Chapter Text
He was driving through the night in his precious car, windows down music up, though he’d stopped singing along hours ago. He was exhausted. Went to fix a car for one of Bobby's clients. It was a 20 hour drive but it was worth it. He loved driving through states and helping Bobby. He would do anything for him. He owed him a lot, and besides, he always gets the weekends off, unless he’s filling in for one of his co-workers. He loved his job in the police department just like his dad. Thinking about him, was not a good idea; his heart throbbed in pain. He shook his head and looked at the clock it was 2 am, so he decided that in the next town he's getting some shut _eye, but then his green eyes caught something moving on the side of the road. She was wearing a blue dress and walking ever so slow. He slowed down too. Leaving her wasn't an option not in his moral code. He stopped the car and called out for her.
"Hey! You want a ride, or something?"
But she kept walking slow like she didn’t even see the car.
Ok. plan B He jumped out of the car and walked beside her, looking at her clothe. He could see the mud on it and she was bare feet. Her golden hair was every which way. Now he was really concerned and tried again.
"Hi there… Are you alright?"
She didn't acknowledge him at all, so he put his hand on her shoulder and moved in front of her. She blinked and looked stunned, like he just puffed up from out of nowhere.
"Are you alright?" he repeated.
She started blinking and swallowing repeatedly.
"Are you ok? Do you want water?"
He wasn’t sure what to say or what to do. She kept swallowing, she closed her eyes a little and opened her mouth, but there were no words. She liked her dry lips and tried again.
"l... Um..."
Her voice was hoarse, like she had been screaming or like it had been a long time since she used it, and he saw tears in her golden eyes. Oh no no no He could handle anything; Hell, put him in front of death and he wouldn’t budge, but tears… Maaaan that’s unfair.
"Ok... Ok... It’s ok." He tried to reassure her.
He let his hand move to her back,guided her to the impala. He opened the front door for her, she got in, her legs still out and her back turned against the driver's seat
“Ok?!” He said mostly to himself.
"Stay here."
She just looked at him with glazed, unfocused eyes, shinning with unshed tears. Her head titled up, exposing her neck and she swallowed hard. He moved fast, grabbed his duffel and gave her a small bottle of water. She took it in her hand but just stared at it, so he put his hand on her‘s and guided the bottle to her cracked lips. She took a small sip and her eyes lit up like she hadn’t known it was water or maybe she didnt knew she was thirsty. She drank fast and breathed through her nose.
"Ok. Take it easy."
He frowned a little looking down at her feet then kneeled down , took off her muddy socks, cleaned her feet the best he could, made sure she wasn’t injured and pulled two socks from his duffel and put them on her feet. She was freezing. When he looked up at her, she was watching him with a blank face.
“Sooo…" He said, trying to break the ice.
"…I’m Dean. Dean Winchester." And gave her one of his famous smiles.
"What’s your name?"
She cleared her throat and said;
"I'm… I… Um… " She looked horrified. "I don’t know.She whispered, dropping her head and clenched the empty bottle in her hands Oh no no no don’t cry, please don’t cry. He put his hand on hers, maybe to warm her a little or maybe to give her courage
"Hey, hey. It’s ok, it’s alright. What’s the last thing you remember?"
He said in a soft tone almost whispering. She looked in his eyes and bit her lips and swallowed hard again. She rolled her eyes up frowning a little like she was thinking really hard. She kept chewing, and when her teeth finally released the abused lip, it began to shake. Tears slipped down her cheeks.
"I don’t know." She said.
Good work Winchester!! God, I’m such an idiot. Charlie would’ve never made her cry.
She was so good at comforting victims. He could always rely on her; he was good at getting them away from danger, but the aftermath was always Charlie's thing.
"Hey, hey. It’s ok, you’re safe, you’re ok." He soothed.
"You’re not hurt, are you?"
She shook her head no, sucking her bottom lip.
"Look everything’s gonna be alright. It will come back to you, just give it time ok?"
She nodded.
"So here’s the plan; I’m gonna take you with me to the next town, to the police station they’ll take good care of you. Is that ok?"
She nodded again with tears rolling down at a slow pace now. He grabbed her feet, tucked them in the car, stood up and closed her door gently. He climbed in his seat and threw the duffel on the back seat.
"All set?" Dean asked.
She nodded.
"Here, drink some more water."
She complied .
"Are you hungry?" He asked.
She shook her head no. Ok He started the car and the music was so loud she flinched.
"Oh! I’m sorry."
He immediately turned it off.
"It’s ok." She said.
Smiling now that she realized what it was. The tears had stopped, to his relief. He pulled his jacket from the back seat and helped her getting it on. He closed the windows; it was a September night and she was cold like ice. He offered to open the heater, but she just shook her head and they got on the road again.
She was silently sniffling from time to time.
A few minutes into the drive, she pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged herself, laid her head on her knees, facing him.
He looked at her puffy eyes and red nose. staring at him he felt uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure what to say.
"Hey that’s a cute necklace you’ve got there."
He pointed at her direction. It was sticking out in an odd angle from between her knees. Cute!? Dean really!?! When do you even use that word…? Well apparently now.
She frowned a little, looking where he was pointing. She held the small golden dolphin in her hands for a few seconds, then shepulled it off her head.lt tangled a bit in her hair but soon it was dangling from her delicate fingers while she was staring at it.
Dean focused on the road again. He wasn’t comfortable with the silence so he turned on the music. He almost didn't hear her when she whispered.
"It’s from my little brother"
Then she started laughing and saying.
"It’s from my brother. For my 18th birthday. Isn’t that great? I have a brother!"
"Yeah baby brothers are the best thing in the world!"
after sex and maybe pie .
Her happy expressions crashed suddenly dropped.
"I don't know what he looks like." She whispered again.
"Hey its ok. That means you have a brother who is looking for you. And it's only a matter of days before you'll be home."
"Really?!" She was back to smiling and beaming.
"Yeah of course! If I went missing, Sammy would turn the world upside down until he’d find me. "
"Tell me about your little brother."
"Well, Sammy is a very smart lawyer. He's married to Jess they…"
He kept on talking. He didn’t know what it was about her that made her so easy to talk to, or maybe because he was talking about Sam.
"…so when he opened the bathroom door, his hand was stuck to the handle."
"Nooo." She said in disbelief.
"Oh yes. And the best part…" He said chuckling. "He had to rip the whole door knob off, so he could use the bathroom."
"You can’t do that. That’s not nice."
He chuckled. "Sure you can. It’s called a prank war. It’s fun. Do you know what he did?"
"No." She said laughing.
"He put super glue in my hairbrush."
"Oh nooooo!! "
"Yep! I ended up in the ER with the brush stuck in my head, a crazy do and my hand glued to the brush. My hair wasfunny for a long time."
Now she was giggling how adorble His heart skipped a beat. The necklace was tangled around her hand. She kissed it with a sigh, closed her hand tight and leaned against the door.
"Are you tired? Go to sleep."
"I’m not sleepy. I don't want to sleep."
The way she said it,triggered a memory of a stubborn six year old Sammy.
"Ok" He said, with half a smile and turned off the radio and soon enough her eye lids got heavy and began to drop. She fought it trying to keep them open. A battle she lost.