Reading Between The Lines (Sabriel)

Chapter 19

Sam finds himself outside of their motel. It looks normal, in a way, but not quite the same. He gets a Mr. Roger's vibe from it, though he can't quite place why. It feels so bright and cheerful, the opposite of what the real Sun and Sands motel looks like.

The moment Sam steps inside the motel, it starts making sense. The non-existent audience cheers, and he stops where he is like he'd expect from a show with a live studio audience, giving them time to finish cheering.

"Hey there, Sam," Dean says with a grin. "What's happening?"

"Oh, nothing," Sam says with an exaggerated shrug. "Just the end of the world."

The audience laughs.

Sam eyes the sandwich sitting in front of his brother. It's stacked so high that it almost looks like it stepped straight out of Scooby-Doo. Why couldn't the Trickster put them in that show? They could work with that. Monster hunting is easy.

Now is probably not the best time to dwell on things like that, though, so he says to his brother, "You're gonna need a bigger mouth."

Dean gestures to him as if to say, "That's what I said!"

Sam pops a finger up for a moment as if just coming up with a new conversation starter. That's how these shows work, right? Exaggerate every movement? "Hey, have you done your research yet?"

If Dean's panicked reaction is any indication, Sam's not the only one playing it that way.

"Oh, yeah," Dean says, obviously lying. "All kinds of research. All night."

"Yeah?" Sam fakes a smile. "Huh." He has to admit, this is almost kind of cute. If he had a dollar for every time he complained to the Trickster about Dean being absolutely useless, they'd never have to hustle pool again. It looks like the Trickster really decided to hang on to that piece of information. It's nice to see that he listens, even if he apparently has no regard for Sam's feelings.

A woman steps out of the bathroom, looking absolutely stunning in her matching bikini, and Sam knows she looks absolutely stunning not because he has eyes but because the live studio audience starts whistling and catcalling.

"Oh, Dean," she says flirtatiously. "We have some more 'research' to do." With the way she says "research," it's clear that there was no actual research involved.

Dean swallows hard.

Sam crosses his arms. "Dean..."

Dean looks off as if he's Jim spotting the camera in The Office. "Son of a bitch!"

As the laugh track sounds, Sam heads to the girl's side, putting a hand gently on her back to lead her out. "I'm very, very sorry, but we have some work to do."

"But we did do work." She looks at Dean suggestively as she adds, "In-depth."

Dean smirks proudly.

Sam opens the door. The girl turns back around to wave at Dean, and, as soon as she's gone, Sam shuts it again. He's not letting her back in here for anything. He doesn't even care if she realizes halfway home that she's still in her underwear. She can deal with that herself. He turns back to Dean, shaking his head.

"How long do we have to keep doing this?" Dean asks, a forced smile still plastered on his face.

"I don't know," Sam says, his facial expressions matching the same pained smile that his brother's wearing.

The audience cheers, god knows why.

"Maybe forever?"

The audience laughs.