Carry On Kansas
Chapter Two: Bend and Break (Part One)
Summary: It's been weeks since the fire that killed Sam's girlfriend, Jessica Moore, and the trio is no closer to finding what killed her than they are to locating the boys' father. Coordinates left behind in John Winchester's journal lead them to Black Water Ridge, a National Forest in Lost Creek, Colorado. On the way, the distance between Riley and Sam continues to grow, while Dean begins to occupy the open spaces.
Warnings: General Supernatural warnings apply. Read at your own discretion.
A/N: Episode two! Gonna make this the most slow burn thing I've ever done. Fight me, cowards.
Riley wakes startled.
For a brief moment, panic sets in and she's unsure where she is or who she's with. The last thing she remembers is dreaming. Dreaming of Sam's ghost. It's been happening more lately―nightmares about losing him, even some about her and Constance, the ghost they encountered weeks ago.
Sam explains everything that took place the night they got back from Jericho as best he can, whenever she asks, but only after Riley begs him continuously for hours on end to tell her. She knows if he can avoid telling her about the fire at all, he would. The funeral took too much out of them.
"You okay?" Dean asks, and it's gentle. He's been that way since they left Stanford. He flirts less, Riley misses it.
She sits up, finally aware of her surroundings, and yawns. She's in the front seat of the Impala, snuggled between Dean and Sam, who's still fast asleep. Her eyes drift to the bandages on her hands, they itch and she knows it's because they're healing. Her skin doesn't feel hot anymore, the pain isn't unbearable, just a dull throbbing to the rhythm of her heartbeat.
She hums. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Dean nods, unconvinced. "Another nightmare?"
She knows why he's asking and she appreciates it, but she wishes he wouldn't. She wants desperately to dislike him. Riley doesn't want to talk about the fire or nightmares or Jessica, she wants to help the boys find whatever killed her and get rid of it. She just wants to go back to her life at Stanford.
"You wanna drive for a while?"
At that, Riley's head swivels toward Dean. Her eyebrows lift in surprise. "Dean, I get the intimidating impression that you don't let anyone drive this car."
He laughs. "Got me pegged, huh?" He winks, Riley scowls in disgust.
"I don't have you pegged for anything, Winchester."
"Not yet, Thomas."
She rolls her eyes and scoots closer to Sam, and misses the warmth radiating from Dean's presence. In another lifetime maybe, she thinks. There's so much, too much they still don't know about what happened the night Jessica died. Riley can't bear to think about it, she can't bear to think about Sam either. She wonders if he resents her for surviving; it was always supposed to be him and Jessica, and now he's stuck with her.
Riley's not okay, she hasn't been since they left. If Dean knows, he hasn't said so. Her agenda is set: help them find the thing that killed Jessica, kill the thing that killed Jessica, take Sam back to Stanford, and move on. But something tells her it isn't that simple.
She pulls the roadmap from the floor by Sam's feet and lays it across their legs. "So, where are we, anyway?"
"We are just outside of Grand Junction," Dean says, glancing in the rearview mirror. Miles of open road stretch out behind them.
"Hmm. . ." Riley shifts uncomfortably, the ache in her arms is noticeable now. She should ask Dean to pull over so they can redress her wounds, but they need to keep going, for Sam's sake.
Wordlessly, Dean pulls the Impala to a stop on the side of the road. The look he gives her is more of an order than a suggestion and Riley's scrambling out of the driver's door behind him without a second thought.
Truth be told, Dean's not entirely sure what he's doing. He's never cared about anyone other than himself or Sam―not in the way Sam obviously cares about Riley. But he's trying, they all are.
"Here, let me take a look." Dean's touch is soft, even with the callouses on his fingers. He carefully removes the bandages on Riley's wrists, trying not to pull away the loose skin. "Not bad," he says.
Riley stares at his hands as they move over hers; removing old bandages and replacing them with new ones, lightly soothing the area with burn cream, massaging her fingers so the joints don't stiffen up. Dean's softer with her now than he was with Sam in Jericho.
"Why are you doing this for me?"
"Someone's gotta."
"Charity then?"
"If that makes you feel better."
It doesn't, but she keeps that to herself.
―
The next town they stop in is Lost Creek, Colorado. Clues left behind in their father's journal lead the boys to believe he was on his way to Backwater Ridge National Forest, there's a whole lot of nothing out there, but they all agree that taking a look can't hurt. Riley doesn't mention how suspicious it seems that John would lead them to a place he intended to be, instead of where he's currently going. Something doesn't add up in her mind.
The Ranger Station for the surrounding parks and forests of Lost Creek offers more information than John's journal, though there's still pieces missing.
"You really think your dad planned on coming out here?" Riley asks Sam as they pour over the map on the table. They haven't talked about how either of them are doing since that night, they ignore it in favour of focusing on other things.
Sam shrugs. "I don't know. So far Dad's journal is the only thing we have to go on, and it brought us here. There's gotta be a reason for that."
"All right. Well, you're the expert. Where do we start?" she says, leaning over the table in Sam's space. To be close to him again, she tells herself.
He moves back, puts distance between them that is both physical and symbolic. He points to the map as he speaks, "So Black Water Ridge is pretty remote. It's cut off by these canyons here―rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place. . ."
Behind them, Dean focuses on the framed photo of a large animal on the wall. "Dude, look at the size of this friggin' bear."
". . .and a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure," Sam finishes his detailed account of the park, but his company has already moved on to other things.
Having enough of Sam's cold-shouldering, Riley joins the older brother across the room. Though he once again finds her presence irritating, Riley finds warmth around him. It's more than she can say for Sam.
"I bet," she says, "you wouldn't even know what to do with a bear that big."
Dean rolls his eyes, teasing. "And you would?"
"Mmhm. Unlike you, my dad did take my brother and me hunting. Actual hunting, in the woods, with proper humane traps and everything." She smiles, proud of herself for being able to one-up the brothers in some capacity of this crazy situation she's in. At least if they are planning on dragging her out to the middle of God knows where, she's got the foreknowledge and skills needed for survival.
Dean's answering smile is playful and reminds her of how Sam's used to be. She doesn't tell him that either.
"You three aren't planning to go out near Black Water Ridge, by any chance?"
"Oh, no, sir. We're environmental-study majors from U.C. Boulder―just working on a paper."
"Recycle, man," Dean chuckles. Oh, the trouble they get into.
Riley catches herself mid-eye roll. A bad habit formed at the expense of her best friend's atrocious inability to lie; the past few weeks only prove more how lucky he is to have her along. Dean nudges her in the ribs and she busies herself studying the rest of the photos on the wall, feigning colour-coded note-taking in her notebook to aide Sam's cover story. He owes me big time for this.
The park ranger isn't convinced and eyes the trio knowingly before offering up his opinion. "Bull. You're friends with that Hailey girl, right?"
"Yes," Dean says, considering the accusation. Riley wishes he hadn't. "Yes, we are, Ranger. . .Wilkinson."
"Well, I will tell you exactly what I told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Black Water until the 24th. So it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it? Tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother's just fine."
"We will. Well, that Hailey girl's quite a pistol, huh?"
"That is putting it mildly."
Riley wonders what Dean's angle is, but he's gotten more out of Ranger Wilkinson in two minutes than Sam would've with his not-so-clever lie. Even she has to admit, though his methods are unconventional and border on weird, Dean gets the job done.
"Actually, you know what would help, is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date."
They wait patiently as Ranger Wilkinson prints off the permit, telling them as he does so that he technically shouldn't be showing it to them since they aren't immediate family. But if it gets them out of his office, then what's the harm? Plus, it should keep Hailey from coming back for a while, and for that he's grateful.
Riley becomes more stunned at Dean Winchester's existence by the second.
"Are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam asks his brother once they're back outside.
"What do you mean?" Dean answers, and Riley wonders the same.
"The coordinates point to Black Water Ridge. So what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. Why even talk to this girl?"
"Maybe we should know what we're waking into," Dean says. "Before we actually walk into it."
"What?"
"Since when are you 'shoot first, ask questions later,' anyway?"
"Since now."
Riley knows he means since Jessica died, but she keeps that to herself too.
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