Protective

"So we'll meet you at the bar in five?" you asked as you tossed your gun in and slammed the trunk of the car Sam had "borrowed" for your latest case.

The two men nodded and waved from their truck, engine loud enough to drown out any words they could have said and they started down the dirt road heading into town.

You looked over at Sam who was holding your passenger side door open for you waiting for you to get in. You used your thumb to wipe a stray drop of blood, not his, off his nose and kissed his cheek before climbing in. Your eyes were bright as you looked out into the now quiet night, not noticing Sam's pursed lips and wrinkled forehead as he got behind the wheel and started the car.

You sighed happily and looked over at him.

"That was fun, right? It's nice to have backup for once. Suddenly a rogue pair of vetalas doesn't seem so intimidating," you smiled over at him. But as the moonlight shone through the windshield you were able to see his tense face.

"What's wrong?" you asked putting your hand lightly on his knee.

He looked over and forced a small smile.

"Nothing, y/n," he replied. "Just tired. Do you really want to go meet them at the bar?" His focus was on the road once more, he was driving slowly, delaying your arrival.

"Yeah, I mean if it would have been just us hunting or just them, who knows how it would have gone down? We owe them a celebratory beer I think. Why're you being a party pooper? They were actually pretty nice for hunters."

"For hunters," he scoffed. He looked over at you and saw your expression of disapproval. "Sorry. It's just-we don't know them. They could have been anyone, they could have done anything."

"Yeah, but you gotta have some faith that the guy next to you's got your back when you're doing a job, Sammy. It's not like we had time to do a background check or anything. Hunting the same thing, just made sense to team up tonight. And it turned out great! So stop being grumpy and let's go get a drink!" you said, playfully shoving his shoulder and eliciting a small laugh from him.

The drive was short, you spent the next few minutes of it in comfortable silence. You sent a quick text to Dean, who was on his own recon trip with Cas, letting him know it was finished and that you and Sam were fine.

You arrived at the bar shortly, parking under a buzzing fluorescent bulb, one of two lights the lot had and gave Sam a bracing smile, wiggling your eyebrows at him.

The place wasn't as crowded as you expected for a Saturday night in hick-town, USA where there wasn't much else to do except drink and you spotted your fellow hunters at a table near the side of the place. It was funny, so many towns you'd been to and all the dive bars you'd end up at with the boys afterwards were practically copied and pasted. They smelled the same, had the same dim lighting, the faces blurred together. Except for Sam's, of course. His was the only one yours lit up for these days, anyway.

You felt his hand grab yours as you walked over to the table, somewhat of a surprise as he wasn't much for public displays. He was sweet, sure, but holding hands and gazing into your eyes when you were anywhere that wasn't the comfort of the bunker was rare to say the least. You raised your eyebrows at him, questioning, but he just smiled in response.

"We got started already, hope that's ok," the one you remembered introducing himself as Dave smiled as you sat down.

"We did order you both a drink, though," his partner, Gerald said.

"Thanks," you said as you and Sam sat down. You looked at Sam, elbowing him a bit.

"Right, thanks," he said, eyeing the two beers in front of you.

"That was a hell of a hunt, huh?" Dave asked, the gleam in his eye matching the amped up feeling you got after every successful hunt. It was too hard to settle down right after. The adrenaline pumping, the act of making the world just a little bit better giving you a high that you couldn't take straight back to the hotel for lights out. Bar trips were pretty much mandatory.

"I think Sam's takedown of that blonde deserves a cheers," Gerald declared, lifting his mug. Sam reached for yours before you had a chance with the pretense of handing it to you but it slipped out of his fingers, sloshing its contents all over the table.

"Crap! Sorry, y/n! Let's go to the bar and get you a new one. We'll grab the guys another while we're up there," Sam said, attempting to clean up what he could with the few napkins lying on the table. You eyed him suspiciously as the two of you got up and headed to the bar, Dave and Gerald laughing good-naturedly behind you.

"What was that, Sam?" You asked as you got to the bar and waited for the bartender to come over.

"It slipped-sorry, I didn't mean to make a mess," he shrugged.

"You've got the steadiest hands I've ever know. You're the anti-clutz. And you've been acting weird ever since we met those guys this evening. Like that tackle he was talking about with the vetala, Dave and I would have had a clear shot but you rushed out there and took it down before we got into place. What's the deal?"

"There is no deal. Must have been the adrenaline, that's all," he insisted. But he wasn't meeting your eyes; he was looking all around the bar, scanning the patrons, especially those closest to you and when another burly, biker-looking type sidled up to the bar on the other side of you, Sam immediately wrapped one arm around your waist pulling you closer to him. You looked up, about to question him again but he'd caught the bartender's eye and was already ordering a round for the table.

"Sam!" you finally said as the bartender went to pour your drinks. You grabbed his face with both your hands and turned him to face you. "Talk. To. Me. Since when are you into PDA? You're being alternate universe Sam tonight and I want to know why."

He couldn't help but laugh as you squeezed his cheeks with your palms on either side of his face. He took your hands in his.

"Ok. I'm sorry. I know I'm acting weird. It's just I've never seen you around other hunters besides me, and Dean, and Cas before. It's driving me kind of crazy. I never realized how rough they are, seeing them from the outside like this. And I know!" He stopped you before you could interrupt, "I know you were in the life before you met us and probably worked with a lot of other hunters. But seeing you go off to flank the vetalas with Dave earlier, being out of my sight with that guy who we'd just met, I didn't like it," he finally admitted.

"Well, I guess that's sweet...oh my god, is that why you spilled my drink, too?" You couldn't help but laugh, covering your mouth and trying to hide it. "Did you think they were trying to drug me or something?"

"Hey! Stranger danger is a real thing," Sam insisted trying to remain stone-faced as you laughed.

"Maybe so, but so is y/n danger. I know when I'm being messed with, Sam. And those guys aren't messing with us. I've been around enough hunters and people to be a pretty good judge of character. Those guys are harmless...well, at least to non-monster types," you said with a smirk, absently brushing Sam's hair off his forehead.

"Non-monster types," he repeated softly. "I just want to protect you."

"I know, and I appreciate that. Like I said, I need to know the guy next to me's got my back. But you, my knight in shining armor, spilling beer all over for me, I know your dorky little heart has all of me," you grinned.

You grabbed his shirt collar pulling him down to meet your lips as you gave him the most public kiss you'd shared. Figured you better make the most of it. You felt his lips curl against yours in a smile as he returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around your waist. While he was distracted you let your hand slide down his shirt to his jeans pocket, deftly swiping his wallet. You broke the kiss and slapped some cash on the bar as he realized what you'd done and laughed in awe at your brazenness. You looked back to the table to see Dave and Gerald pointedly averting their eyes from your and Sam's kiss and laughed as you grabbed two beers and Sam grabbed the others.

"Well, you're right about one thing," he said as you weaved through the tables.

"What's that?"

"Y/n danger is a real thing, you can't just kiss a guy like that."

You threw your head back laughing not needing to look behind you to know Sam was smiling at you. That was the thing about having a good partner; they always had your back.