R | SPN | Stranger Things Have Happened 2/2
Andie had become fairly accustomed to the job. She understood that there were really fucking strange things out there and she was finally comfortable with ghosts because it just took a bullet of rock salt or iron to remove them - albeit temporarily, she at least liked that there was a quick answer. Werewolves kind of scared her because they’re vicious and have crazy nails and teeth, and one was pretty close to scratching up her face and biting down on her jugular. The tulpa they saw back in Nebraska wasn’t fun, but she knew they weren’t that likely to run into another one any time soon. But really? Vampires kind of made her really excited. The idea that there were so many versions of these things in TV, movies, books, the internet, and then they really did exist? It was pretty awesome, and she’d felt that way when Sam first told her they were real. So when he told her he thought that’s what was attacking people near a golf course in a Denver suburb, she was actually pretty damned stoked.
Sam had pulled the car into a dead end street, and they were at the trunk to gather up their arsenal. Andie carried a gun just in case and a knife coated in dead man’s blood. She wasn’t really keen on the idea of beheading anything at the moment, so she left the machete to Sam. Who was strangely comfortable with it. But whatever, she was happy to let him do it.
“Okay, you know what to do, right?” he asked carefully as they approached the golf course.
She frowned a little because they had been over it a dozen times. “Yeah, I’ll run to draw him out and you’ll be out on the edge of the course.”
“You good to go?”
She smirked. “Of course.”
Sam looked down on her. “Be safe.” She nodded and he leaned in for a quick peck. As he jogged away, he aimed his hand back at her. “Be fast.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she chuckled then headed out towards the third hole, the knife and gun both hidden within her inside jacket pockets. She followed the rough grass until it met with the greens and kept her eyes and ears open, not seeing or hearing anything. Her heart pumped something mean because not only was she bait for a freaking vampire, but also because she couldn’t get over there actually was a freaking vampire. This was crazy.
With her head down to pretend she wasn’t paying much attention, she headed off towards the fourth hole because she sensed someone nearby and wanted to keep moving, and keep them following. Soon enough, brush moved behind her and she started walking faster. Once she heard hard footsteps she took off, top speed across the green and on her way to the fifth hole. It followed nearly as quickly. She approached a sandtrap and attempted to leap across the thing, but she missed it by a few inches, her toes snagging at the edge. As she tumbled to the ground, it grabbed onto her ankle. She kicked back, got the knife out of her pocket, and stabbed its arm. When the hand released her, she took off, praying for Sam to show up at any minute because she knew she'd stabbed it pretty well, but not enough to stop it. She continued to weave through the course until she came upon another hole and another sandtrap.
That was when it caught up, tackling her into the sand face first. It fought her left hand down into the sand to drop the knife, which she had to do with the sudden pain in her knuckles and wrist against the ground. She clenched her right hand, pivoted and landed a punch right between the eyes, knocking the very top of its nose. She jumped up as it fell back, cradling its face, and she heard a gruff “Son of a bitch.”
And then she stopped. “Dean?”
“What the hell?”
“Oh my God.”
“Try again,” he grumbled before finally looking at her. “Andie?”
She stooped down and he motioned a hand forward, tossing holy water in her face. She tried to restrain herself and realize that he probably had good reason to do that. Didn’t make it any easier. She stared at him. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“I think you broke my nose.” She instantly heard the nasally tone to his voice, and she smirked a little. Because she probably had in fact done that. Sam had taught her well in the last few months and her aim had already been pretty good and fast. “What’re you doing here?”
“We’re tracking a vampire. What’re you doing here?”
“The same.”
“You were chasing me.”
Dean started to move into a sitting position, one hand still on his nose. “Yeah, I got that now.” Then he looked at his shoulder where blood was staining his jacket. “You stabbed me.”
“Lemme see that.” She reached for him, but he flinched back. “Dean, seriously.”
He relented but stared at her oddly. “What’re you doing out here?”
“I just told you.”
“No, I mean you.”
“Did I hit you so hard your brain broke?”
“Why are you with Sam out here?”
She finally stared at him and saw how strange he looked. Aside from the dark marks already forming on his face from her punch, he was so confused to see her right then. “Funny story.” She kneeled, leaning back on her haunches. “He wanted to look for you, and in the middle of it, we just started hunting.”
“Oh, hell no. You are not hunting together.”
“What does it look like?”
“Cristo,” he said carefully.
“What?”
“Nevermind.”
Andie looked around the golf course then tried to help Dean stand up. “I don’t know where the hell he is.”
“I thought you said he wouldn’t hunt anymore?”
She stopped and watched him, how he was keeping a strong face but there was underlying worry there. “He wanted to start again.”
“You were supposed to keep him safe. That’s why I left. Because he’d be safe.”
Andie snorted. “Yeah, bad plan. He was miserable without you.”
And that’s when their attention was stolen long enough that a vampire suddenly tackled her to the ground. Dean tried to get into the mix, but actually saw that she flipped back up to her feet and swung the knife pretty expertly, trying to peg the vampire with the poisoned blade. Dean’s vision was still fuzzy and watery from the pain and tears and all that, so he wasn’t totally capable, but he swung forward with his own knife, which made the vampire flinch back closer to Andie and she finally dug her knife into its back. It fell to its knees with a painful shout, feeling the poison course through its veins. They stood over it, making sure it didn’t have a miraculous recovery while it was mostly immobile but twitching just so.
“Fuck,” she whispered, more in awe of the whole thing than actually being scared. There was a fucking vampire at her feet.
“Andie!” Sam called as he came running up, thinking another vampire was right alongside her. But he stopped short when he realized it was his brother. “Jesus Christ.”
“Not quite, Sammy.”
Andie smirked, “Look what I found.”
Sam didn’t move but just stared, breathing hard from chasing the vampire across the last two holes. “What the - what happened to your face?”
“Your girlfriend’s got a mean punch. You teach her something?”
Sam’s voice went wondrous, like he still couldn’t believe he was facing his brother. “Dean.”
He held a stoic face but there was emotion in his voice. “Yeah.”
“I don’t mean to halt the reunion, but there’s a half-frozen vamp at my feet,” Andie said. They both looked to her, then at the ground.
Dean motioned to his arm and the cut. “Well, I’m out of commission for the big blade. Andie? You seem to wield a mean knife,” he smirked.
“Uh, no. Sam does all big-time carving.”
Sam looked again to his brother. “What happened to your arm?”
“She stabbed me.”
He stared at her with big eyes. “Andie.”
“I thought he was a vampire. He was chasing me!”
“Yeah, ‘cause I thought you were the vampire.”
“Well, I’m obviously not. This one is and it needs to be decapped.”
Dean and Andie looked at Sam, who then looked down to the vampire. He had never been entirely comfortable with decapitating vampires - he’d only ever taken out Gordon and that was after repeated attempts at his life - but a lot had changed in the last year or so, and he realized the only other option was Andie. And there was no way he would let her get into something that bad. “Yeah, alright,” he sighed. “You guys go back to the car. I’ll be there in a minute.”
*
The ride back to the hotel had been pretty silent, Andie steering the way while Sam constantly looked in the rear view mirror to make sure there was a second Impala behind them. She wanted to say something, anything. On one hand, she was high as a kite with the determination that yes, vampires really did exist. Also, Sam and Andie had fallen into a pattern of screwing as soon as they got back to the hotel (or at the very least making out), fired up with adrenaline from finishing the hunt. She wasn’t sure how that would happen with Dean there. But really? They’d just found Dean! There should be rejoicing and hugs and drinking and laughter. Instead they got Sam’s annoyed, pouty face. One she hadn’t seen in so long and kind of hated seeing right then.
Sam didn’t move when she parked in front of their room. She looked beyond him to see the ’67 parked a few spots over. It wasn’t like Dean didn’t follow through on his promise to follow, so Sam didn’t have reason to pout. Her eyes went to Sam, but they were still quiet.
When she spotted Dean nearing the room, she frowned at Sam.”You okay?”
His eyes dipped down to his hands, holding his phone. “I should call Bobby. Tell him we got Dean.”
Andie nodded and tried to smile, tried to make it seem normal. “Yeah, no problem.”
When her hand stroked the side of his face, he flinched slightly then looked at her. He gave a pained smile, like it took every bit of energy to pretend it was okay.
She leaned over the console and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be inside.” Then smirked with a humorous tone, “Make sure he don’t run off again, ya know?”
Sam reluctantly smiled.
Once Andie was out of the car and heading towards the door, Dean gruffed out, “What’s with him?”
“He’s calling Bobby.”
Dean groaned. “Great. Nothing like tattling on your big brother.”
She frowned and patted a hand at his back. “Just wants him to know you’re safe.”
He looked back at the car while she unlocked the door and they both entered the room. “He okay?”
“I don’t know. I thought he’d be shitting rainbows for you.” He shot her an odd glance and she shrugged out of her jacket.
Andie landed on the far side of one of the beds, folding her arms beneath her head and closing her eyes. To rest, and also to wait for whatever would happen.
Dean freshened up in the bathroom, all the while ignoring the pain in his shoulder, set on washing his hands, splashing water on his face, and taking a few seconds to the mirror before doing anything else. He winced with fingers on his nose and found pain as he tried to move it back into place. And he winced again when he tried to pull his jacket off. Andie appeared behind him and held the jacket so he could ease out of it.
“Thought you were sleeping,” he grumbled while he slowly slid his arm out, the one she had stabbed with the knife.
“Someone’s groaning kept me up.” Their eyes met in the mirror and she smiled gently. She looked down to her hands on his jacket and she asked, “Where’ve you been?”
He continued to watch her. Her voice had been so low and concerned, he was a little startled by it. “Just working.”
“You couldn’t answer his calls?” The sad face she held was too much for him and he left the bathroom. She followed him and nudged him to sit. “Let me look at your shoulder.”
He shrugged away from her. “I’m fine.”
“I doubt it.”
“You’re just going to give me the world’s greatest guilt trip.”
Her voice came easy and almost playful. “I promise to not look at you while I do it.”
Dean flashed a look to her and finally sat at the table, tugging the sleeve of his t-shirt up so she could see the wound. She grabbed some items from the bathroom and a bag of supplies to start cleaning it up, and then dropped a bottle of beer in front of him. Which he opened promptly and drank from. His tone went flat to disguise how he really felt about the situation. “You said you two wound up together.”
“That I did,” she said idly while moving his sleeve further over and grabbing a few things from the table.
“I wanted him to have that.”
She kept any sarcastic comments to herself because she could tell how hard it was for him to say that.
He winced when she wiped a wet cloth a little too hard on the wound. He shot her a hard stare. “That hurts, ya know?”
“I’m trying to get the other blood out. Man up,” she smirked.
“Yeah, alright,” Dean muttered. He took a long swig of beer and considered that while Andie was never his favorite person and while she was still being sarcastic, there was something else there. Like she was trying to hedge the attitude and be a bit cordial. It almost made it harder for him to not fight back about the topic.
She applied isopropyl alcohol and eventually some Neosporin, and his eyebrows rose at that. Throughout their hunting days, they hardly used anything more than alcohol - real liquor - to clean any injuries. That Neosporin was definitely her idea, and he wondered what else she and Sam did at her suggestion. Her quiet voice broke his thoughts, “He was really bad at first. But things got better once we were out here.” Dean took another sip, not wanting to interrupt but also not really knowing what to say. “Lately? He’s been … fun.”
“Sammy? Fun?” he chuckled low. “That kid hates clowns and loves libraries.”
Her voice went playful. “Well I think he’s been fun. I’ve liked being here.”
His arm flinched when she swiped Neosporin-laced cotton swabs at the wound. “I still can’t believe you’re here.”
“Yeah, well. Some days, me neither.”
Dean spoke low against the top of his bottle. “You ain’t so bad at it.”
“Why, Dean Winchester. That a compliment you just threw into your beer?”
That’s when the door popped open. Andie glanced at Sam with a small smile and Dean looked up to him. Sam’s mouth twitched for a tiny, uncomfortable smile as he passed them and dropped his bag and jacket onto the bed. Then he went to the bathroom and stayed there for quite a while - longer than would really be necessary.
Dean looked up at her as she looked down, then he glanced at the bathroom. “Awkward,” he mumbled.
She smirked and tried to hide her laughter, instead snorting. When she looked down on his shoulder, she frowned a little. “This looks pretty bad.” Dean turned to see it and his jaw tensed. “I’m sorry,” Andie quickly added with a careful voice. When he just nodded and went back to his beer, she sighed, almost happily, because he wasn’t going to rag on her for it and seemed to accept her apology.
Though he did fuss when she pushed a bandage against his collarbone and started to tape it down. “Gentle,” he grunted. “Think you might need some sensitivity training.”
As she finished up the tape and rubbed careful fingers over the dressing, she joked, “Pot calling kettle black, no?”
When Sam came from the bathroom, Andie fully turned to him and Dean shifted enough to see Sam from the corner of his eye.
“Can I talk to you outside for a minute?” Sam asked, a little tense.
She looked down on Dean then back to Sam, who was staring at her. She nodded. “Yeah, of course.”
As they passed Dean she again glanced at him and smiled awkwardly. Sam’s voice was flat when he stopped at the door and looked at the ground just in front of his brother. “You should probably call Bobby.”
Dean knew that even if Sam had told the man what was going on, Bobby deserved to hear his voice. “Yeah.”
Once the door closed, Sam walked closer to her, but kept some distance. She crossed her arms and just watched. He was the one being weird, she’d let him continue like that. “You okay?” Sam asked.
Her eyebrows folded down. “Me?”
“Yeah, from the vampire?”
She smirked a little at that, because it was still pretty awesome that she fought and took down a vampire. “I’m fine. You’re the one with the newly reunited brother. What’s wrong?”
His eyes set downward and his lips pursed. She knew he was struggling right then, but she didn’t know how to ease it. “I don’t know what to do here.”
“What?”
Sam shrugged and stuttered and his hands went out in the air. He was so uncomfortable and unsure of himself that he didn’t know what to do. “He just … ditched me. And what? I act like nothing happened?”
Andie moved forward with a hand towards him, but he shuffled away. “Sam,” she tried with a comforting voice. “If you don’t want to act like nothing happened, then don’t. Ream him out.”
He threw his hands through his hair. “I want to.”
“Then do it. You’ve been worried sick for months.”
There, Sam stopped wringing his hands through his hair. Because truth be told, at some point two or so months ago, he stopped worrying. He just fell into the routine and life on the road with Andie. He’d almost forgotten how long it’d been since he last saw Dean. Until that night. Right when he saw him again on the golf course. It’d been six months, two weeks, and five days. And he felt guilty for not even realizing it until 20 minutes ago.
“Sam?”
“You know how many times he’s forgiven me for my problems? When I ran off? When I … when I let Lucifer out? A lot. A lot of times. It’s like I owe him to just let it go.”
She moved forward again and this time he let her. Her hands reached for his sides and gripped at his shirt. “No, Sam, you don’t owe him that. You can give him shit and then forgive him afterwards. Let it out. Let him know how you felt. You owe it to yourself to do that.”
“And if he doesn’t …”
“He owes you an explanation, not the other way around.”
His hand went up to her head, stroking down and settling at her neck. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to do what Andie was telling him, but he appreciated her trying, her support.
“Sam,” she soothed, her palms holding his hips.
“I almost forgot we were even looking for him.”
Andie frowned despite her voice trying to joke, “Well, we found him anyway.”
He snorted and looked down in the space between them. “How bad’s his arm?”
“It’s not that bad. But it’ll hurt for a while.”
Sam’s hands dropped from her and he pushed them into his jean pockets. “What do we do now?”
“Well, we’re obviously not having sex with Dean in the room.”
He chuckled and closed his eyes briefly. When they opened he seemed a bit more settled, at least a little more comfortable since they ran into Dean on the golf course. She considered it a vast improvement. “I meant with Dean back. And hunting.”
“What do you want to do?”
With a shrug, Sam watched her. “What do you want to do?”
Andie tried to smile, but it hitched oddly on her face and she looked more nervous than anything. “Whatever.” She inhaled sharply and tucked her hands into her jean pockets. He didn’t say anything more, waiting for her to continue. The silence was difficult for her to handle, so she stumbled on while looking at her car, “As long as you’re still here, whatever.”
Sam’s eyes went from the hotel room door to her Impala and then to her. He looked relieved, and it eased her back down. They shared a smile. “You’ll have to deal with Dean.”
She nodded.
“You’re not exactly high on each other’s lists.” She nodded again, this time with a grateful smile, because as true as that was, she really loved that Sam was doing this, making sure she was sure about sticking around. Like it mattered just as much to him that she did. “And you stabbed him. I can’t guarantee he won’t exact revenge.”
Andie’s smirk quirked up higher, because the joke in his voice was too much to not laugh with. “I survived a werewolf. I think I can handle it.”
*
To Andie’s surprise, they didn’t say much about the situation. Sam mentioned Dean’s arm, asking how it was, and while Dean tried to shrug it off, Andie snorted. “Not like I’m fighting against your bravado, but I really don’t think it’s that good.”
Dean was armed with a comeback but she shrugged and he had to admit that his arm and nose did hurt pretty damn badly, so maybe he could rest just this night. Let Sam have this night where they were all together, because the guy was so tense about Dean’s disappearance. Dean subtly nodded and pretty much only spoke when spoken to, like he was waiting for Sam to blow up. But Sam never did.
In the dark, Andie kept space on the bed, because while she and Sam had never quite fallen asleep without some sort of cuddling or touching, Dean was in the room, and she didn’t want things to be any more uncomfortable than they already were. Except sometime in the middle of the night, Sam shifted closer, resting his palm at her back and drawing her closer. He kissed her gently, quietly, and she returned it, appreciating the affection. She scooted closer and their bodies pressed together allowing her to feel him from top to bottom and realize that he was starving for the attention that they always had at the end of a hunt. When his tongue pressed harder into her mouth and his body pushed into hers she whimpered with a smile, keeping her eyes shut with the sensation, even while her hand skated under his shirt, fingers dancing over his back.
“Oh, dear God,” came the low grumble from the other side of the room.
Andie moved back, the smack of their lips echoing in the room. She stared at Sam, her heart beating wildly, more so at being caught and less at what they’d been going for. “Um,” she whispered, not sure what to really say or do.
Sam breathed deeply, his chest heaving high as he settled back into bed. He pulled her back against him, her head tucked beneath his chin as she sighed.
*
It wasn’t like Dean thought Sam and Andie weren’t sleeping together, even if they didn’t show any real affection in the short hours they spent in the hotel room . He just saw how easily they moved around each other, like it was a well-calculated life they now led.
But there was no way in hell he wanted to hear it and have it happening in the same room as him. It was one of the many reasons for not sticking around. Sam and Andie were obviously working their own way, and Sam was taking care of himself. And while he didn’t really want to give her too much credit, he had to admit that Andie did pretty damn well for herself on that golf course, if his broken nose and shoulder wound had anything to say about it.
While he thought he was right in leaving Sam alone and had obviously known well enough that he and Andie would be fine together, Dean knew he was wrong about staying so far out of touch, never answering any calls or ever making a drop-in to assure Sam he was okay. Underneath it all, even the layers that told him he was right to have left, Dean knew Sam would flip out and wouldn’t just accept it. But a huge part of him had hoped Sam would accept it, and would just go on with a normal life. One he was never allowed.
So when Sam gave him numerous, tight glances throughout the night, like he was making sure Dean was still there, Dean figured Sam wouldn’t take kindly to him leaving again. And even though Sam hadn’t pointedly asked him about staying, the tone of voice was obvious when he asked about his arm. Sam didn’t exactly want to ask him to stay and was hoping Dean would take the arm as an excuse without having to admit he actually wanted to. Because Dean kind of did, if nothing else than to assure his brother that things were okay, and to assure himself that Sam was, too.
Which made him entirely too confused when he woke the next morning to an empty room.
He checked his phone for any messages on where they’d gone, but there were none. He hit the bathroom to piss and upon exiting, slipped a hand just below the waistband of his boxers and scratched at his abdomen. Which, of course, was exactly when Andie came through the door and stalled. They watched each other - him with crazy, sleep-affected hair and in a t-shirt and boxers, not to mention a hand in his shorts while she was obviously fresh and showered and ready for the day, armed with two cups of coffee. His hand slipped up to his stomach as she smirked and kicked the door shut.
“Morning sunshine,” she called out happily.
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled.
“Sam said you like a little sugar.”
His head shot up, a bit horrified. But then he guiltily smiled as he grabbed the tall cup of coffee she was holding out to him. “Yeah, thanks.”
“No problem,” she smirked at his discomfort.
“Where is he anyway?”
“Grabbing some newspapers and your breakfast.”
“Huh?”
She sat at the edge of the bed, took a sip, and then looked to him. “We already ate, but he figured you’d want something. He’s also getting something for your shoulder.”
Almost unconsciously, his hand went to the wound and he internally flinched with the pain. No way he wanted Andie to see it. “Like what? A new one?”
She chuckled at the edge of her cup. “No. Guy I know is calling in a prescription.”
“Really?” he asked oddly. “A little illegal, yeah?”
“Okay, good friend. Owes me a few favors.”
An eyebrow went high as he drank from his cup, wondering what kind of favors Andie had back home in her normal life.“Yeah? What’d you do? Help him move?”
Andie chuckled and smiled at him easily. “We helped him with a ghost in his house.” When Dean nodded, she continued. “Seems like a good favor to have in this line of work. On-call drugs.”
Dean finally settled at the corner of his bed and drank more coffee. “Yeah, not too bad.”
They drank in silence and Dean was nearly grateful for it. Didn’t want to find out if Andie was going to again give him shit for leaving. He had his reasons and he already told her, but he wasn’t sure he wanted more from her on it. It seemed like Sam and Andie were surviving together, like they were actually happy being out on the road together. Which only solidified his instinct to leave Sam on his own.
“So, I know this is a little too Three’s Company for you and all,” she started with an easy voice and a quick glance at him. “But I was thinking maybe you should stick around a little bit.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, you know,” and then she took a deep breath and her voice was tense. “Do the big brother thing.” Andie looked over and Dean just stared in return. She shrugged. “You know, teach him to spit, drink, hit on women.” Dean snorted to cover a laugh and she smiled. “Well, maybe not that last one. But you know. Just … be here?”
“I don’t know,” he said gently before taking a sip of coffee. “How long’s it gonna be until he reads me the riot act.”
She shook her head. “He won’t.”
“You know this for sure?” He suddenly chuckled. “Right, you see the future.”
Andie looked down to the cup in her hands and she chuckled uncomfortably as she rose and moved towards the desk. “Not that.” She put her cup down then turned and leaned back against the edge of the desk, her palms pressed into the surface with her shoulders up high. “He’s just glad to know you’re alive. Glad you’re still here.”
“Well, I’ll be glad to not have to listen to you two in the middle of the night.” He went so far as to shudder at the memory, because even in the pitch black of night, it was all too obvious what they’d been going for.
With a chuckle, she crossed her arms. “Well, maybe once in a while you can give us some space.”
They were interrupted by Sam coming through the door and stopping, glancing at them each. Andie smiled and Dean gave a settled face, as best he could manage at the time. Sam smirked, but Dean could tell it was forced. Especially as he drew closer and held out a Styrofoam takeout container. “Over easy. Extra sausage. Charred toast.”
“You didn’t have to,” he mumbled as he accepted it. He looked up to Sam when a smaller container was placed on top of the breakfast.
“Apple.”
Dean froze, eyes searching Sam’s and there he saw the hesitancy and nervousness that wasn’t so much at how they would have to deal with each other over Dean running off six months ago. But it was whether Dean was going to accept what Sam was offering him. Not just food but a chance to stick around without argument. Dean opened the top container and stared, finally smirking when he saw apple filling stacked high between two buttery crusts. His voice easily went playful. “Sammy. Right to my heart.”
Sam’s mouth finally held an honest smile as he turned to drop the newspapers onto the desk. Dean caught how Andie’s hand briefly rubbed at Sam’s hip as she asked, “See anything?” And then she was withdrawing her touch just as quickly like she tried to sneak it in before Dean could see.
Dean’s eyes went to his two containers to give them a moment. He moved the pie to the bed to start working on his breakfast while Sam spoke. “I didn’t see anything obvious going on,” he started oddly, pushing the papers around the desk before stacking them back together. “But maybe we just stick around a little.” Then Sam turned to Dean. “Make sure your arm is okay?”
Andie landed on the corner of their bed closest to Dean. She flicked a finger at the underside of his makeshift plate. “Maybe your nose, too. Hate to send you out there without you looking your prettiest.”
His smile was smug while he chewed his food. “You’re so funny.”
She looked up to Sam, who was leaning against the desk, crossing his arms, like she did just minutes before when she was awkward in talking to Dean about their situation. She took a deep breath and decided to just step right up and do it. “So, what’s your plan? Gonna stick it out with us while you’re on injured reserve?”
Dean, and Andie, too, saw how Sam straightened a little, anticipating his response. He took a deep breath and talked around a half-full mouth of greasy eggs. “You know, I stick around, you two better find some other place to screw around.”
She smirked with a blush to Sam, who instantly looked down to his chest.
He shoveled a sausage link into his mouth and chewed. Again, he talked over the food, but this time, he just hoped it was enough to cloud his real emotion because he knew what Sam really wanted here. And while he thought he knew what he wanted, it was one of those moments where he had to go with what was best for their relationship. “Yeah, I can do that.”
Andie smiled again and without pause, leaned forward and kissed his forehead with a quiet, “Thank you.”
Dean nearly rolled his eyes at the gesture, but he just stuffed more food into his mouth and looked away from her, trying to hide his own response to her. His cheeks burned a little at her affection and he couldn’t bring himself to see the bright eyes from his brother.
But he could see them at the desk, Sam tucking hair behind her ear and her hands patting his sides.
“I’m eating here!”
Sam had pulled the car into a dead end street, and they were at the trunk to gather up their arsenal. Andie carried a gun just in case and a knife coated in dead man’s blood. She wasn’t really keen on the idea of beheading anything at the moment, so she left the machete to Sam. Who was strangely comfortable with it. But whatever, she was happy to let him do it.
“Okay, you know what to do, right?” he asked carefully as they approached the golf course.
She frowned a little because they had been over it a dozen times. “Yeah, I’ll run to draw him out and you’ll be out on the edge of the course.”
“You good to go?”
She smirked. “Of course.”
Sam looked down on her. “Be safe.” She nodded and he leaned in for a quick peck. As he jogged away, he aimed his hand back at her. “Be fast.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she chuckled then headed out towards the third hole, the knife and gun both hidden within her inside jacket pockets. She followed the rough grass until it met with the greens and kept her eyes and ears open, not seeing or hearing anything. Her heart pumped something mean because not only was she bait for a freaking vampire, but also because she couldn’t get over there actually was a freaking vampire. This was crazy.
With her head down to pretend she wasn’t paying much attention, she headed off towards the fourth hole because she sensed someone nearby and wanted to keep moving, and keep them following. Soon enough, brush moved behind her and she started walking faster. Once she heard hard footsteps she took off, top speed across the green and on her way to the fifth hole. It followed nearly as quickly. She approached a sandtrap and attempted to leap across the thing, but she missed it by a few inches, her toes snagging at the edge. As she tumbled to the ground, it grabbed onto her ankle. She kicked back, got the knife out of her pocket, and stabbed its arm. When the hand released her, she took off, praying for Sam to show up at any minute because she knew she'd stabbed it pretty well, but not enough to stop it. She continued to weave through the course until she came upon another hole and another sandtrap.
That was when it caught up, tackling her into the sand face first. It fought her left hand down into the sand to drop the knife, which she had to do with the sudden pain in her knuckles and wrist against the ground. She clenched her right hand, pivoted and landed a punch right between the eyes, knocking the very top of its nose. She jumped up as it fell back, cradling its face, and she heard a gruff “Son of a bitch.”
And then she stopped. “Dean?”
“What the hell?”
“Oh my God.”
“Try again,” he grumbled before finally looking at her. “Andie?”
She stooped down and he motioned a hand forward, tossing holy water in her face. She tried to restrain herself and realize that he probably had good reason to do that. Didn’t make it any easier. She stared at him. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“I think you broke my nose.” She instantly heard the nasally tone to his voice, and she smirked a little. Because she probably had in fact done that. Sam had taught her well in the last few months and her aim had already been pretty good and fast. “What’re you doing here?”
“We’re tracking a vampire. What’re you doing here?”
“The same.”
“You were chasing me.”
Dean started to move into a sitting position, one hand still on his nose. “Yeah, I got that now.” Then he looked at his shoulder where blood was staining his jacket. “You stabbed me.”
“Lemme see that.” She reached for him, but he flinched back. “Dean, seriously.”
He relented but stared at her oddly. “What’re you doing out here?”
“I just told you.”
“No, I mean you.”
“Did I hit you so hard your brain broke?”
“Why are you with Sam out here?”
She finally stared at him and saw how strange he looked. Aside from the dark marks already forming on his face from her punch, he was so confused to see her right then. “Funny story.” She kneeled, leaning back on her haunches. “He wanted to look for you, and in the middle of it, we just started hunting.”
“Oh, hell no. You are not hunting together.”
“What does it look like?”
“Cristo,” he said carefully.
“What?”
“Nevermind.”
Andie looked around the golf course then tried to help Dean stand up. “I don’t know where the hell he is.”
“I thought you said he wouldn’t hunt anymore?”
She stopped and watched him, how he was keeping a strong face but there was underlying worry there. “He wanted to start again.”
“You were supposed to keep him safe. That’s why I left. Because he’d be safe.”
Andie snorted. “Yeah, bad plan. He was miserable without you.”
And that’s when their attention was stolen long enough that a vampire suddenly tackled her to the ground. Dean tried to get into the mix, but actually saw that she flipped back up to her feet and swung the knife pretty expertly, trying to peg the vampire with the poisoned blade. Dean’s vision was still fuzzy and watery from the pain and tears and all that, so he wasn’t totally capable, but he swung forward with his own knife, which made the vampire flinch back closer to Andie and she finally dug her knife into its back. It fell to its knees with a painful shout, feeling the poison course through its veins. They stood over it, making sure it didn’t have a miraculous recovery while it was mostly immobile but twitching just so.
“Fuck,” she whispered, more in awe of the whole thing than actually being scared. There was a fucking vampire at her feet.
“Andie!” Sam called as he came running up, thinking another vampire was right alongside her. But he stopped short when he realized it was his brother. “Jesus Christ.”
“Not quite, Sammy.”
Andie smirked, “Look what I found.”
Sam didn’t move but just stared, breathing hard from chasing the vampire across the last two holes. “What the - what happened to your face?”
“Your girlfriend’s got a mean punch. You teach her something?”
Sam’s voice went wondrous, like he still couldn’t believe he was facing his brother. “Dean.”
He held a stoic face but there was emotion in his voice. “Yeah.”
“I don’t mean to halt the reunion, but there’s a half-frozen vamp at my feet,” Andie said. They both looked to her, then at the ground.
Dean motioned to his arm and the cut. “Well, I’m out of commission for the big blade. Andie? You seem to wield a mean knife,” he smirked.
“Uh, no. Sam does all big-time carving.”
Sam looked again to his brother. “What happened to your arm?”
“She stabbed me.”
He stared at her with big eyes. “Andie.”
“I thought he was a vampire. He was chasing me!”
“Yeah, ‘cause I thought you were the vampire.”
“Well, I’m obviously not. This one is and it needs to be decapped.”
Dean and Andie looked at Sam, who then looked down to the vampire. He had never been entirely comfortable with decapitating vampires - he’d only ever taken out Gordon and that was after repeated attempts at his life - but a lot had changed in the last year or so, and he realized the only other option was Andie. And there was no way he would let her get into something that bad. “Yeah, alright,” he sighed. “You guys go back to the car. I’ll be there in a minute.”
*
The ride back to the hotel had been pretty silent, Andie steering the way while Sam constantly looked in the rear view mirror to make sure there was a second Impala behind them. She wanted to say something, anything. On one hand, she was high as a kite with the determination that yes, vampires really did exist. Also, Sam and Andie had fallen into a pattern of screwing as soon as they got back to the hotel (or at the very least making out), fired up with adrenaline from finishing the hunt. She wasn’t sure how that would happen with Dean there. But really? They’d just found Dean! There should be rejoicing and hugs and drinking and laughter. Instead they got Sam’s annoyed, pouty face. One she hadn’t seen in so long and kind of hated seeing right then.
Sam didn’t move when she parked in front of their room. She looked beyond him to see the ’67 parked a few spots over. It wasn’t like Dean didn’t follow through on his promise to follow, so Sam didn’t have reason to pout. Her eyes went to Sam, but they were still quiet.
When she spotted Dean nearing the room, she frowned at Sam.”You okay?”
His eyes dipped down to his hands, holding his phone. “I should call Bobby. Tell him we got Dean.”
Andie nodded and tried to smile, tried to make it seem normal. “Yeah, no problem.”
When her hand stroked the side of his face, he flinched slightly then looked at her. He gave a pained smile, like it took every bit of energy to pretend it was okay.
She leaned over the console and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be inside.” Then smirked with a humorous tone, “Make sure he don’t run off again, ya know?”
Sam reluctantly smiled.
Once Andie was out of the car and heading towards the door, Dean gruffed out, “What’s with him?”
“He’s calling Bobby.”
Dean groaned. “Great. Nothing like tattling on your big brother.”
She frowned and patted a hand at his back. “Just wants him to know you’re safe.”
He looked back at the car while she unlocked the door and they both entered the room. “He okay?”
“I don’t know. I thought he’d be shitting rainbows for you.” He shot her an odd glance and she shrugged out of her jacket.
Andie landed on the far side of one of the beds, folding her arms beneath her head and closing her eyes. To rest, and also to wait for whatever would happen.
Dean freshened up in the bathroom, all the while ignoring the pain in his shoulder, set on washing his hands, splashing water on his face, and taking a few seconds to the mirror before doing anything else. He winced with fingers on his nose and found pain as he tried to move it back into place. And he winced again when he tried to pull his jacket off. Andie appeared behind him and held the jacket so he could ease out of it.
“Thought you were sleeping,” he grumbled while he slowly slid his arm out, the one she had stabbed with the knife.
“Someone’s groaning kept me up.” Their eyes met in the mirror and she smiled gently. She looked down to her hands on his jacket and she asked, “Where’ve you been?”
He continued to watch her. Her voice had been so low and concerned, he was a little startled by it. “Just working.”
“You couldn’t answer his calls?” The sad face she held was too much for him and he left the bathroom. She followed him and nudged him to sit. “Let me look at your shoulder.”
He shrugged away from her. “I’m fine.”
“I doubt it.”
“You’re just going to give me the world’s greatest guilt trip.”
Her voice came easy and almost playful. “I promise to not look at you while I do it.”
Dean flashed a look to her and finally sat at the table, tugging the sleeve of his t-shirt up so she could see the wound. She grabbed some items from the bathroom and a bag of supplies to start cleaning it up, and then dropped a bottle of beer in front of him. Which he opened promptly and drank from. His tone went flat to disguise how he really felt about the situation. “You said you two wound up together.”
“That I did,” she said idly while moving his sleeve further over and grabbing a few things from the table.
“I wanted him to have that.”
She kept any sarcastic comments to herself because she could tell how hard it was for him to say that.
He winced when she wiped a wet cloth a little too hard on the wound. He shot her a hard stare. “That hurts, ya know?”
“I’m trying to get the other blood out. Man up,” she smirked.
“Yeah, alright,” Dean muttered. He took a long swig of beer and considered that while Andie was never his favorite person and while she was still being sarcastic, there was something else there. Like she was trying to hedge the attitude and be a bit cordial. It almost made it harder for him to not fight back about the topic.
She applied isopropyl alcohol and eventually some Neosporin, and his eyebrows rose at that. Throughout their hunting days, they hardly used anything more than alcohol - real liquor - to clean any injuries. That Neosporin was definitely her idea, and he wondered what else she and Sam did at her suggestion. Her quiet voice broke his thoughts, “He was really bad at first. But things got better once we were out here.” Dean took another sip, not wanting to interrupt but also not really knowing what to say. “Lately? He’s been … fun.”
“Sammy? Fun?” he chuckled low. “That kid hates clowns and loves libraries.”
Her voice went playful. “Well I think he’s been fun. I’ve liked being here.”
His arm flinched when she swiped Neosporin-laced cotton swabs at the wound. “I still can’t believe you’re here.”
“Yeah, well. Some days, me neither.”
Dean spoke low against the top of his bottle. “You ain’t so bad at it.”
“Why, Dean Winchester. That a compliment you just threw into your beer?”
That’s when the door popped open. Andie glanced at Sam with a small smile and Dean looked up to him. Sam’s mouth twitched for a tiny, uncomfortable smile as he passed them and dropped his bag and jacket onto the bed. Then he went to the bathroom and stayed there for quite a while - longer than would really be necessary.
Dean looked up at her as she looked down, then he glanced at the bathroom. “Awkward,” he mumbled.
She smirked and tried to hide her laughter, instead snorting. When she looked down on his shoulder, she frowned a little. “This looks pretty bad.” Dean turned to see it and his jaw tensed. “I’m sorry,” Andie quickly added with a careful voice. When he just nodded and went back to his beer, she sighed, almost happily, because he wasn’t going to rag on her for it and seemed to accept her apology.
Though he did fuss when she pushed a bandage against his collarbone and started to tape it down. “Gentle,” he grunted. “Think you might need some sensitivity training.”
As she finished up the tape and rubbed careful fingers over the dressing, she joked, “Pot calling kettle black, no?”
When Sam came from the bathroom, Andie fully turned to him and Dean shifted enough to see Sam from the corner of his eye.
“Can I talk to you outside for a minute?” Sam asked, a little tense.
She looked down on Dean then back to Sam, who was staring at her. She nodded. “Yeah, of course.”
As they passed Dean she again glanced at him and smiled awkwardly. Sam’s voice was flat when he stopped at the door and looked at the ground just in front of his brother. “You should probably call Bobby.”
Dean knew that even if Sam had told the man what was going on, Bobby deserved to hear his voice. “Yeah.”
Once the door closed, Sam walked closer to her, but kept some distance. She crossed her arms and just watched. He was the one being weird, she’d let him continue like that. “You okay?” Sam asked.
Her eyebrows folded down. “Me?”
“Yeah, from the vampire?”
She smirked a little at that, because it was still pretty awesome that she fought and took down a vampire. “I’m fine. You’re the one with the newly reunited brother. What’s wrong?”
His eyes set downward and his lips pursed. She knew he was struggling right then, but she didn’t know how to ease it. “I don’t know what to do here.”
“What?”
Sam shrugged and stuttered and his hands went out in the air. He was so uncomfortable and unsure of himself that he didn’t know what to do. “He just … ditched me. And what? I act like nothing happened?”
Andie moved forward with a hand towards him, but he shuffled away. “Sam,” she tried with a comforting voice. “If you don’t want to act like nothing happened, then don’t. Ream him out.”
He threw his hands through his hair. “I want to.”
“Then do it. You’ve been worried sick for months.”
There, Sam stopped wringing his hands through his hair. Because truth be told, at some point two or so months ago, he stopped worrying. He just fell into the routine and life on the road with Andie. He’d almost forgotten how long it’d been since he last saw Dean. Until that night. Right when he saw him again on the golf course. It’d been six months, two weeks, and five days. And he felt guilty for not even realizing it until 20 minutes ago.
“Sam?”
“You know how many times he’s forgiven me for my problems? When I ran off? When I … when I let Lucifer out? A lot. A lot of times. It’s like I owe him to just let it go.”
She moved forward again and this time he let her. Her hands reached for his sides and gripped at his shirt. “No, Sam, you don’t owe him that. You can give him shit and then forgive him afterwards. Let it out. Let him know how you felt. You owe it to yourself to do that.”
“And if he doesn’t …”
“He owes you an explanation, not the other way around.”
His hand went up to her head, stroking down and settling at her neck. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to do what Andie was telling him, but he appreciated her trying, her support.
“Sam,” she soothed, her palms holding his hips.
“I almost forgot we were even looking for him.”
Andie frowned despite her voice trying to joke, “Well, we found him anyway.”
He snorted and looked down in the space between them. “How bad’s his arm?”
“It’s not that bad. But it’ll hurt for a while.”
Sam’s hands dropped from her and he pushed them into his jean pockets. “What do we do now?”
“Well, we’re obviously not having sex with Dean in the room.”
He chuckled and closed his eyes briefly. When they opened he seemed a bit more settled, at least a little more comfortable since they ran into Dean on the golf course. She considered it a vast improvement. “I meant with Dean back. And hunting.”
“What do you want to do?”
With a shrug, Sam watched her. “What do you want to do?”
Andie tried to smile, but it hitched oddly on her face and she looked more nervous than anything. “Whatever.” She inhaled sharply and tucked her hands into her jean pockets. He didn’t say anything more, waiting for her to continue. The silence was difficult for her to handle, so she stumbled on while looking at her car, “As long as you’re still here, whatever.”
Sam’s eyes went from the hotel room door to her Impala and then to her. He looked relieved, and it eased her back down. They shared a smile. “You’ll have to deal with Dean.”
She nodded.
“You’re not exactly high on each other’s lists.” She nodded again, this time with a grateful smile, because as true as that was, she really loved that Sam was doing this, making sure she was sure about sticking around. Like it mattered just as much to him that she did. “And you stabbed him. I can’t guarantee he won’t exact revenge.”
Andie’s smirk quirked up higher, because the joke in his voice was too much to not laugh with. “I survived a werewolf. I think I can handle it.”
*
To Andie’s surprise, they didn’t say much about the situation. Sam mentioned Dean’s arm, asking how it was, and while Dean tried to shrug it off, Andie snorted. “Not like I’m fighting against your bravado, but I really don’t think it’s that good.”
Dean was armed with a comeback but she shrugged and he had to admit that his arm and nose did hurt pretty damn badly, so maybe he could rest just this night. Let Sam have this night where they were all together, because the guy was so tense about Dean’s disappearance. Dean subtly nodded and pretty much only spoke when spoken to, like he was waiting for Sam to blow up. But Sam never did.
In the dark, Andie kept space on the bed, because while she and Sam had never quite fallen asleep without some sort of cuddling or touching, Dean was in the room, and she didn’t want things to be any more uncomfortable than they already were. Except sometime in the middle of the night, Sam shifted closer, resting his palm at her back and drawing her closer. He kissed her gently, quietly, and she returned it, appreciating the affection. She scooted closer and their bodies pressed together allowing her to feel him from top to bottom and realize that he was starving for the attention that they always had at the end of a hunt. When his tongue pressed harder into her mouth and his body pushed into hers she whimpered with a smile, keeping her eyes shut with the sensation, even while her hand skated under his shirt, fingers dancing over his back.
“Oh, dear God,” came the low grumble from the other side of the room.
Andie moved back, the smack of their lips echoing in the room. She stared at Sam, her heart beating wildly, more so at being caught and less at what they’d been going for. “Um,” she whispered, not sure what to really say or do.
Sam breathed deeply, his chest heaving high as he settled back into bed. He pulled her back against him, her head tucked beneath his chin as she sighed.
*
It wasn’t like Dean thought Sam and Andie weren’t sleeping together, even if they didn’t show any real affection in the short hours they spent in the hotel room . He just saw how easily they moved around each other, like it was a well-calculated life they now led.
But there was no way in hell he wanted to hear it and have it happening in the same room as him. It was one of the many reasons for not sticking around. Sam and Andie were obviously working their own way, and Sam was taking care of himself. And while he didn’t really want to give her too much credit, he had to admit that Andie did pretty damn well for herself on that golf course, if his broken nose and shoulder wound had anything to say about it.
While he thought he was right in leaving Sam alone and had obviously known well enough that he and Andie would be fine together, Dean knew he was wrong about staying so far out of touch, never answering any calls or ever making a drop-in to assure Sam he was okay. Underneath it all, even the layers that told him he was right to have left, Dean knew Sam would flip out and wouldn’t just accept it. But a huge part of him had hoped Sam would accept it, and would just go on with a normal life. One he was never allowed.
So when Sam gave him numerous, tight glances throughout the night, like he was making sure Dean was still there, Dean figured Sam wouldn’t take kindly to him leaving again. And even though Sam hadn’t pointedly asked him about staying, the tone of voice was obvious when he asked about his arm. Sam didn’t exactly want to ask him to stay and was hoping Dean would take the arm as an excuse without having to admit he actually wanted to. Because Dean kind of did, if nothing else than to assure his brother that things were okay, and to assure himself that Sam was, too.
Which made him entirely too confused when he woke the next morning to an empty room.
He checked his phone for any messages on where they’d gone, but there were none. He hit the bathroom to piss and upon exiting, slipped a hand just below the waistband of his boxers and scratched at his abdomen. Which, of course, was exactly when Andie came through the door and stalled. They watched each other - him with crazy, sleep-affected hair and in a t-shirt and boxers, not to mention a hand in his shorts while she was obviously fresh and showered and ready for the day, armed with two cups of coffee. His hand slipped up to his stomach as she smirked and kicked the door shut.
“Morning sunshine,” she called out happily.
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled.
“Sam said you like a little sugar.”
His head shot up, a bit horrified. But then he guiltily smiled as he grabbed the tall cup of coffee she was holding out to him. “Yeah, thanks.”
“No problem,” she smirked at his discomfort.
“Where is he anyway?”
“Grabbing some newspapers and your breakfast.”
“Huh?”
She sat at the edge of the bed, took a sip, and then looked to him. “We already ate, but he figured you’d want something. He’s also getting something for your shoulder.”
Almost unconsciously, his hand went to the wound and he internally flinched with the pain. No way he wanted Andie to see it. “Like what? A new one?”
She chuckled at the edge of her cup. “No. Guy I know is calling in a prescription.”
“Really?” he asked oddly. “A little illegal, yeah?”
“Okay, good friend. Owes me a few favors.”
An eyebrow went high as he drank from his cup, wondering what kind of favors Andie had back home in her normal life.“Yeah? What’d you do? Help him move?”
Andie chuckled and smiled at him easily. “We helped him with a ghost in his house.” When Dean nodded, she continued. “Seems like a good favor to have in this line of work. On-call drugs.”
Dean finally settled at the corner of his bed and drank more coffee. “Yeah, not too bad.”
They drank in silence and Dean was nearly grateful for it. Didn’t want to find out if Andie was going to again give him shit for leaving. He had his reasons and he already told her, but he wasn’t sure he wanted more from her on it. It seemed like Sam and Andie were surviving together, like they were actually happy being out on the road together. Which only solidified his instinct to leave Sam on his own.
“So, I know this is a little too Three’s Company for you and all,” she started with an easy voice and a quick glance at him. “But I was thinking maybe you should stick around a little bit.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, you know,” and then she took a deep breath and her voice was tense. “Do the big brother thing.” Andie looked over and Dean just stared in return. She shrugged. “You know, teach him to spit, drink, hit on women.” Dean snorted to cover a laugh and she smiled. “Well, maybe not that last one. But you know. Just … be here?”
“I don’t know,” he said gently before taking a sip of coffee. “How long’s it gonna be until he reads me the riot act.”
She shook her head. “He won’t.”
“You know this for sure?” He suddenly chuckled. “Right, you see the future.”
Andie looked down to the cup in her hands and she chuckled uncomfortably as she rose and moved towards the desk. “Not that.” She put her cup down then turned and leaned back against the edge of the desk, her palms pressed into the surface with her shoulders up high. “He’s just glad to know you’re alive. Glad you’re still here.”
“Well, I’ll be glad to not have to listen to you two in the middle of the night.” He went so far as to shudder at the memory, because even in the pitch black of night, it was all too obvious what they’d been going for.
With a chuckle, she crossed her arms. “Well, maybe once in a while you can give us some space.”
They were interrupted by Sam coming through the door and stopping, glancing at them each. Andie smiled and Dean gave a settled face, as best he could manage at the time. Sam smirked, but Dean could tell it was forced. Especially as he drew closer and held out a Styrofoam takeout container. “Over easy. Extra sausage. Charred toast.”
“You didn’t have to,” he mumbled as he accepted it. He looked up to Sam when a smaller container was placed on top of the breakfast.
“Apple.”
Dean froze, eyes searching Sam’s and there he saw the hesitancy and nervousness that wasn’t so much at how they would have to deal with each other over Dean running off six months ago. But it was whether Dean was going to accept what Sam was offering him. Not just food but a chance to stick around without argument. Dean opened the top container and stared, finally smirking when he saw apple filling stacked high between two buttery crusts. His voice easily went playful. “Sammy. Right to my heart.”
Sam’s mouth finally held an honest smile as he turned to drop the newspapers onto the desk. Dean caught how Andie’s hand briefly rubbed at Sam’s hip as she asked, “See anything?” And then she was withdrawing her touch just as quickly like she tried to sneak it in before Dean could see.
Dean’s eyes went to his two containers to give them a moment. He moved the pie to the bed to start working on his breakfast while Sam spoke. “I didn’t see anything obvious going on,” he started oddly, pushing the papers around the desk before stacking them back together. “But maybe we just stick around a little.” Then Sam turned to Dean. “Make sure your arm is okay?”
Andie landed on the corner of their bed closest to Dean. She flicked a finger at the underside of his makeshift plate. “Maybe your nose, too. Hate to send you out there without you looking your prettiest.”
His smile was smug while he chewed his food. “You’re so funny.”
She looked up to Sam, who was leaning against the desk, crossing his arms, like she did just minutes before when she was awkward in talking to Dean about their situation. She took a deep breath and decided to just step right up and do it. “So, what’s your plan? Gonna stick it out with us while you’re on injured reserve?”
Dean, and Andie, too, saw how Sam straightened a little, anticipating his response. He took a deep breath and talked around a half-full mouth of greasy eggs. “You know, I stick around, you two better find some other place to screw around.”
She smirked with a blush to Sam, who instantly looked down to his chest.
He shoveled a sausage link into his mouth and chewed. Again, he talked over the food, but this time, he just hoped it was enough to cloud his real emotion because he knew what Sam really wanted here. And while he thought he knew what he wanted, it was one of those moments where he had to go with what was best for their relationship. “Yeah, I can do that.”
Andie smiled again and without pause, leaned forward and kissed his forehead with a quiet, “Thank you.”
Dean nearly rolled his eyes at the gesture, but he just stuffed more food into his mouth and looked away from her, trying to hide his own response to her. His cheeks burned a little at her affection and he couldn’t bring himself to see the bright eyes from his brother.
But he could see them at the desk, Sam tucking hair behind her ear and her hands patting his sides.
“I’m eating here!”