Keeping up with the Joneses

Part Five

The three amigos plus Juno arrived at Bobby's in Sioux Falls just after the break of dawn. Sara hadn't slept, meaning to keep Dean company as he drove. He must've told her a thousand times that she could sleep, but she refused to listen. He refused to let her drive.

Bobby opened the door with sleep still pulling at his eyelids. "Sara? Dean? What the hell?"

"Hey, Bobby," Sara tried to give him a smile, but he glared down at her. She shrunk under his gaze, and he softened.

"C'mere, kid." He pulled her into a hug, which she graciously returned. "What are you doing here?"

"We need you to watch Joey for us," Dean said, heaving Joey's bag over his shoulder. "Me and Sara are gonna go get Sam and..."

"And what?"

"Look, I'll tell you later," he said, eyeing Joey who had just walked up behind them with Juno.

Sara expected an objection, a slurry of questioning, but he just nodded. "Okay, I expect a full report, though. ASAP."

Both Sara and Dean nodded, and Sara walked back to the trunk of the Impala where she grabbed a garbage bag full of something. She handed it to a quizzical Bobby.

"I'm hoping to be back in time for his birthday, but just in case I'm not..." Bobby sighed, looking at the saddened expression on Sara's face. He motioned for the three to come inside, Joey unlatching Juno's leash and letting him sniff around.

"Uncle Bobby, I have a bunch of stuff to show you while they're gone!" Joey looked up at the older man, excitement in his eyes. Sara knew that Bobby was his favorite, for whatever reason. The boy looked up to him in so many ways.

"Do ya now?" Joey nodded, placing his backpack down on the couch. "You guys want a drink?" He directed the question toward Sara and Dean, and Dean shook his head.

"Thanks, Bobby, but we gotta get going. It's still a long way to Stanford." Bobby shrugged, placing down a bottle of whiskey.

"You lot be careful now, okay?" Sara and Dean exchanged a glance before Sara went to sit next to her brother.

"You have the necklace on?"

"I never take it off, Sar." She smiled at him, ruffling his hair.

"Good. You have fun with Uncle Bobby, we'll be back before you know it."

"Okay."

She pulled Joey into a hug, smelling the top of his head like she used to when he was a baby. "If you need me, call me. I love you."

"Yeah, I love you too, weirdo."

Sara stood, placing a hand on his head. "Be good for Bobby, dork." Sara walked over to Bobby, giving him a hug and a silent 'thank you' before walking out the door with Dean.

"You gave him the necklace, huh?" Dean asked when they both fell into the Impala.

"Yeah," she replied plainly.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

Dean sighed, turning the key and bringing the engine to life with a roar. "So you don't have anything protecting you?"

"It's more important that Joey has it. Drop it."

They stayed quiet for a while as they drove, reaching the highway and on their way to California. Sara couldn't help but remember the times she tagged along on hunts with John, Sam and Dean; how Dean would sit in the back with her and they would talk about anything and everything. She felt as though she could tell the boy anything, but looking back, maybe he didn't feel the same. She looked over at him, how little he's changed since she saw him last. Five o' clock shadow covered his jaw, which he clenched in the awkwardness of the ride. His green eyes were the same as ever, bright and unafraid.

Sara began to grow impatient as the time they were in the car without talking stretched on.

"Dean?"

"Hmm?"

"Can we stop being so awkward? It's killing me, and I know it's killing you too."

"Yeah," he looked over at her, "I mean-- I don't know what to say to you. It used to be so easy but now... I don't know, I just feel like you dislike me?"

Sara knit her brows together. "Dean, what could possibly make you think that?"

"I don't know, the energy's just off."

"Well, then let's just get this out of the way, shall we? I don't hate you, you don't hate me. We haven't talked in two years, but we both know that and we've talked about it already. Tip toeing around my feelings isn't gonna do anything but make us have more of these horrible uncomfortable silences."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right."

"I know I am," she nudged him, earning a smile. "Look, all I want is for things to go back to how they were, okay?"

"Huh, and here I was waiting for the 'things can never go back to the way they were' speech from you."

"Well, people who say that are idiots. Things change, but not everything has to. Sure, some things about our friendship are going to have to change. But that's what life is, working on things to make them better."

Both of them went quiet at that, sharing a more comfortable silence than they had yet.