dean something to go.
Sam had taken a bite of the sweet concoction and nearly groaned aloud when Kim shifted in her seat, biting her lip worriedly.
"Can I ask you something?"
Sam nodded "Yeah, of course."
She leaned forward and dropped her voice. "As an FBI agent… is there any way you could check the data base for my brother?"
"Do what?" He was floored by the turn; it was so out of left field.
Kim closed her eyes as if working up to something big.
"Look, I'm taking a chance here and trusting you because you seem like the type to be …circumspect about this..." She rubbed her forehead.
"There have been some people, Veterans mostly, that have become discouraged by the way this country is being run, and they haven't been real quiet with their disapproval. Kevin… is kind-of like that."
She frowned, hesitant in spilling such a secret to a stranger.
"He's outspoken about this stuff… and he told me, well he implied, that they might just come after him, the government agencies I mean. Is there… anyway you could check, without tipping them off?"
Sam sat back, honestly shocked by her confession. It was a definite first for him.
He noticed the worried look on her face and spoke, thankful for his quick mind.
"I… They tend to keep that kind of thing pretty close to the vest Kim. I'm sorry, I just don't think…"
She held up a hand and shook her head. "It's fine Sam. Thanks anyway, it was stupid of me to ask."
She was totally serious about this.
"Was he part of a militia or something?"
Kim's eyes widened "No!"
Heads turned their way and she blushed, looking out the diner windows. Sam nodded an apology to the other patrons, looking back to her only when they'd turned away.
Kim looked sheepish. "It's nothing like that Sam" she said in a near whisper.
"He's not doing anything unconstitutional; he was in the military and takes that very seriously. He just teaches people survival skills now. I know it's a little 'Conspiracy Theory', but I'm desperate here."
She huffed out a laugh and his brow furrowed. She was getting under his skin and he didn't know what to think about that.
Giving her an out he changed the subject.
"Is that where you learned to read hand signals?"
She smiled and he ignored the moisture on her lashes.
"You must be pretty close, you and your brother." He said after a long pause that had them clearing their shared desert from the plate.
Kim's eyes became rather melancholy.
"He practically raised me the first five or six years. Mom worked two jobs, Dad was a trucker and always gone, so it was just the two of us. He did a crappy job of it too." She smiled remembering something.
"Can you imagine a barefoot four year old stumbling through the woods while her older brother tried his best to lose her without losing her?" She chuckled, her eyes dancing. "All the times he protected me, taught me to say please and thank you, ma'am and sir… he even named me when I was born."
Sam sat up in his seat with a grin "Really?"
Kim nodded "Mom was all set to name me Jessica Rene but Kevin didn't like it at all."
Sam looked at her oddly but she wasn't paying any attention to it. Her eyes were far away in her memories. "He wanted us to have partially similar initials I guess. So I was named Kimberly Deanne Sawyer."
"D… Deanne?" Sam coughed, taking a sip from his water glass. She was really starting to freak him out.
"Wait, did you say Sawyer?"
Kim nodded "Yeah, my brother and I are half siblings. Mom's had quite a few husbands, like I said."
Sam watched her as she went back to swirling her half melted ice in her glass. It was puzzling but she just didn't give off any bad vibes.
"So, you mentioned a brother earlier, he older or younger?"
Sam let his lips spread into that slow smile of his. "Older" he said with a nod. "Like your brother, he always took care of me growing up."
He fiddled with the coffee cup that had come full with the cobbler, but was now only dregs.
Kim didn't pry at his sudden frown, only saying "For all that they can still be a pain in the ass."
She grinned impishly as he laughed deeply.
Toni strode up after that and Sam took the Styrofoam container from her gently with a smile, then paid at the register, following Kim back out into the night.
"Hey can I ask you something?" He asked with his hands in his pockets; take-out bag dangling from his wrist.
Kim gave him a nod and he let out the breath he was holding.
"What really set the alarm bells off for you?"
She tilted her head to the side as if considering whether or not to answer.
The two meandered in the direction of the motel more than taking a direct course and had just reached the median before she answered.
"That stuff I told you about before?" She waved her hand back at the diner and grimaced. "He… It sounds stupid, I know, but he sent me this text…" She dug out a phone from her pocket. "We sort-of have this code, for when we're in trouble or whatever… avoiding mom, stuff like that, it's supposed to look innocuous."
She showed him her phone and he immediately recognized the lat and longitude. Glancing up at her she nodded, pointing. "It's for here, just outside of town. 'Ford-Ville' means a piece of crap town, like the truck." She rolled her eyes. "But 'Dodge' means that something happened, you know 'get out of dodge'. He was running from something. I have no idea what 'black eyes' means though."
Sam handed the phone back, tamping down the anxiety so as not to spook her. Black eyes meant something to him. He needed to tell Dean.
"Something scared him" Kim said quietly, a frown creasing her brow, "Enough to send a panic inducing message to me and no one else."
.o0o.
Sam stepped into the motel room and was met by Dean, sprawled out on a bed, papers all around and Zeppelin blaring from Sam's laptop speakers.
Letting out an annoyed huff, Sam shut the door, crossing the room to set the take-out bag down and hit the escape button, killing the music.
Dean's head popped up as he shifted onto his elbow "Dude?"
Sam's brow arched in a distant relation to the bitch-face as he pushed the bag into view.
"Dude" Dean smiled, bouncing up to attack the bag.
Sam grabbed his travel kit and ducked into the bathroom, listening to the plastic rustling.
"Alright Sammy, you even got me pie!"
The corners of Sam's mouth lifted and he could almost fool himself that they didn't have this chasm between them for the moment.
He sat the kit down, walking back into the room as Dean set in to devour his burger, sitting on the table rather than in the chair.
"So… I ran into Kim at the diner." He lagged when Dean sent him a smirk.
He shook his head "Anyway, it looks like a legit abduction. The way she talks, he wouldn't have just bolted. Sounds a lot like you actually." Dean stared at him and he shrugged.
"Also… they have this code."
Dean's brow shot up.
"Yeah" Sam said resting his weight on one foot as he crossed his arms. "Apparently Kevin Reid is a gun toting, government conspiracy theorist. He teaches survival skills to small groups of people, and stockpiles canned goods."
Dean snorted, muttering something about toilet paper but Sam ignored him.
"He's ex-military, Dad always gone, Mom working two jobs… Dean, they basically grew up the same way we did, just without all the blood and monsters."
Dean frowned, wiping ketchup from his lips with a napkin.
"Anyway, Kevin sends his little sister, the kid he practically raised, an SOS style text just before he goes missing."
Dean could see Sam working himself up and put down his mostly gone burger.
"So what did the message say?"
Sam sighed "The lat and lange for nowhere Stonewater, a warning to get out of dodge and 'black eyes' tagged on at the end."
"Shit" Dean stood, rubbing his bottom lip. "Why the hell would demons be snatching lone travelers?"
Sam shook his head "No clue. It's something to go on at least. Kim's not too gung-ho on sharing because she thinks we're FBI."
Dean began pacing "I don't have to tell you how weird that sound's" His eyes narrowed in on his brother's face.
"So what, we tell her what we do? Give her the whole truth is out there speech?" He gestured with his hand and gawked at his pointed look.
"Sam, come on…"
Sam sat in one of the creaky chairs, resting his left forearm on the table top, his other on his knee.
"It could do nothing but help at this point."
"Just a few hours ago you wanted to shoo her away!"
Sam shifted nervously, picking at the peeling corner of the surface before him. "That was before…"
Dean's sour face came into play then. "What, before your little heart to heart at the diner?"
"She can handle it Dean" Sam cut in, his gaze locking with his brother's stubbornly. Then his eyes softened to pleading "Look, I just think it would benefit all of us if we went into this with eyes open. You said so yourself, that she wouldn't give up."
"Why are you doing this Sam? Why is this so important to you now?"
Sam's jaw clenched as he stared at the ground, swallowing at the lump in his throat. Finally he forced himself to meet Dean's eye "Because I didn't do it for you."
Dean's face fell to a stoic mask as Sam pressed on.
"I'm sorry Dean. I'm sorry I didn't look for you. I'm sorry I just gave up."
His eyes were heavy with unshed tears. "I want to help this girl find her brother and I don't want to lie anymore, about anything. I want us…" He swallowed hard, "I want us to be the way we were, before purgatory, before… before yellow eyes."
Dean saw the raw pain in his brother's eyes. His chest hurt and the words flooded his mouth but he didn't say them, he couldn't. That year of running for his life, of fighting and blood and death, no sleep or food, just kill or be killed only to crawl out into a world where his brother, the only family he had left, just walked away. The truth as he saw it was that Sam didn't care enough about him to even try and find him and now he wanted to be family?
Dean's jaw pulsed with his teeth chewing those words Sam so wanted to hear. He couldn't… it was too much. He only shook his head, grabbing his keys off the dresser before leaving the room without a word.
The Impala's engine fired to life behind the closed motel room door and Sam blinked, tears falling, chest heavy as he stared at the untouched pie across from him.
.o0o.
Somewhere around three a.m. Dean finally stumbled back in to the oppressive silence of the motel room.
He stared long at the back of his sleeping brother, then sighed, rubbing his face. He barely had mind enough to toe off his boots before collapsing onto the bed, scattering papers everywhere.
Once his snores permeated the quiet Sam finally closed his eyes and drifted off.
A/N: Yet again a longer chapter. The boy's really seem to be white knuckling it around this season don't you think? I have no idea why I picked it to write my story in but I hope it is being received well. I see shadows of season one and two in this story so I hope the characterizations are keeping true.
'Til next time.