Blood Bound

Part Four

Sam jerked awake; he'd been riding shotgun since Isabelle had returned. They hadn't spoken about what happened that night. Every time she tried to bring it up, Sam quickly shut her down. It was causing her to become frustrated with him; he acted as though they didn't know what his loss felt like. His may have been more recent, but they all faced the death of a loved one at the hands of a fiery force.

Sam blinked, rubbing his eyes, which had dark circles under them. Dean looked over, concerned. Isabelle wasn't sure if she was meant to be there for Dean or Sam. Either way, neither were talking to her; Dean had wanted her to return to help him, and she had dropped everything for him. Now he acted as though she wasn't there; her sacrifice had been pointless.

Dean asked gently. "You okay?"

Sam glanced and him quickly before looking away "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Stop lying; you obviously are not." Isabelle snapped for the first time; Dean was being too careful with him. "You haven't slept in days; you've barely eaten; you look like death."

Dean pinched the bridge of his nose "Wow, Izzy, tell him how it is."

"That's what I'm here for, apparently, because you're both ignoring me." She crossed her arms, not sure why she hadn't left. That was a common theme in her life; every time she had an argument with Dean and tried to leave, she always found herself back at the start, stuck in a vicious cycle of tension.

"You wanna drive for a while?" Dean asked Sam. Dean was seriously concerned for him to ask that

Sam laughed; it sounded hollow and empty of any real feeling "Dean, your whole life, you never once asked me that."

"Just thought you might want to; never mind," he said, offended

"Look man, your worried about me," Sam shrugged as though there was nothing to worry about

"Of course we are. You lost the women you love," she said softly, wishing that either of them would look at her. It made no sense that Dean had dragged her back to him only to not talk to her, and Sam didn't want to be around her; it would have been easier if she was invisible

"I get it, thank you, but I'm perfectly okay," Sam lied

"Mh-hm," Dean mumbled, not believing him

Sam grabbed the map, completely changing the subject. "Right, where are we?"

Fed up, Isabelle pushed in her earphones and put on Ramble On by Zeplin. She knew Dean loved the song, and that was partly why she loved it, too, because it reminded her of him or him before he brought Sam back into their lives. There was no point in listening to their conversation or trying to talk. They seemed to forget she was in the back; her body melted against the leather in solitude.

She wanted to run, to go back to Ethan and Zac, where she was welcome, or to Bobby's, but she couldn't leave Sam, just in case at some point he needed her, or Dean came to his senses and decided to include her. She was waiting for them to decide what they wanted, even if it meant she had to sacrifice the plans she wanted to make. Until then, she would have to settle for the overwhelming feeling of loneliness and the scattered messages from Ethan. They soon reached the ranger station, and everyone was still tense. They could have driven to the ends of the earth and still not wanted to talk to each other

"So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote," Sam said as he looked at a 3D map of the national forest, paying particular attention to the ridge label, "which is cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, and abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place."

"Dude, check out the size of this freaking bear," Dean said, amazed

"I've seen bigger," Isabelle said, rolling her eyes