Keeping up with the Joneses

Part Two

It was early morning when Sara jerked awake from a nightmare. Thankfully for her, her little brother could sleep through an atomic war. He merely shifted in his sleep when she moved her arm out from under him. Her brows furrowed in surprise when she saw Dean sleeping in the bed opposite her, remembering falling asleep with John in the room.

She quietly opened the door to the motel room, shivering slightly in the early March morning. It wasn't even sunrise yet, but she didn't bother to look at the time. She rested her arms on the rail outside of the motel door and looked at the stars. After a few minutes, she jumped at the sound of the door quietly opening behind her. She turned to see Dean, eyes still heavy from sleep and shuddering at the sudden change of temperature.

"It's freezing out here, Sara," he said, in between shaky breaths.

"Then go back inside!" She laughed, as if it were completely obvious. Dean glared at her, moving to stand next to her.

Ever so slowly, he inched off his hoodie. He took a quick glance over at Sara, then placed it around her shoulders.

She looked at him with surprise, then laughed. "Dean, you're freezing. I'm okay, here--" He placed his hand on her shoulder when she made the move to give it back.

"Just let me be a man, jeez." His voice was gruff, and he refused to make eye contact. Sara couldn't help the blush that began to creep up from her neck and onto her face. She thanked the stars that it was still dark, and that Dean suddenly had the inability to look at her. She sighed, and her breath came out in a plume of vapor. She shuffled over to Dean, taking his arm and wrapping hers around it after thrusting her hands through the sleeves.

"Sara--"

"You're freezing, Dean. Just let me be a girl, jeez." The two of them made eye contact then, briefly, then looked up at the stars.

They shared a comfortable silence for a few minutes, Dean growing used to the cold. Dean couldn't help but wish the moment could last forever, even if the times were so troubling. He knew Sara saw him as nothing more than an older brother, that if he were to make a move it would do nothing but ruin their friendship. But still, he allowed himself for a moment to imagine that they were sharing this moment as a couple. A real couple.

"So... How are you doing?" He looked down at the shorter girl, real concern in his eyes. His heart ached for her, having lost her mother at eleven to a suicide and now her father. He knew what it meant to lose a mother, but he could only imagine what he would do if John were to go, too. With Joey so young, he worried what lengths she would go to give him the life she wanted for him. He knew nothing of the monsters that existed; not like Sara when she was his age.

"I'm... I don't know. I don't think it's sunk in yet." She paused then, seeming to think hard about whether she should say what she was thinking. Dean made the decision for her.

"But...?"

She sighed, looking back at the stars. "Let's just say... If Joey wasn't here, I would've let him kill me." Dean looked down at her sharply, his breathing becoming heavier. He thought back to the scene he found Sara in, bloodied and sitting next to her father's body. The way his heart dropped when he heard the gunshot from the car. The fear that him and Sam both shared, waiting silently in the car before John yelled for him to come into the house. He thought about stepping into the home, but finding Sara dead as well.

Lost in thought, he didn't notice Sara's regret. The look on her face as she wished to take back what she said. "Oh, Dean, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to put that on you--"

"Well," he spoke, clearing his throat when his voice came out raspy. "I guess I should thank your parents for doing it and makin' Joey then, huh?" He looked down at Sara's wide eyes, filled with guilt. She scoffed when Dean finished speaking, turning to laugh away from his gaze.

"Don't cover your face when you laugh," he said, looking at her intently. "That's all I'm after, you know." She looked up at him with that, the laughter replaced by a furrowed brow and a frown, one that slowly grew into a sad smile.

"What did I do to deserve you, Winchester?"

"What can I say, sometimes good things happen to good people." She sighed, completely oblivious to the fact that he truly meant every word he said. Not in a big-brother-trying-to-comfort-his-kid-sister-way, but in a way bursting at the seams with love. She knew that he'd only ever see her as some snot-nosed kid, the little sister that he never had. And she wouldn't risk telling him how she felt at the thought of losing his friendship.

After a moment of looking at each other, Sara placed her head on Dean's arm. She couldn't quite reach his shoulder, but it was good enough for her.

They talked about many different things-- the stars, aliens, the future, music, movies; anything they could think of that wasn't tied to what happened at Sara's home. They watched the sunrise, remarking how no matter what happens, the world still turns. Time marches on, and nothing in the world has the power to stop it.