There But For Grace
Chapter Three
Episode 4 – Dead in the Water – Leaving Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin
It hadn't taken long after she had woken up, for Grace to realize that whatever had happened in Lake Manitoc, Dean had suffered. It was all there in the hunched shoulders and the quiet.
By the time the boys had got back from the lake, still slightly damp but no longer soaking wet thanks to Andrea, they were both exhausted. Grace had been pacing the motel room, gun tucked firmly into the waistband of her jeans, for the past half an hour. When she had finally woken up she had called Dean, following the rules initially laid down by John Winchester. It had always been to call Dean, never John, and Grace had accepted the rule without question, never stopping to consider why John employed that distancing technique when he had done so much for her in other ways.
To be diverted straight to answer phone hadn't worried her too much at first, but after quarter of an hour and still no answer at the end of the line, Grace began to get anxious. The only reason Dean wouldn't be taking her call would be because he really couldn't. And that would mean he was in some sort of trouble. When, another fifteen minutes after that, the two brothers staggered through the door, Grace was ready to go looking for them herself, despite her very vague knowledge as to what state she was in, let alone the town.
She didn't get the chance to demand an explanation before Dean spoke.
"Sorry, my phone's broken."
Grace nodded slowly as he walked past her, seeing that he clearly didn't want to say anything else about what had been going on. Sam sent her a sympathetic look, but was just as unwilling to share. They both stripped off their wet clothes before tumbling into bed, each asleep within minutes, a safety precaution nestled under their pillows.
Grace knew they would both be out of it until the morning and, in a perverse reversal of events, she was now the one who was awake, waiting on the others. She sighed, dug a hand in one of the pockets of Dean's jacket to extract a few bills, before shrugging on her own coat and leaving the room, locking it firmly behind her.
She killed an hour or so in a diner a couple of blocks down, drinking enough coffee to keep a normal person awake for days and eating her way through the meals she had missed while asleep. When she returned to the motel room, she found Sam had managed to throw off his blanket completely and bent down to cast it back over his spread-eagled body. Dean had his face buried into his pillow, one arm over the back of his head as if protecting himself from something.
Grace sighed and settled herself into a chair. Setting the tv on low, she resigned herself to a night of rubbish films and pointless quiz shows.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Grace went out again in the morning to buy the boys coffee, guessing how Sam took his having no idea what ratio of milk and sugar he required. When she returned, Sam was sitting up in bed, blinking sleepily. She handed him the cup and, as he didn't complain, guessed she had got close enough. She put Dean's on his bedside table; glancing down to check he was still asleep. Some time during the night he had turned away from the pillow and she could now clearly see the frown on his face, his lips tightly pressed together. Grace's brows drew together in imitation of his expression.
Looking up, she met Sam's eyes and gave a smile.
"Fancy sitting outside to drink these?" she held up her own coffee cup. "The sun's shining."
"Sure," Sam agreed, looking around for the jeans he had discarded the night before.
Grace left him to get at least partially dressed and went back outside to perch on the side of one the flower beds, taking a sip from her hot, black coffee. Minutes later Sam joined her. They were silent for some time, watching the comings and goings of the small town.
"Sam, what happened?" Grace eventually asked.
If he was surprised that Grace had finally shown some curiosity of what had happened while she slept, he didn't show it. Instead he gently explained about the people who had drowned mysteriously, about the boy, Peter Sweeney, who had disappeared thirty-five years ago, how Lucas had helped them find out what had happened, how it was Bill Carlton and Jake the Sheriff who had killed Peter and how Dean had managed to save Lucas, but no one could stop Peter's malevolent spirit taking the Sheriff.
Grace nodded slowly as Sam concluded the tale, beginning to understand why Dean was being so stand offish. Before they could talk about it, however, and Sam was curious as to how Grace would react, the door behind them swung open and Dean came out, coffee in hand. He was still frowning and he barely acknowledged their greetings. The three of them finished their drinks in silence.
As the day advanced and the warmth increased, Dean finally sighed and said that they should get going. The other two agreed and they returned to their room to pack.
Grace was last to leave the room and she glanced up to see Sam hesitantly saying something to Dean. She was too far away to hear what it was, but Dean's shoulders had tensed further still and it wasn't difficult to guess that Sam was offering some sort of placation for what had happened the day before, or that Dean didn't particularly want to be reminded of it.
Suddenly, both boys looked up and finally Dean's shoulders dropped as they saw whoever it was that was calling to them and walked over. Grace sighed and shouldered her bag, walking to the motel office to hand in their keys.
When she reached the car, Dean was sitting in the passenger's seat, talking to a boy of about ten.
"Alright, if you're gonna be talking now, this is a very important phrase, so I want you to repeat it one more time."
Taking the cue, the boy smiled and produced, "Zeppelin rules!" with great enthusiasm.
Grace couldn't help but laugh as she swung her bag into the trunk of the car.
"That's right. Up high," Dean was holding his hand up for the boy to high five him and Grace was glad to see him smiling. "You take care of your mom, ok?" he instructed more seriously.
The boy nodded. "Alright."
Dean smiled at him again and stood up to greet the boy's mother. Grace went to open the door behind the driver's seat, leaning on the impala's roof, waiting for the boys to say goodbye.
Acting as if on impulse, the woman lent forward and kissed Dean full on the lips. Just for the briefest of moments, but long enough to leave him confused.
"Thank you," she said, softly.
He stood still for a full minute, staring at her, the silence vaguely awkward. Grace caught Sam's eye and they both had to turn away to hide their smiles, Grace ducking into the car. Finally Dean moved, scratching the back of his head and walking around the back of the car to get into the driver's seat.
"Sam, move your ass. We're gonna run out of daylight before we hit the road."
He got in quickly and Sam followed suit, both of them leaning forward to exchange smiles and waves with the mother and child, before Dean started the car and pulled out of the car park.
There was silence in the car for about five minutes before Dean finally intercepted one of the amused glances Sam and Grace were exchanging.
"What?" he demanded, turning to look at his brother and sending Grace a fierce glance in the rear view.
"Nothing," she replied, smiling innocently. "Just they made you lunch, that's really sweet."
Dean sent her another look only to see her look change from innocence to unholy amusement.
"Oh, shut up," he mumbled irritably. He knew that for the next couple of hundred miles he would have to put up with the pair of them mocking him whenever they were given half a chance.
A/N: Did you like it? I think this was a very good Dean episode, that you get to see more of his character for the first time, so it's mostly on him. Also, I just like Dean :)