Hunter's Daughter

Phantom Traveler

In the Motel room Dean and Jessica are asleep with Alexandra lying on Jess's chest. All of a sudden the hotel door begins to open, Dean awakens and slips a hand under his pillow for a weapon. He didn't care about himself but he would go down fighting protecting Jess and Alex.As he turns to look, he sees Sam entering, carrying coffee and pastries.

"Morning, sunshine" Sam greets with a smile. 

Dean rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. What time is it? Knowing Sam it was bright and early Dean was going to kill him. "What time is it?" He asked groggily. 

"Uh, it's about five forty-five"

"In the morning?"

"Yep" 

Yup, I'm going to kill him. I hate getting up early. 

"Where does the day go?" Dean asked as he sat up. 

Dean looked at his brother and noticed the circles under his eyes. Sam may say he's sleeping but Dean knows he's lying. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Yeah, I grabbed a couple hours" 

"Liar. 'Cause I was up at three, and you were watching a George Foreman infomercial" 

"Hey, what can I say? It's riveting TV" 

Dean rolled his eyes. He does not get to drive away from the subject. This talk has been a long time coming and both Sam and Dean have been avoiding it long enough.

"When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?" 

"I don't know, a little while, I guess. It's not a big deal"

"Yeah, it is" Dean replied adamantly. Knowing Sam a little while was actually a long time and Dean knew exactly why he wasn't sleeping. If his theory was true it's been months since his brother had a decent sleep. 

"Look, I appreciate your concern—" 

"Oh, I'm not concerned about you. It's your job to keep my ass alive, so I need you sharp. Jess doesn't know enough to take over that job yet" 

Sam just shrugs. Dean internally sighed, it was time to face the roses. 

"Seriously, are you still having nightmares about Hadley?"

Sam crosses the room, sits on the other bed making sure not to disturb his girlfriend and daughter, he hands a coffee to Dean.

"Yeah. But it's not just her. It's everything. I just forgot, you know? This job. Man, it gets to you. I know Jess wants to do it as well and has been studying non stop, but I don't think she fully knows what it entails"

He's opening up, it's a start  Dean thought positively. He could've just given me sunshine and rainbows. 

"You can't let it...You can't bring it home like that. As for Jess it's her choice and as for what entails, I'm pretty sure she has a good idea" Dean advised 

"So, what? All this it...never keeps you up at night?" 

Dean shakes his head.

"Never? You're never afraid?"

"No, not really"

Sam reaches under Dean's pillow to pull out a large hunting knife and holds it up as evidence but Dean quickly snatches Dean  the knife back.

"That's not fear. That is precaution"

"All right, whatever. I'm too tired to argue" Sam relented dropping the matter. Dean wanted to talk more but figured it was better to let him rest.