Kingpin Motel (Supernatural G/T)

Chapter Five

"So you were attacked by a rat?" Sam said with an amused tone, trying to picture the scene in his head of Starla fighting off a rodent bigger than her. 

"Mouse, but yes. I'm fairly certain it didn't realize what I was and I just scared it. That motel is crappy, and too many seedy people stay there. Most of the time it was just teenagers trying to find a spot to do drugs. Every now and then I'd get lucky and someone would leave some food, but most of the time I went hungry. Anyway, I had just gone around the corner in the walls when the stupid thing lunged at me! I wound up cutting my face on the nails poking out of the wall."

"Ah, so the mouse didn't hurt you." With a deep chuckle, Sam pushed some of his brown locks out of his face. "At least you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm glad too. It scared me, but besides my face I was fine." Starla laughed and pushed herself to her feet in his palm. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure standing in the window and let out a startled scream. No one else was supposed to see her!

Sam had to use his other hand to cup it over the borrower, turning toward the window and laughed. "Starla, it's just Dean. Dean, you scared the hell out of her." Very carefully, he placed the teen on the dashboard of the Impala while opening the driver's side door to help Dean with the food.

"Whoops. Sorry. But if she was in your pocket like she should have been, she wouldn't have gotten scared." Dean said with a grumble, getting into the driver's seat with three separate to-go boxes in his arms. "Also, I could have gotten the door myself so screw you."  

"Excuse me for trying to help. Both you and her." Sam leaned back in his seat and let out a loud sigh. "Do you need me to hang on to the food? Or do you want to stick it in the backseat?"

"Sam, just get her hidden in your pocket then we'll talk. I don't want her to be seen by anything else, you know that we're constantly followed by different demons, creatures, whatever. Let's just hurry up." Dean looked his brother dead in his hazel eyes, his own green colored ones narrowed sternly.

Sam knew that look. It was almost just like one their dad would have. That look that said 'I'm going to be seriously pissed off and bitchy if I don't get my way and you don't listen.' So he cast an apologetic look toward Starla, who was just sitting silently and watching them with her tiny blue eyes. 

He didn't want to say anything. Instead, he again took this chance to marvel at how tiny everything on her was. Her hands are probably half the size of his fingernail, and her fingers were so small, so fragile looking. Reminding himself not to stare, Sam reached out and very cautiously pinched her sides between his thumb and index finger. "I'm going to put you back in my pocket, okay?"

Her small blue eyes turned and looked up at him with such a sad look, it churned his insides, his heart swelling with guilt. "Don't look at me like that, Dean's right. Starla, it'll be okay." 

"Can I please just ride on your shoulder? I'll be careful, I promise." Her small voice whispered so quietly that he almost didn't hear it. 

Sam's lips parted and he was again going to speak, but Dean's firm eyes were fixed on him with a warning look. He could read that one too. The 'If you don't do it I'll do it myself' sort of thing. "Sorry." The brown-haired male whispered as low as he could, hoping only the Borrower in his fingers would hear while he lowered her gently back down into his shirt pocket. 

Dean could see the look Starla gave him while she disappeared into Sam's pocket. It was pleading, and it made images flash in his mind of when she had begged to be let go when he and Sam first caught her. She was just a little girl then. Innocent, young, scared. Much like he was when that fire...Quickly he looked out the windshield and cleared his throat loudly. 

After handing the to-go boxes over to Sam, he put the car in gear and pulled out of the diner's parking lot to begin the drive back to the motel. He tried to shake those images from his mind by thinking of something else, but couldn't. 

Starla meanwhile had leaned back against Sam in the pocket, her arms folded over her chest while she stared at the dark cloth wall in front of her. If this was going to be the norm, she didn't know if she'd be able to take it. But if she could force herself to get used to it, maybe the ride wouldn't be so bad. 

"Instead of pouting, I need to suck it up. They're just trying to protect you. Be grateful." She scolded herself silently, Sam's heartbeat thundering loudly in her ears behind her. It was a very calming sound actually. She focused on that, counting each beat and listening to the pattern. 

Starla thought back to when the brothers had taken her just outside of the motel. They weren't supposed to leave that room until their father returned, but Sam had convinced Dean to do it just that one time. She thought about when that huge metal garbage truck drove by, honking it's very loud horn at a different car. She remembered almost falling off Dean's shoulder, and crying and covering her ears while Sam and Dean both tried to calm her. 

"We became fast friends. And I hope that lasts longer this time." Starla whispered to no one while she curled up against Sam's chest, letting the heartbeat and her own thoughts calm her the rest of the ride.