Supernatural G/t Snippets

Bad First Impressions

Valerie eyed the Winchesters warily as they entered her room. really, it was a guest bedroom, with things Bobby had either bought or made for her situated on the very bottom shelf of a bookshelf. A little rod drilled into the shelf above with a light piece of cloth she could pull open or closed for privacy. Right now, her curtain was pulled shut and she was simply peering out at them with a scowl. She promised Bobby she'd try and talk to them. But Dean didn't seem like the type of human to apologize so easily.

Bobby followed the boys into the room and gestured to the curtain. "That's her room. She'll probably only talk to you from behind the curtain Wizard of Oz style until she's forgiven you for being a couple morons."

Dean scoffed loudly and looked at Bobby. "How were we supposed to know anything about anything?"

The older hunter glanced at Dean then chuckled. "I'm surprised that you thought she could hurt you in the first place. I didn't realize you'd feel threatened by such a small young woman."

Sam bit back a laugh at Bobby's words. They were accurate. Dean was normally really smooth when it came to women. He...envied it at times. And for Dean to think a little creature like Valerie was a threat, well, it was actually pretty funny. 

Bobby turned his gaze to the curtain once more, catching sight of the Borrower peeking at them. He sent a smile her way. "You're alright. If Dean does something stupid just yell for me. I won't be too far."

Valerie met Bobby's eyes, only silently nodding in response. She wasn't even sure if he saw it before he turned and left the room. She trusted Bobby with her life. He'd proved straight away he wasn't a threat to her since he knew she was no threat to him. 

She needed to step back, slightly startled as Sam moved closer before his brother and knelt to the floor on one knee. He turned his head to the side, hazel eyes scanning the curtain before they locked onto her. 

His eyes were so different than Dean's. Gentle. Welcoming. Apologetic too. He didn't get too close or reach forward to pull away her curtain and she was grateful for that. His stare was hardly intimidating too, despite how tall he was. He wasn't trying to intimidate her, after all. Not the way Dean had tried to before. 

"Hey...so," Sam sighed, trying to think of what to say. He glanced to his older brother who hung back, simply observing for now. "We kinda got off on the wrong foot. And I think we could have made a way better first impression than what we did had we, you know, listened to Bobby about waiting outside."

"Ya think?" Valeria scoffed, letting the curtain fall back into place to hide her from his view. She felt safer with a wall between them. Where she couldn't see them. The shelf darkened, but luckily, she didn't feel claustrophobic here, she didn't feel trapped. It was different than having walls on either side of her, keeping her contained. 

"Don't talk to him like that," Dean spat, though bit his tongue when Sam looked over his shoulder and glared at him. Telling him silently to shut up. 

"She has every right to talk to me like that right now. Back off." Sam frowned, then looked back to the curtain. "Let's start over. Is that fine? Bobby said your name's Valerie, right? I'm Sam. The loudmouth is my older brother Dean."

"It's nice to meet you, Sam. I can't say the same for your brother." Valerie crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the wood beneath her feet. Tracing the grooves with her eyes to occupy her mind with something other than her previous encounter with them.

"Oh, come on, I said sorry." Dean grumbled.

"Actually, you didn't," Sam responded, Valerie saying almost the same thing but her little voice was drowned out by his. It startled him, really. How easily she could be overpowered, even with vocals. How small and vulnerable this girl really was. It truly was best she found Bobby before anything else found her.

"Fine, then I'm sorry. Happy now?" 

Sam started to tell his brother off, Valerie quickly shushing him and interrupting. "Don't bother. You're both hunters. But he's got the values your father has, doesn't he? I've heard about him from Bobby. You two...were the only people he was willing to tell about me. That he wanted me to meet, because he said you'd understand. H-he said you...y-you'd realize I wasn't just some creature and would see me as a person. But I'm not. At least not to him."

Sam's brows furrowed, and he felt his chest tighten as she spoke. Who knew what she endured before coming across Bobby? How many hunters she had to avoid that came and went from this place? But despite that he felt somewhat honored that Bobby saw them that way. But that wasn't important right now. Right now, he couldn't ignore how hurt and disappointed the tiny girl sounded as she spoke. And apparently Dean finally caught on too.

Dean stepped forward and knelt down beside his kid brother with a frown. "I never said I didn't see you as a person. But seeing something like you in the line of work we do, I was caught off guard and had to do something. I mean you could have been anything."

Sam grimaced slightly as he heard a little, disheartened scoff from behind the curtain. But there came no verbal reply from the Borrower. Moving his hand, he hesitated only for a moment before pulling the curtain back just enough to gaze down at Valerie. Her tiny head turned, blue eyes staring up at him. Despite being human himself, for a moment he felt sort of freakish. Towering over a being that was indeed human, at a much smaller scale. 

"He's bad at talking to people. Especially when he's trying to actually apologize." He stated in a low voice. He suddenly felt the need to try and adjust his volume, wondering if her hearing would be just as sensitive as the rest of her body. 

"Can I have my curtain back, please?" Valerie requested, reaching up to try and take it from his fingers. Standing on her tiptoes, stretching to try and grab hold of the cloth. 

Dean smirked, for a moment the scene reminding him of when Sam was still shorter than him and he'd hold something above his head so he couldn't reach. But his smirk easily faded as the scene sunk in. How small she really was. How easily he could have killed her, even accidentally when he'd grabbed her before. All because he was just a little pissed off. He watched Sam release the fabric, then watched it get pulled back ever so slightly so they could at least still see her.

"Bobby says you're not a threat. So you're not a threat." Dean muttered, eyes scanning over the young woman. 

Valerie folded her arms back over her chest, looking back and forth between the men with a small scowl. But then she let out a huff, her arms falling to her sides. "And Bobby says you're not a threat. And I trust his judgement, so, that means you're not a threat. I'll accept your apology but don't think I'll forget what you did to me so easily. Just don't do it again, don't grab at me, don't poke and prod...and I think we'll get along just fine. Deal?"

She held her arm out, hand up to them. A final act to see if they were safe to be around. To see how well they could manage their strength when it came to her. Bobby did just fine. Even when he first started handling her.

Sam looked hesitant at first but trusted himself more than he trusted Dean to be as careful with her. Slowly reaching forward, he was careful as he used two fingers to pinch her delicate hand in his. He didn't dare attempt to initiate the shake, though. Instead, he waited for her to bring her other hand up and guide the motion, shaking his hand. A soft exhale passed his lips and he smiled. "Deal."

And so began the start of a new bond. And Valerie didn't know it quite yet, but once you were a part of their family, you weren't getting out of that so easily.