Dean's Dixon

It never ends...

Dean had been on cloud nine since his conversation with June. He'd told Sam that he was hopeful this was the start... or restart of something big. Lori and Andrea had noticed the oldest Winchester being less mopey and while he hadn't given them a straight answer about his attitude change, his smile when they asked if it had something to do with June told them everything they needed to know. Of course there was one person still around that wanted to use Dean as a hood ornament and with his brother and sister gone, Merle unleashed all his irritation out on the camp. He was constantly harassing Dean, trying to pick a fight with him and Shane, and being an all around nuisance in the hopes that it would cause the kid to think twice about pursuing his sister. By the second day he had dampened Dean's excitement a little but still not enough to detour the young man from making things right.

"Winchester!"

"What now Merle?" Sam sighed, reminding himself that this was June's brother and killing him would only piss her off.

"Not you. Your brother."

"Right here. What'd-ya need?"

"I need for you ta get the idea of my sister outta your head."

"Why?"

"Cuz I said!"

"Great. I'll keep that in mind." He scoffed, shaking his head and going back to helping Dale with the RV.

"Ignore him Dean." Glenn whispered as they watched Merle go back to his own space, rambling to himself. "He's just pissed that June's slipping out of his clutches."

"Hey." Dean smacked his friend on the arm. "None of that. He's a dick but he's just a brother trying to keep his sister safe."

Glenn leaned forward and took in Dean's face to see if he was joking, a little surprised when he saw absolute seriousness on it instead.It couldn't be easy to have Merle Dixon constantly harassing him, hell Glenn was over it and he wasn't even the one being bothered, and yet Dean was still giving the man the benefit of the doubt.

"You're really trying, aren't you."

"Wouldn't you? I mean, I know you haven't gotten to know her very well but June's amazing. She's the first woman I've met that makes me want to be better. What I did... I'll never forgive myself for that. I re-traumatized someone that's already been through hell... so yeah, I'm really trying."

"Well said son." Dale smiled from the other side of the hood, proud of the young man for not only owning up to his mistake, but working to make it better.

The trio went back to focusing on the task at hand while Sam sat with Amy, reading her one of his favorite books. The camp had settled into a quiet afternoon, especially after Merle dozed off, and while they knew he was acting like an ass because he was missing June they were relieved when he was finally asleep.

"you think he'll keep using when June gets back?" Amy asked Sam, having noticed that his habit was worse when his sister wasn't there to keep him in line.

"I don't know."

"I hate that she has to babysit him. I'm glad she went with Daryl this time."

"She doesn't see it as babysitting but I understand what you're saying. I was glad to hear she was getting away too."

"Did you believe what Shane was sayin?"

Sam put the bookmark in its place, setting the book beside him and looking directly at Amy. She wasn't the first person to ask what he thought about it all but Amy was his sort of girlfriend and June was his friend. He wanted to set the record straight in case she bought into the bullshit, give himself a chance to end things before they got serious.