Sleeping At The Wheel

Aftermath Of A First Hunt

CHAPTER 15

Jade's POV

I looked back at Dean and my sister as Sam drove, seeing that Juniper was already sleeping. Dean was dozing off as his hand brushed against Juniper's arm gently, making little patterns on her skin as if he were painting a picture. He glanced up at me and sent me a slight nod and a reassuring smile, as if to tell me that everything would be fine.

As I looked forward again, I let a small smile onto my face. Dean and Juniper were cute together. When I first met Dean, I questioned Juniper's infatuation with him, but the more I got to know him and his brother, the more I saw how happy Dean and my sister were around each other.

Sam glanced up at the rearview mirror to check on Dean and Juniper, and smiled slightly as well. His smile soon turned to a frown, though.

"They're both asleep now. Hopefully they'll be okay." He mumbled.

I looked back again to see that Dean's eyes were closed, and his head was leaning against the window.

"I have no idea how either of them are very comfortable back there." I commented.

Sam chuckled at that. "I doubt that they are. But considering that they're both as sick as dogs, I would think that they don't care too much."

"Do you think they'll be alright?" I asked after a moment.

"The two of them? They won't settle for anything less than fine. Dean is... well, he's Dean. More stubborn than a bull. And if there's anything I've learned about Juniper since I've known her, its that she's just as stubborn as he is." Sam said confidently. "I'm sure that when they wake up, they'll feel much better."

I wondered if he really felt so confident about this situation or if he was acting for my benefit. Either way, I was glad that I had somebody to keep me from panicking. If it hadn't been for Sam, I probably would've freaked out the moment Juniper got knocked to the ground by that ghost.

"So," Sam said, gaining my attention. "How are you holding up?"

"Me?" I asked.

"Yeah, you just went on your first official hunt. It didn't exactly go as planned, but the two of us weren't too bad. Most people would be freaking out right about now."

"Trust me, I would be..." I trailed off, once again glancing back at Juniper and Dean. "But JJ back there was hurt, and still is, so I guess I'm currently in 'big sister' mode."

Sam smiled. "JJ? Is that your nickname for her?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I used to call her that when she was little. I wouldn't dare call her that now, though. She'd probably punch me."

"Hey, you never know." Sam replied. "She let's Dean call her Juni."

"That's because he was too stubborn about it to stop calling her Juni." I said with a small chuckle.

"He calls me Sammy, too. He likes to give people nicknames."

Sam and I kept our various conversations going for most of the rest of the ride home, mainly to keep ourselves awake. We had been awake as long, well, longer now, than Juniper and Dean, and even though they had finally gotten a chance to rest, Sam and I were still on the clock.

We finally got back to the bunker hours later. Dean had stirred and had been awake for maybe half an hour, but Juniper was still crashed. Sam offered to carry her inside when Dean ordered us not to wake her up.

I helped a still very exhausted and sick Dean get inside the bunker while Sam carried Juniper just behind us. Dean told us to bring Juniper to his room and that he would stay with her until she woke up.