Roads Untraveled ~ Sam Winchester

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Uncomfortable Conversations

Ten minutes later, when he got back inside, he looked around the room. Dean was on his laptop looking over some Dick Roman stuff, Meg was watching the scene unfold before her; that scene being Cas in an awkward position on the Twister mat and Elizabeth sat cross-legged a foot away from him with the spinner in front of her, spinning it occasionally.
"Left hand, red." She said quietly, as to not disturb the peace.
Cas frowned, trying to figure out how he was going to adjust his position without falling over, but eventually, he managed it.
Sam smiled at the sight. It was nice that the Angel and the Vampire were finally getting along and doing something as mundane as playing a kid's game together. He went to go and sit at the dining table, watching them play, finally feeling some sort of contentment for the first time in who knew how long. But he knew that this was only the calm before the storm.

"There's no real point in looking for a tell, they all downloaded Dick's brain, they all got the same tells." Dean grumbled, frustrated and clearly bored of looking at the Leviathan's stolen face on his laptop.
"Alright, then maybe the real question is 'what would the real Dick be doing?'" Sam chuckled humourlessly as he paced the room.
"Is that the best you can do? Idjits." Bobby's voice came out of nowhere, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room except Castiel.
"Bobby." Sam's voice was grave. "We didn't know if you'd-"
"Well you shoulda." Bobby interrupted. "You got the flask Dumb - you should've burned it right off." Dean went to speak, but their father figure continued. "I'm still just jonesing to go back - grab some poor bastard, kamikaze him going after Dick. It's bad." He paused, looking at the interview Dean had been watching of Dick on his laptop. The fury in his eyes said far more than his mouth ever would.
Dean closed the laptop with a small huff, then rose to his feet.
"Let's be real." Bobby continued, looking to Sam. "I damn near killed you - and that woman." He turned to Elizabeth, who was now sat at the dining table playing Uno with Castiel. "And thank you for stopping me."
Elizabeth simply glanced at him and nodded before going back to her game.
"It wasn't your fault, Bobby. Not really." Sam told him.
"Right." Bobby sighed. "That's just what ghosts turn into. I really bet the farm I could outsmart that."
"So, what's it feel like?" Dean asked.
"What? Going vengeful?" Bobby retorted, earning half a nod from the older Winchester. The ghost sighed. "It's an itch you can't scratch out. Look, I'm done. Go get Dick. But don't do it because you think it'll scratch the itch. Do it 'cause... It's the job. And when it's your time, go... Go."

"You stay here a minute. Keep yourself occupied. I'll be back." Elizabeth whispered to Castiel.
He smiled up at her a nodded as he set up a new board game.
Elizabeth walked over to her three boys as they stood around a coal barbeque, the flask that held Bobby's ghost here in Dean's hand.
"Ready to go?" She asked the ghost.
"As I'll ever be." He sighed, turning to address the Winchesters as well. "Here's to... Running into you guys on the other side. Only... Not too soon, alright?"
"Goodbye, Bobby." Elizabeth hid her sadness behind a smile, but the tear that slipped its way down her left cheek gave the game away.
No one could really say anything else. So Dean looked to Sam for some sort of silent confirmation. Then, he simply threw the flask down on the burning coals.
They watched it melt away for a few moments, then caught sight of the deep orange glow that overtook Bobby's body. They could barely look as he gradually disappeared.

"Cas, I need a wingman." Dean said, approaching the dining table as Castiel set up another board game.
Elizabeth looked between the two of them with mild awkwardness.
"Dean..." Castiel sighed.
"You don't wanna jump into the jaws of death, that's fine. How about we run a little errand?" Dean proposed.
Castiel looked to the Vampire, who shrugged.
"You can go if you want to. I'll clean up here." She said.
The Angel sighed once more and stood up, nodding.
As soon as they left, with the touch of Castiel's hand on Dean's shoulder, Elizabeth felt a little lost. She packed away the board games strewn about the place and sat on the couch with a glass of blood just as Sam came through the door.
"I think your engine's okay now. But I dunno. You'd have to check it over to be sure." He said, going to the fridge for a beer before sitting down beside her.
"We'll find out when I start her up and ride into battle tomorrow. If you've screwed it, I'll screw you." She glared.
Sam broke out into a chuckle.
"Promise?" He smirked.
"Not like that, moron." She giggled, nudging his shoulder with hers. "I'll use actual screws."
"Ouch." Sam grimaced, unable to keep the smile from his face.
"Oh, I'm serious. You think your brother loves that Impala? He has no idea what loving a car looks like. I bought my baby brand spankin' new - straight off the forecourt in sixty-nine." Elizabeth smirked.
"Why'd you ask me to take over then?" The younger brother asked.
"Because it was a step." Elizabeth sighed, sipping her glass of blood. "I don't do apologies or forgiveness, so this was a start on it getting better. Because being mad at you sucks."
"But I kind of deserve it." Sam nodded in conclusion.
"You're damn right you do, Samuel Winchester... But, like I say, this is a step. You were right - we could die tomorrow and I don't want a fight being the last thing either of us do." The Vampire told him.
Sam processed what she'd said for a moment before leaning over and taking the glass from her, placing it down on the coffee table along with his beer.
"So let's make sure it's something else." He uttered, cupping her face to pull her in for a kiss.

Dean stepped into the cabin, took one breath and grimaced.
"You guys are freakin' disgusting, you know that?" He pointed a strong finger at the couple sat at the dining table drinking their respective drinks.
"You were gone. We had some making up to do." Elizabeth shrugged, sipping her blood. "You were the one who asked when we were gunna sort our crap out. We did. You should be happy, Dean."
"Consider this me getting you back for all the times I've had to smell your sex over the years." Sam smirked.
"It smells odd in here." Cas commented as he walked into the cabin passed Dean, going over to the kitchen to finish the drying up from earlier.
"You got Baby back?" Elizabeth asked the older brother.
"You're damn right. Dick's expecting us and it'd be rude if we didn't make an entrance." He smirked, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

The rest of the evening was spent playing a game of Monopoly, at Castiel's request. He seemed to be being extra nice to Elizabeth at this point, letting her off a couple of times when she hit his Boardwalk, complete with three hotels.
"Hey, how come you're giving her an easy run?" Dean complained.
"Because she's been kind to me today and I want to return the favour." Cas replied. "And it makes the game longer... This is nice. We should make this a weekly thing."
Sam chuckled, rolling the dice for his turn.
"I'm only playing this time because we're probably all gunna be Dick lunch tomorrow." Dean mumbled.
"If you're bored, go put one some music or something." Elizabeth suggested.
Dean's eyes lit up and he couldn't slip off his dining chair fast enough.
He ran outside and blasted his Led Zeppelin mixtape from the Impala, leaving the front door open to let in some air, plus the music.
"Better?" Elizabeth cocked a playful brow as the older brother sat back down.
"Much. Now let me smoke all of you so we can get some shut eye." Dean smirked, moving to take his turn.