family line, supernatural [ 1 ]

006. wendigo

Natalie jerks awake from where she's lying down in the backseat of the Impala. She quickly sits up, looking around, reminding herself of her surroundings. She calms her breathing down, missing the concerned glance Dean sends her in the rearview mirror.

"Natty?" Dean calls, getting her attention. "You okay?"

"'M fine." She answers.

"Nightmare again?" Dean asks. Natalie doesn't answer, just looking out the window, twirling the ends of her hair around her fingers.

Suddenly, Sam jerks awake from where he sits in the passenger seat.

"You okay?" Dean asks his brother, about to have the same conversation and receive the same answers as he did with Natalie.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sam answers.

"Another nightmare?" Dean asks. Sam clears his throat, not answering. "You wanna drive for a while?" He asks making Sam laugh.

"Dean, your whole life, you never once asked me that." Sam says.

"Just thought you might want to. Never mind." Dean says.

"I can drive." Natalie says, leaning forward.

"No way." Dean immediately shakes his head.

"Why not?" Natalie asks.

"Because you suck at driving." Dean states.

"You haven't even driven with me in, like, three years." Natalie says.

"Yeah, and I still get nightmares." Dean states making Natalie roll her eyes.

"Sammy?" She turns to her twin for help.

"You do suck at driving." Sam agrees with his brother. "I mean, you can't be any better than you were as teenagers. You haven't driven a car as long as you've been with me."

"See? Not driving." Dean tells her.

"You both suck." Natalie says, leaning back in her seat.

"Look, man, you're worried about us." Sam tells Dean. "I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay."

"Ditto." Natalie nods.

"Mm-hmm." Dean hums unconvincingly.

"All right, where are we?" Sam asks, grabbing a map.

"We are just outside of Grand Junction." Dean states.

"You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon." Sam says.

"Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica, and we assume killed Noah--"

"We gotta find dad first." Sam says.

"Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence." Dean says. "Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do." Natalie rolls her eyes.

"These coordinates he left us. This Blackwater Ridge." Sam says.

"What about it?" Dean asks.

"There's nothing there. It's just woods." Sam states. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"

+++

"So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote." Sam says as the three walk into the ranger station. Sam looks at a 3D map of the forest while Dean and Natalie walk around, looking at the rest of the place. "It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place."