There Will Be Peace (9): Awkward
Chapter 9: Awkward
Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader
Chapter Summary: Y/N and Dean deal with the aftermath of that night. Stuck in the middle, Sam tries to push Dean in the right direction.
Word Count: 1.7K+
Warnings: canon-typical language, violence,
A/N: I rewrote this chapter LOL but anyway, here's Chapter 9! I've finished the drafts so I'll likely be posting every week to finish up this series! If you read and liked it, do leave a footprint behind! Thanks for bearing with me!
SERIES MASTERLIST || DEAN WINCHESTER MASTERLIST
Chapter 8 || Chapter 10
Sam glanced at his brother driving, his eyes trained on the road, before he glanced in the rearview mirror, watching for a moment as you stared out at the scenery that was rushing by. He held back a sigh as well as the very real urge to smack his brother upside the head.
As much as he hated to admit it, the stubborn gene definitely ran in the blood of a Winchester.
Meanwhile, your eyes wandered quietly towards the back of Dean’s head, before you quickly looked away just in case he chose that moment to look into the mirror.
It had been two weeks.
Two long excruciating weeks.
Other than the horrible feeling that had settled in the base of your stomach that smelled suspiciously of rejection, as well as the lingering feelings of guilt that you and Sam had talked about, you also felt sorry that Sam seemed to be stuck in this awkwardness along with the two of you.
Dean barely spoke to you for the first few days, and you thought maybe he was pissed off. Then the awkward one-liners came, and it was suddenly as if the months you’d spent together had disappeared in a flash.
After the first week, the thought that you should leave the Winchesters entered your mind for the first time. You talked yourself out of it in no time, based on none of the practical reasons, but the fact that you couldn’t imagine not hearing Sam and Dean bickering in the next room, or the smell of pies or burgers wafting in when Sam returned from a food run, or even the purr of the Impala as you sat in the back seat like you were now.
And you knew you were screwed.
So you did the next best thing you could. You acted as normal as you could with Dean, to save Sam the awkwardness of being stuck in the middle. Besides, if you pretended hard enough, maybe you could go back to normal as well and forget about that night, even though you were sure it was the best night of your life since everything had changed, where you felt semi-normal, and semi-happy.
The fact that the three of you were headed to check out a potential case was less than ideal now, since there wasn’t much research you could do to distract yourself.
The only silver lining right now was that Dean was finally turning into town.
Dean glanced at you from where you were standing at the counter, holding back a sigh, especially since his younger brother seemed to be watching him.
He knew he’d screwed up the moment he’d crossed the line. He cared about you and he hadn’t meant for it to happen like this. So, he’d pulled back enough to give you space. He’d been there throughout the time when Sam was struggling with Jessica’s death, he’d had struggles of his own, and he knew that moving on or being happy after such a devastating loss was easier said than done. So, he wanted to try to balance it out without making things too hard for you.
Dean had been disappointed that you hadn’t said anything to him, but he wanted to give you space so he hadn’t said anything either. But now, he was wondering if that was the wrong move.
“Dean.”
Dean looked up at his brother, putting on a nonchalant expression that he kind of knew wasn’t fooling Sam.
“What?” Dean asked, his voice half exasperated.
Sam gave his older brother a look. “What the hell are you doing?”
Dean didn’t answer him.
“I don’t care what happened between the both of you. Take your head out of your ass and fix it.”
Dean opened his mouth to argue and then promptly closed it again as you reached the table. It didn't go unnoticed.
Ignoring the sinking feeling in your chest, you pretended like you hadn’t noticed, just handing him the drink you’d gotten before sliding Sam his.
You remained silent throughout the meal, trying to ignore the invasive shadow of your siblings’ deaths every time Dean opened his mouth and said something to annoy Sam. You even tried to ignore the way your heart skipped a beat when Dean laughed, or did anything, really.
Maybe staying with the Winchesters wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, huh?
You ignored the mocking voice in your head and took a breath, just as a radio crackled from the next table where two uniformed officers were sitting.
The voice from the other end of the radio crackled, but you and Sam were close enough to hear what they were saying - another body.
Sam glanced at you and you could feel Dean’s eyes on you as well but you swallowed whatever was in your mouth and nodded at them. “Come on, let’s go.”
You'd tried to bargain to stay behind for "research” but Sam had given you a look, telling you that he wasn't buying any of it.
You knew Sam was going to try to push both you and Dean to make the trip to the coroner’s office, for more reasons than one.
Honestly, under any normal circumstances, both Dean and Sam would try pushing the other to take the dead body duty after hearing "liquefied insides".
However, you also knew that this wasn't the only reason Sam was doing this.
Dean, on the other hand, wormed out of it by announcing he was going to head down to the station and heading out the door before Sam could object.
You weren't sure if you were more relieved or disappointed, but you felt Sam's eyes on you. You swallowed your feelings down and cleared your throat. “Come on, let's go."
The coroner's office wasn't far, but Sam still managed to sneak an unbelievable amount of glances at you.
You ignored him, choosing to avoid it altogether. After all, you had decided you were going to keep things as normal as possible so that Sam wouldn't be stuck in the middle.
Lost in your thoughts, you barely noticed that you had almost reached the office. By the time you'd actually snapped out of it, you were already standing at the door, while the coroner sitting behind the desk gave you a curious look.
You glanced up at Sam, who nodded at you.
"Agents Barnes and Tate," You introduced, both you and Sam pulling your badges out at almost the same time.
The coroner stood, nodding politely. "Agents, you here about the three bodies?"
Sam nodded, as the coroner handed the reports over to the both of you.
"The sheriff called ahead, said you might need to see these."
Both you and Sam quickly leafed through the reports and asked to see the body of the latest victim, liquefied insides and all.
“Next disgusting body is yours." Sam shot at Dean the moment you both returned to the motel.
Dean couldn't suppress the smile that crept onto his face.
You smiled as well, almost feeling like things were back to normal until you locked eyes with Dean and felt your heart give a jolt.
The smile froze on Dean's face and he cleared his throat, turning away.
Sam rolled his eyes but you didn't say anything, merely grabbing your laptop and settling into a corner of the room to start your research and continue pretending that nothing had happened between you and Dean.
You weren't sure how long you'd sat huddled in that corner, narrowing down possible monsters that could turn someone's insides into that gross mush that you and Sam had seen earlier. Your concentration was only broken by Dean’s phone ringing.
You glanced up, watching Dean's expression switch to slight confusion before he ended the call with, "We'll be right there."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Another one?"
Dean shook his head," The sheriff said there's evidence we should take a look at.”
Sam nodded grabbing his jacket before glancing at you.
You nodded at both of them. "I'll be here.”
Dean nodded. “We'll call if we get anything useful."
You waved casually as they both left, your eyes traveling back to your laptop screen, just grateful that the case seemed to have turned both yours and Dean’s focus elsewhere, at least for the time being.
Dean and Sam rolled up to the Sheriff’s office, heading straight in.
“Agents, that was quick.”
Dean nodded. “You mentioned footage of the latest murder?”
The sheriff shook his head. “Not exactly.”
Sam frowned in confusion.
“We’ve got some footage from the area where the last victim was last seen. We barely managed to salvage a small part of it before the camera seems to blur out.”
That was never a good sign.
Dean and Sam leaned in as the sheriff turned his computer screen toward them before playing the video.
The footage showed the man turning a corner, seeming to pass someone else on the street. It was a split second from the footage that anyone else would have missed. Anyone except a hunter looking out for it. Dean didn’t miss the flash of blue eyes, and by the look Sam had given him, Sam hadn’t either.
A djinn.
Sam stayed to get a copy from the sheriff as Dean hurried out of the building, his phone already pressed to his ear.
As the ringing in his ear died out, Sam caught up with Dean.
“What did she say?”
Dean shook his head. “Come on, let’s get back. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Dean practically floored it all the way back to the motel.
The door to the motel was as they left it but as Sam creaked the door open, he noticed the table lying on its side.
“Dean.” Sam said in a low voice as they both instinctively drew their guns.
The room was empty.
Your phone was lying in the middle of the floor, the laptop strewn haphazardly in the corner like you’d gotten up in a hurry.
“She wouldn’t leave her phone unless…”
Dean didn’t need to finish his sentence.
“We’ll find her,” Sam reassured his brother, quickly bending down to pick up the laptop from the floor, his fingers already flying across the keyboard as he started typing.
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