Roads Untraveled ~ Sam Winchester

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen - Nature Versus Nurture

In the rear seat of the Impala on the way back to the Bunker, Eden sat with Jack's head in her lap, stroking his hair gently as he slept with a small smile on her face.
"Hey, we've still got at least twelve hours until we're home." Sam spoke up, looking at his brother. "Do you want me to drive?"
"Do I ever want you to drive?" Dean countered.
The younger brother sighed.
"Look, losing mom and Cas, it's a lot to process, Dean. Especially on no sleep. And the kid-"
"The kid?" Dean cocked a brow. "Come on, man, you know how this plays out. Look, when we try to bend the rules - pretending that the bad guys aren't so bad or thinking that things are gunna get fixed, that's when the people that we care about get hurt. And then we end up doing what we shoulda done in the first place, which is end the problem. So, this time, let's start with the obvious; as soon as I find out a way to take care of 'it.'"
"Are you seriously still on that crap?" Eden hissed, earning a glare from the older brother in the rear view mirror.
"Dean, the 'problem' might be our only shot at saving mom." Sam said.
"Mom's gone." Dean replied, glancing to his younger brother. "There's no fixing that."
"I'm not so sure." Eden frowned.
"Oh, what a surprise. Vampy Pants has an opinion." Dean huffed.
The girl's brows raised at his audacity.
"You can call me Eden if you're going to be like that. That nickname is reserved for when you're not being a dick." She sneered. "I was just going to say that if there's one thing I know about Lucifer, it's that he hates being alone. Abandonment issues one-o-one. That's why he stuck around with me for as long as he could my whole life. So, he'd need some company in the apocalypse world. The likeliest scenario is that he's torturing her."
"That's comforting..." Dean grumbled. "And doubtful."
"It gives you a reason to move forward and try and get her back." Eden pointed out. "But, you won't be able to do much if you're starving yourself of sleep. So, listen to your brother and either let him drive or stop at a hotel in the next town."
The older brother glanced to Sam, who shrugged.

"This is a bad idea, we shoulda just kept driving." Dean grumbled, walking through the halls of hotel they'd found.
"Dude, you were hallucinating sheep on the road." Sam retorted. "We need a few hours."
They entered their hotel room, a large one with a red and blue colour scheme.
"This is nice." Jack grinned, looking around at everything.
"Let's ward the room, get a bite, get a few hours of sleep - hit the road first thing." Sam suggested.
Whilst the brothers and Eden warded the place, Jack sat on the end of a small bed in the corner of the room, flicking on the TV, entirely entranced by Scooby-Doo on the screen.
"Hey, no." Dean walked over, grabbing the remote from the top of the box.
"But-" Jack cut himself off as Scooby spun his tail around, making a propeller as he sat on a log on a lake.
Dean lost himself for a moment, chuckling at the cartoon.
"No." He quickly said again, turning the TV off. "And you're on the couch, sport. Alright? So, why don't you go over there, sit down and read a book. We're outta here in a few hours."
He threw a Bible onto the couch across the room.
Jack sat down, picking up the book and turning to a random page.
"Jack, hey, I can take the couch. Why don't you-"
"No, no. It's fine." The boy smiled, cutting Sam off. The Winchester nodded, grabbing his backpack. Jack turned to Eden, who sat down next to him. "Would you read to me?" He held out the book for her.
"Of course I can." Eden replied, taking it from him to find Genesis.
"If you're gunna do that crap, do it quietly." Dean grumbled, turning to face away from them in bed.
Eden rolled her eyes before sitting back in the couch to get comfortable. Jack rested his head on her shoulder so that he could read along with her.
"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. Now, the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. God said 'let there be light', and there was light." As she read, Sam watched from his bed, smiling to himself.
He couldn't help but think what an incredible mother she'd make when the time came for them to have their own children. He closed his eyes, drifting off to the sounds of her hushed voice reading the passages.
Every so often, Jack would stop her and ask questions and she would answer them honestly. Soon enough, they'd given up on reading the bible entirely and resorted to Eden telling Jack the story of the beginning, plus her life and family in the Garden, in her own words.