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In the kitchen, the noise of overheated butter popping filled the air, followed by swearing. With curiosity, Sam slowly stuck his head around the corner, where he saw the other half of Roman struggling with the stove.
“You know you’ve got the heat too high?” He made his way over to her, looking down at the pan of… what looked like the war remains of a pancake. She only returned an angry look, scraping the mess into the trash. Sam reached over and turned the heat down, Tonya shooing him away and turning it halfway up.
“I know what I’m doing.” She narrows her eyes. “My dad taught me how to make pancakes, okay hick?”
“No need to be hateful.” He returned her energy.
Tonya shook her head and poured more batter into her pan, watching it slowly bubble and form around the ring of butter. She pushed a strand of hair back, only for it to fall back over her shoulder, before she could react as the larger hands of Winchester pushed it behind her ear.
“Get your hands away from my face.” She huffed, reaching for her cup of tea.
“Why are you cooking? I thought you and the other guy didn’t like cooking?” Sam leaned against the wall nearby, watching her without getting too close, like an angry cat.
“I don’t.” She set her mug down. “Renata went with Dean for something and… I wanted to repay her. She was very kind to me the other night, and it only felt right.”
“That’s sweet.” He smiled a bit, she didn’t smile back. Her face remained very distant and cold.
“Thank you.” She turned back to the stove., As she reached for the spatula, the pan handle pushed against her stomach, knocking the pan onto her arm. She yelped a bit, turning the heat of the stove off and immediately wiping away at the batter and oil on her wrist. Sam bolted forward, looking at her arm.
“Are you okay? Let me see.” He took her arm and turned it over, Tonya practically slid a bit with his grip. “It’s not a bad burn; run it under cold water.”
Tonya took her arm back and went towards the sink, turning the cold water on and wincing as she slowly held her arm under it. She glanced behind her to see Sam still standing there.
“Come to watch the circus?” She said sarcastically, Sam rolled his eyes a bit.
“No, I'll make sure you're okay.” Once again, she returned her energy.
“What does it matter to you?” After a while, she finally took her arm out, looking at it. “Sometimes a person doesn't need to be constantly smothered.”
“Smothered?? I'm being kind!” He made a scowling face. “Believe it or not, some people care for you.”
Tonya looked up at him, her face shifting to confusion, then once again neutral. She turns on her heel and makes her way to the infirmary. Sam watches her leave and sighs.
“Well then.” Upon Tonya's leaving, the bunker's entrance slammed shut. Renata walked in with a grocery bag, Dean following her, holding some sheets of organized papers. Sam nodded at Dea, who walked out of the room towards C, as who… let’s be f, spawned in the second he realized Dean was back. Renata looks at the pan and batter mess with a confused look.
“What happened here?” She set the bags down and started cleaning up. Sam shook his head.
“That other girl came in here and made a mess, hurt herself.”
“Tonya.” Renata started looking at Sam with a furrowed brow.
“Huh?” He looks at her, taken aback; he wasn’t paying attention after the event that just happened.
“She has a name, it’s Tonya.” Sam nods, apolog. Zing. Renata shakes her head and puts the pan into the sink. “Where did she go?”
“O,h she went to the infirmary, I think.” Sam walked over to help her clean the mess, but she stopped him.
“I’ve got this dear, but if you could be a peach...” She reaches into the bag, shuffling them around, before pulling out a tube of Neosporin. “I got his because Finn’s been getting some bad scrapes running around his bunker, but I think Tonya needs it a bit more.” She smiles at him as she hands him the tube. Sam nods as he leaves the kitchen.
In the infirmary, Tonya was going through the drawers, holding a thing of gauze. Sam knocked on the door, shouting ‘Knock-knock’ as he walked in. Tonya looked over but went back to searching almost instantly.
“Lively crowd we have today.” He chuckled to himself as he went over to her. “Renata wanted me to give you this.”
“Didn’t realize she was back yet.” Tonya sighs, sitting down, obviously tired. Sam sat next to he, opening the Neosporinin tube and taking her wrist. Tonya was too tired to object, just letting him do his thing.
“What, no witty comment?” He spread the medicine along her burn, following her wrist with his fingers. Tonya didn’t look over as, set the gauze next to him.
“I don't think you're smothering.” Sam raised his eyebrow, stopping to look at her face. She still didn’t look over. “I know you all are used to being overly caring of others, and it's nice to be cared about… at least to most people it is… but it makes me feel weak.”
There was a moment of silence.
“I don’t like being weak.” She finally returned his glance. “You understand, Dean is the same way.”
She took her wrist away and started wrapping it, pulling the gauze tight to secure it to her arm.
“You aren't weak, sometimes, some help is necessary.” he holds the tube up, attempting to be symbolic., Tonya snickers a bit, covering her face a bit.
“You're an idiot.”
She stands up, ready to leave the infirmary, Sam joining her. “You know, Renata probably knows more than we do about pancakes.”
“You sound cheesy. stop.” She rolls her eyes and leaves the room. Sam follows behind her.
“It wasn’t that bad!” He catches up to her, looking over with a stupid grin. Tonya returns a small smile, putting her hands in her pocket as Sam does an after-you motion in front of the kitchen entrance. She simply shakes her head and walks in with him behind her.
Dean, from a distance, clicks his tongue. “Since when do those two hang out?” Renata, next to him, shrugged with a sly smile before slipping into the kitchen to ensure no more chaos started.