Tip-toeing out of the room, I shut the door carefully behind me. A slight chill in the hallway caused me to shiver but I just crossed my arms over my chest trying to keep the warmth in my sweatshirt. After the scene outside earlier, I could barely get any sleep. I kept picturing Crowley showing up again inside the motel room.
I paused in front of the room next to the one I was sharing with Charlie. I figured the other three were asleep when I didn't hear anything and continued down the hallway. I figured if I couldn't sleep I might as well enjoy a late night vending machine snack.
After walking a ways down the poorly lit hallway, I was disappointed to find there was already someone leaning against the wall across from the vending machine. I frowned at the slouching figure. Who else was even at this motel anyway? But then I recognized the flannel shirt and the dark brown hair.
"Sam?" I whispered.
He jumped and spun around, his eyes wide in shock until he noticed it was just me.
"Sorry!" I said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you!"
"It's fine," he said, taking a deep breath. "Couldn't sleep?"
I shook my head. "No. You either?"
"No," he answered, fidgeting with the can of Pepsi in his hand.
Everything Charlie had told me earlier started running through my head and I could feel my palms sweating. I cleared my throat uncomfortably and pushed those thoughts away.
"I'm sorry about Dean earlier."
"It's fine, you don't need to apologize for your brother. I get it, he's concerned." I crossed the three steps to the vending machine and put in my dollar, glad the stupid machine took it on the first attempt. "He seems to feel like he has to save everyone though."
"If you figured that out about him then you know everything you need to," Sam said half jokingly from his place against the wall.
I pushed the button for a Mountain Dew, realizing as I did so that the sugar would only keep me awake even longer. Grabbing the can that dropped, I popped open the tab and joined Sam.
"It seems like he's carrying more of a burden than he needs to," I told him.
Sam shrugged. "He always has."
"What about you?" I asked, looking up at him. "Earlier it looked like there was a lot going on in there," I said, gesturing to his head.
Sam suddenly became fixated on a spot on the carpet, running the toe of his shoe over the spot continuously. "It's sort of a long story," he said awkwardly.
"Bobby told me quite a bit," I admitted, causing Sam to look up at the mention of his deceased friend. "I knew him too," I said when I noticed the interest on his face. "He talked a lot about you and Dean. He told me all about what happened to you when you were, you know, in Hell."
He turned his attention back to the spot on the ground again. There was a long pause where neither of us said anything but continued to sip on our unhealthy drinks.
"It just brought a lot of memories back," Sam finally said, breaking the silence.
I knew what he meant. Crowley mentioning Lucifer, and mentioning how he had once been inside Sam when he dragged him back into Hell and put him in that cage, there was no way it hadn't brought up some bad memories. It had been quite obvious something was going on with him in the parking lot.
I remembered everything Bobby had told me about Sam back then. I had always secretly thought he was the most selfless human being to sacrifice himself like that for the sake of humanity. Enduring all of that torture of being hog-tied to Satan himself for a world full of people that had no idea what he was doing? That was admirable beyond words.
"We won't let Abaddon undo what you did," I assured him.
He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. "Charlie is right, we really don't talk about many cheerful things."
I laughed at the observation because it was true. We only ever seemed to talk about hunts and catastrophic situations.
"I don't think I even know anything cheerful to talk about," Sam admitted guiltily.
"Oh come on!" I teased playfully, enjoying the smile that suddenly lit up his face. "All that time hunting with your brother and you don't have any funny stories to tell?"
Sam chuckled. "You're right. I guess we do have our moments. Not like we used to though." He let out a sigh and his smile faltered, but the grin came back a moment later, accompanied by a distant look in his eyes. "We used to have prank wars back when we first started hunting together again. It was so stupid," he admitted, the smile on his face becoming infectious. "I remember crazy gluing his hand to a beer bottle because he poured itching powder on one of my shirts. I thought I was just allergic to the motel soap."
I started laughing at the thought. "I take it you guys haven't done that in awhile?"
"Pranked each other? No. Things have been pretty crazy the last few years. There's been a lot of tension between us with everything that's happened."
"I can't even imagine what that all must have been like."
"So what about you?" Sam asked curiously, purposely changing the subject.
"Me?"
He smiled encouragingly. "Yeah, you've got to have some interesting stories to tell, right?"
"My stories generally consist of me embarrassing myself with Garth at a bar," I told Sam. "He likes to celebrate after we finish a hunt."
"Let me guess, you get easily embarrassed doing drunk karaoke?" Sam teased.
I playfully slapped his shoulder. "So I'm not nearly as exciting as crazy gluing body parts to alcoholic beverages, give me a break!"
"Don't let Dean know you embarrass easily," Sam warned me, "because he'll try to at every opportunity he can."
"I don't embarrass that easily," I said in my defense.
Sam stopped mid-grin as if struck by a thought. "How do you feel about a late night swim?"
I eyed him suspiciously. "You mean here?"
"Yeah. I noticed an indoor pool earlier. It's probably closed now but it's not like either of us isn't capable of breaking and entering."
"Indoor motel swimming pools just scream disease infestation," I said half jokingly.
He shrugged and shot me a devious look. "Live a little."
I bit my lip, contemplating the idea. "What the hell," I said after a moment. "I can't sleep anyway."
Smiling wide, he pushed off the wall and started making his way down the hall at a fast pace, glancing over his shoulder back towards me. "You coming?"
"My legs don't move as fast as your giant ones!" I called after him in a harsh whisper.
Just as we had suspected, the room to the pool was locked, but of course as Sam had said, it didn't stop us. It only added a minute's delay. Sam downed the rest of his drink as we entered before smashing the can in his hand and tossing it into a bin nearby. He pulled off his shirt and began kicking out of his jeans and I figured I should follow suit before he caught me staring.
Once I had stripped down to my bra and underwear, I was freezing even more. Sam had already jumped in and was resurfacing now, wiping hair from his face and shooting me a grin.
"It's actually warm," he called out to me, his voice echoing off the walls.
"I swear if you're lying, Winchester," I warned him with an empty threat.
He splashed water towards the edge of the pool where I was standing, but it missed by a few feet.
"Just jump in already!"
Figuring it was better to jump in than stand there half naked any longer, I ran the few steps forward and jumped in, splashing Sam in the process. He wasn't lying about the water being warm.
"I can't even remember the last time I've been in a pool," I admitted as I pushed wet strands of hair from my face.
"Sometimes when we aren't in the middle of a case Dean and I will jump in one. But usually as an after hours thing," Sam said as he made his way over towards me in the water.
"So breaking and entering is a normal occurrence for you?" I teased him.
"Something like that," he said, reaching out to push a strand of hair I had missed from my face.
I could immediately feel my heart hammering in my chest when I realized we were both standing in a pool, alone, half naked.
"You should relax like this more often," Sam said gently.
"So should you," I replied breathlessly.
It happened so suddenly that it took my brain a moment to register his lips were on mine. When I did, I responded immediately to the kiss, our mouths in sync, until he pulled away.
A worried expression was on his face. "I shouldn't have done that, I don't know what came over me, I'm sorry—"
"Don't apologize."
I pulled his mouth back to mine, not sure what had come over me, but I wasn't ready for this moment to end. He didn't pull away this time and instead placed a hand on the back of my neck to pull me closer. Without breaking the kiss he started moving us towards the edge of the pool until I felt my back hit the tiled wall. The surprise of it made me gasp.
Sam pulled away just barely, a smile on his face, but something caught his eye over my shoulder. "Shit, lobby attendant. Run for it!"
The two of us jumped out of the pool grabbing our clothes and a towel before sprinting out of the pool room and down the hallway to our rooms. The lobby attendant was calling after the two of us but he didn't bother to pursue. When we finally reached our hotel room doors we were out of breath and dripping all over the horrible carpet. A chill ran down my spine and goosebumps broke out over my skin as I suddenly realized how cold I was.
"I'll see you in the morning," I said with a devious grin before opening the door to my room and slipping inside.
Charlie was sound asleep in her bed and I hurried to wrap the towel around myself. I really didn't want her to catch me after Sam and mine's late night rendezvous. I could only imagine what she'd have to say about it.
Changing into dryer clothing, I hid my wet clothes in the bathroom hoping they would be dry before she woke up and discovered them. I crawled into bed after and enjoyed the warmth of the blankets. Rolling onto my side, I closed my eyes and tried to clear images of Sam from my mind until I eventually fell asleep.