Searching Purgatory [COMPLETED]

Chapter Fifteen

Meg placed an 'l' on the board and finished spelling the word 'colloquial.'

"Wow," Cas murmured, counting up the points she'd just earned and recording the number on the score sheet sitting on the table in front of him. "You have a very wide ranged vocabulary."

Meg grinned widely. "Why thank you, Clarence." She shifted her gaze to look at Sam who was sitting across the table from her and Cas. "Your turn, Sam."

He looked at her, obviously distracted. "Are you guys sure Lauren's going to be alright? She's been asleep for a long time..."

Meg smirked. "She'll be fine, lover boy. You gonna play or not?"

Sam glanced down at the board to catch up on what he missed. "How have you not won yet, Meg?"

She shrugged. "Turns out the angel on my shoulder is pretty good competition when it comes to Scrabble."

Sam placed a few tiles on the board before pushing his chair away from the table. "I should go check on Lauren--just to make sure she's okay."

Meg smiled at him. "Don't be gone too lone. We still have a game to play."

Sam returned the smile, grateful that Meg seemed to understand, and nodded. "I'll be right back to finish playing." He exited the war room and made his way down the hall to Lauren's room.

He knocked quietly before opening the door. Lauren was actually awake, which Sam was not expecting. She was sitting up and had pulled her hair back into some sort of bun. She was even eating the sandwich he had brought in earlier. She looked up when Sam walked inside and managed a smile.

He was glad too see that she was improving. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better than I thought I would be." She patted the mattress next to her and Sam sat down. "What about you?"

Sam raised a questioning eyebrow. "What about me?"

Lauren frowned. "Don't tell me the last three months were easy for you. I know you and I know that what I put you through..." She shook her head. "It was awful for me so I can't begin to pretend that I know how you felt."

Sam sighed. "I'm just glad you're back and alive."

Lauren brushed his hair back from his face and rested her hand against his cheek. "I'm really sorry about...well, about all of it."

He smiled sadly and shifted so he could press his lips into her palm. He moved her hand, holding it between both of his and leaning forward to kiss her softly. "Don't worry about me. I understand why you did what you did. You were trying to protect the people you loved and I would have done the same thing. But you have to promise me something now."

Lauren nodded vigorously. "Anything."

"No more secret rendezvous with your dad, okay?" It was weird referring to Crowley as Lauren's dad... "If he shows up, you need to tell me or Dean or somebody. Preferably me."

She smiled and nodded again.

"I need you to promise," Sam insisted.

"I promise."

* * * * * * * * * *

It took a second for Zoe to register that Benny was actually kissing her. His hands moved from her shoulders to her waist and he pulled her closer to him.

That was when it kicked in. When she could feel his body pressed against hers. It suddenly occurred to her that a vampire she'd met a day ago was kissing her and she panicked. She pressed against his chest (his bare, wet chest), hoping he would get the message.

At first she was afraid that Benny wouldn't care or couldn't tell that she didn't want to kiss him but he wasn't as thick as she'd assumed and he took a step back, releasing her.

Zoe immediately looked down, her face getting hot.

"I'll go get a fire started," Benny said simply before turning and swimming away.

Zoe convinced herself to look up a second later to see he was already on the river bank, throwing the wood into a pile.

Zoe mentally kicked herself. Why did she care if Benny kissed her or not? He was nice and he had taken her under his wing to show her the ropes.

You can't marry someone you just met. Zoe cursed the line from Frozen for entering her mind at that moment. She wasn't marrying Benny; just kissing him. She doubted she could even get married down here honestly... Despite not talking about marriage, she decided that the same principal applied to kissing and she would need to spend more time with Benny before deciding to kiss him.

She'd known Dean for four months and hadn't kissed him yet, not that that mattered anymore seeing as she was dead. But her life status hadn't changed her feelings for Dean (regardless of his permanent exasperating attitude at times) and she figured she could at least honor that by not jumping the first guy she met down here.

Funny that the dead were honoring the living.

Zoe stepped onto the banks and twisted her hair to get most of the water out of it. She had missed how Benny had started the fire, but the wood he'd gathered earlier was cracking and popping, flames dancing over the bark. She stared at it a moment, wondering what to say to Benny to end this eternal awkwardness, when something fell over her shoulders. She glanced behind her to see that Benny had draped his jacket over her shoulders.

He walked away to the fire, poking the logs with a stick. "Get some sleep, Zoe. I'll take first watch."

Zoe got the hint and found a nice looking pile of dirt and leaves. Curling up on the ground, she tucked his jacket around her and dozed off.

Don't be mad because it's about fifty words shorter than all my other chapters. I'm sorry! Anyway, I love you guys!

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