In the Light

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Hiking

It was a dreamless sleep; Ruby hadn't had one of those in awhile. She felt safe and everything that usually made her feel bad was in the back of her mind. She stretched; she felt good all over. She opened her eyes. It was surprisingly bright it the room. It must have been around noon already.

Ruby heard some keys hit the table. Sam must have gone out to get food; the door opening and closing must have woken her up.

She was putting on sweatpants when Sam came on. "I was hoping to get back before you woke up." He put a McDonald's bag down on the bed and hugged her. He cupped the back of her head in his hand and kissed her forehead. "You're so beautiful; you're practically glowing."

"Just a trick of the light," she said. "I'm gonna go brush my teeth and take my meds, then we can eat."

A few minutes later, they sat on the bed, legs crossed, facing each other. "So," Ruby said, gesturing with the hash brown in her hand, "What now?"

"That is a very broad question," Sam remarked.

Ruby sucked in a breath. "Yeah. On the more important list of questions, we have
1. When do we tell Dean, Mary, and Cas?
2. How do we tell them?
3. How will they react?
The less important question that I was thinking of was: what do we do until they get back?"

"Uh. We should tell them when they get back, as for 'how' I don't know. Mom might be upset that she wasn't here. Dean's a wild card, but Cas will probably be happy. Huh. We have the video from the wedding. We could just ... show it to them, let it speak for itself."

"It's not a bad idea. Let's do that. In the meantime, how are we going to celebrate our honeymoon?"

"Oh, I have a great idea for that." Sam smiled and attacked Ruby with kisses, making her laugh.

• • •

"I can't believe you're making me do this," Ruby said. Her legs ached from waking uphill for so long and she was sweaty.

"Are you not having fun?" Sam asked.

"No!"

"Well, it'll be worth it when we get to the top." Sam wasn't having any trouble. His long legs made big strides up the steep hill.

"Slow down! I have little legs."

"Was that a quote from Full House?" Sam chuckled, waiting for her.

"Maybe. Are we almost there?" she whined. Sam nodded and took her hand.

He was right; it was amazing. Everything was tinged orange from the setting sun. They were in a clearing where they could see everything. She could see individual trees on top of other mountains. They were huge evergreens. She'd seen it in pictures before, but this was so different.

A song ran through her head and she hummed it unconsciously.

"You're doing it again," Sam pointed out.

"What?" She tore her eyes away from the scenery to look at Sam. He had a slight smile again.

"You're humming. What song is it?"

"Colors by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals."

"Do you want to sing it for me?" Sam asked in a hushed tone. He slipped his hand into hers.

Ruby sat down at the edge on the clearing. Her bare legs touched the cool dirt and she ran her hand over it. Her other hand was still in Sam's; he had sat down next to her.

"This is the greatest time of day
When all the clocks are spinning backwards
And all the ropes that bind begin to fray
And all the black and white turns
This is the greatest time of day
When there's no you and there's no others
And all the rules grow wings and fly away
And all the black and white turns into colors"

Her voice went up and down; she held some notes longer than others. She let her voice be loud; she liked singing for Sam. When she finished, Sam put his head on her shoulder and sighed.

They stayed like that until it was almost dark. The sky turned black and they had to use their flashlights. "Okay, don't laugh at me, but I'm scared."

"What?" Despite what she said, Sam laughed a little. "You're scared of the dark?"

"Not usually, but we're up on some mountain and no one else is here." She made a scared noise and started jogging downhill. "I don't care if you think I'm lame!" She shouted back at Sam. "I'm getting out of here as fast as I can."

She heard running footsteps behind her and she got chills. Even though she knew it had to be Sam, she looked back at him. And, of course, she tripped over something on the ground. She screamed as she rolled. It was the scream of someone on a roller coaster - scared, but thrilled. She covered her head and slowed down enough to where she stopped. Her screaming turned to laughter quickly.

Sam showed up soon after. He looked cautious. "Are you okay...?"

"Yeah," Ruby said through tears of laughter. She reached out for Sam to help her up. He set her on her feet and she cursed. She was still smiling, but it was pained now. She stood on one foot, grabbing Sam's arm for support. She rubbed her ankle which was slick with blood. She showed her bloody hand to Sam and grimaced.

He didn't hesitate; he scooped her up in his arms. "Okay, now I'm impressed. You can carry me and walk downhill?"

"Yes, I am the full package," he pretended to brag.