An hour later, Josie returned from her workout and quietly crept into Dean's room. Actually, she wanted to apologize for having reacted so irritably. However, she didn't want to wake Dean up for that. He'd had a long night and desperately needed sleep.
After a refreshing shower she rubbed her hair dry and stood in front of his door again. She didn't quite know herself why she couldn't just wait until he was awake to talk. It kind of was confusing how jealous he reacted earlier. His overprotective instinct was one thing, the pick-up lines another, but slowly she couldn't shake the feeling that Dean wasn't being completely honest with her.
Quietly, she plodded toward the bed and lay down next to him with some distance between them. She turned the TV’s volume down and watched the news about the murder that had Dean stuck at the station all night. Even though Josie tried hard to be quiet, Dean blinked sleepily and grumbled sleepy.
"Go back to sleep", she whispered, stroking his hairline soothingly with one finger.
Abruptly, he grabbed her wrist, causing Josie to freeze for a moment. She thought she had done something wrong or crossed a line she had no idea about, but instead he just didn't want her to break the touch.
The huntress felt more and more confirmed in her assumption, but she couldn't blame Dean. Or maybe he was just trying to get her attention. She had to admit to herself that she was still cautious when it came to him. It was possible that he was actually jealous of Sam, since he was allowed to enjoy Josie's affection.
A guilty conscience crept over the brunette as she looked down at the peaceful man beside her. Slowly she withdrew her hand and immediately the green eyes opened. But before he could say anything, she slid up to him. Slightly astonished, he looked into her eyes.
"It was kind of boring without you", she breathed warmly, "especially after Sam met his arm candy"
A satisfied smile graced Dean's lips. Her words acted as a balm to his soul. These were things he wanted to hear, not that he was hot, as the blonde hookup explained it to him back then. While that was definitely flattering as well, it didn't get under his skin at all. At least not when it was just coming from a stranger.
"I could have used my partner yesterday too", he replied softly, closing his eyes, "At least Sammy got what he wanted"
"But I had to force him to get it", Josie recounted, "He didn't want to leave me alone"
"He would have gotten in trouble if he did!"
"I'm a big girl, I like being in your protective arms but you don't have to treat me like a helpless girl"
"Okay fine by me, but now come into my protective arms and shut up, I'd like to sleep some more, I had to work while you guys were having fun yesterday"
Smirking, she allowed him to pull her close and rest some more until Sam and his one night stand had also slept off their high.
*
After Sam said goodbye to Amelia, he sat back down at his laptop and found that there was another strange murder that had the exact same anomalies as the one they were on right now, only it took place outside of Kansas.
"Look at that, someone is positively beaming", Dean teased his brother, handing him a cup of coffee.
"I could say the same about you, you still have a 'Josie imprint' on your face there", Sam replied with a smirk.
Unconsciously Dean rubbed his cheek, but Sam was just messing with him, he had seen Josie come out of Dean's room earlier and put two and two together.
"Did you two...?", the younger one inquired curiously, but Dean shook his head silently.
However, he couldn't help a disappointed sigh. The Winchester wondered how long he would have to wait to get Josie and whether he would ever get her to the point where she would at least kiss him. After all, they had been close once before.
"Any news?", inquired Dean, trying to distract himself from his failure with Josie.
"Yeah, get this", Sam reported, flipping the laptop over.
Dean skimmed the report and decided to check out the crime scene.
"One of you two come with me, but you’ll have to flip a coin on who gets the honor", Dean said.
"Don't need to, have Josie accompany you, I have plans tonight", Sam replied to Dean's amazement.
"Let me guess, brown hair, pretty face and goes by the name Emily?"
"Amelia", Sam immediately corrected, "And it's none of your business at all!"
Grinning broadly, Dean sipped his coffee and twitched his eyebrows meaningfully.
"At least I managed to get her to want a second date, when was the last time you did that?", sneered Sam, closing the laptop and leaving.
"Hey, that was really mean", Dean called after him, grumbling into his cup, "Just because he gets lucky with a woman once every few years, he acts out."
"Are you jealous of your brother again?", Josie teased the hunter, grabbing him by the shoulders from behind.
Noticeably startled, he nearly choked on his coffee.
"What, me? Pah, no!", stuttered Dean, caught, as Josie took a seat at the table.
"Well, if you say so", she grinned mischievously, eyeing Dean, "You do know you can talk to me if anything comes up?!"
"Uhm, yeah, sure I do", he stammered nervously, feeling that she was waiting for something specific.
"Alright", she said, slightly disappointed, silently playing with a pen on the table.
"Sam has another date with Amelia today, so you'll have to accompany me, there's been another murder we should look into", Dean muttered, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Okay, how long will we be on the road?", she asked.
"If we hurry we'll be home by morning", he replied, thinking about the fact that they would be in the car for hours.
He hoped that they would be able to talk about something, and not be silent like they were right now. Somehow he had the feeling that she suspected something about his feelings. He was aware that he wasn't being subtle about it either, but he had never really been in love. Of course, there were relationships and he felt attracted, but no one ever made it so far that he thought about giving up his life for someone.
He had paused his life as a hunter before and tried to live like a normal mortal, but it just didn't fit. But whenever Josie talked about her past life and plans, Dean caught himself fantasizing about having such a life.
"I'll go get my bag then", she informed him, leaving him to his thoughts.
___________________🖤_________________
Vote ⭐ if you liked the chapter :)