Silent Restraint

Amare and Sam led the way to Wisconsin in a four day long nonstop trip, Dean following with Dex in shotgun. The passengers in the Dodge had been thoughtfully silent, while silence in the Impala was due heavily to the fact that Dex had been mildly bitter towards Dean since California.

Dean argued against making the journey in one fell swoop. Amare told him straight up, though, she wasn't stopping and he could keep up if he wanted, but she wasn't waiting for his dumb ass. Dean couldn't decide if he liked her more or less for her response, but did decide to compromise by making her at least check in at a motel before storming the castle. So they stopped not ten miles from Lake Superior. Dex went and got lunch in the Impala, much to Dean's dismay, as the Hunters planned out their attack. Amare looked out the window as Dex pulled back in. Amare's eyes were wide and her lips parted.

"What is it?" Sam asked. She ignored him and walked tentatively outside.

Perenna slid out of shotgun and threw herself into Amare's arms, instantly falling into a fit of sobs. Sam stood in the doorway a few yards away from the embracing sisters. Dex scooted past him and went inside, handing Dean a six-pack of beer and setting a bag of Subway sandwiches on the table. Dean looked pointedly at Perenna, who was now planting a kiss on Sam's cheek, fingers still desperately holding onto Amare's.

Dex shrugged. "I asked her why she was in a gas station and not back at the motel and-" she laughed shortly "- confused the fuck out of the poor girl but we figured it out. Not as abrasive as the other one, is she?"

It was Dean's turn to shrug. "Dunno, only met her once and not for very long, but the way Sammy talks about 'em. I'm actually a little surprised they look so much alike." He frowned at them, yin and yang personified.

Dex nodded thoughtfully. The three of them came back into the motel room and they sat Perenna down at the table. She wouldn't let Amare's hand go, though.

"What happened to you Ren?" Amare asked.

"Oh, heavens, I don't know," she said, her eyebrows knitted together. She took a deep breath and told her story to her feet. "They found out what Mason did for us. I think they knew that I was a part of it. You know what Jason was off doing when you guys escaped? He wiped out an entire nest because they let another vampire leave. At least, that's what I heard. It sounds like him, though, doesn't it? Killing a whole bunch of people for doing one thing wrong, something with no effect on the whole of his little operation. But when he got back he was really mad. He killed Mason and I was sure I was next. I expected a call from Jason every time I saw Geoffry for days and days. Anyways, today I woke up and just about everyone was gone. They packed up and left before I was even awake. I heard someone say Jason was dead, but I don't know about that. So I took the opportunity and packed up and left, too." She looked up at Amare. "I had a moment of you and I brought all the girls in the boat with me, the ones they were feeding off of. There was only three of them and I let them go. And then I found her." She nodded at Dex. "Your turn."

It was Amare's turn to look at her feet. She looked at Sam from the corner of her eye. "You guys wanna give us a while?"

Sam's lips parted and he nodded. "Yeah, okay."

<><><><><>

They got back later that night. Dex was plastered and, as far as any of them were concerned, she forgave Dean for his previous discrepancies. He half-carried her to his room and put her into a shower, which wasn't a hard job because she'd pretty much undressed herself on the way in.

Sam found Amare and Perenna asleep. Perenna was on the bed, and Amare was curled up against the wall facing the bed. Her head was resting on her knees, her shoulders rising and falling in a slow rhythm. He knelt down and touched her shoulder. Her head jerked up and hit the wall with a soft thud. She groaned softly and reached out with one hand to grasp his shoulder and the other to touch her head.

His eyebrows raised a bit. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"No. No, I just- uh- ruined my sister's life in less than three hours," she whispered.

Sam shook his head and slid into the spot next to her. She leaned against him, lost in thought. She thought about Sam, what she was going to do now that she had both him and Perenna back. She was so caught up in everything that she'd forgotten Sam, and what she had done to him when she left. And that she never apologized. She wondered if now would be a good time, or if just awkwardness would ensue. But then his bicep flexed and she lost that train of though. She wondered how quickly she could get him out of his clothes, without waking Perenna up.

<>

Dex fell getting out of the shower. Dean automatically reached for his gun at the noise from the bathroom, but set it back down when she started laughing hysterically. He knocked on the door with the knuckle of his index finger.

"You good in there?" he asked.

She laughed harder. "Help I've- I've fallen and I can't get-" she didn't finish what she was saying for a minute, when finally she half-gasped what could have been 'up'. It took her a second to cool down and she slurred, "I can't find the floor with the room spinning so hard."

"Put a towel on, I'm coming in," he said.

He gave her a second and opened the door. She had a towel draped over the front of her. She was laying on her back with her knees and one hand propped against the wall under the towel rack like she was trying to brace herself.

"Jesus fuck you are beautiful," she whispered, reaching for him. He grasped her hand with a quiet 'I know' and pulled her up. She let go of the wall and grabbed her towel and Dean led her slowly to the bed closest to the bathroom.

"Who thought of you? Shit, Jimmy, you're like the... The perfect balance of... manly power and shit- and- uhm, like beauty. I can't. Think. What am I even saying." She yawned hugely. "Goodnight you beautiful man. Don't be goin all ugly while I sleep. Stay black my dear."

A minute later she was asleep. He threw a blanket over her so he could stop thinking about what was under that towel, feeling like an asshole for wanting to take advantage of her while she was drunk like that.

"Awesome," he muttered.

<><><><><>

"JIMMY. Jimmy where the fuck are my clothes."

She was glaring at him with just the towel and thin scratchy blanket for covering. He shook his head. "Everywhere. Your shirt's in the backseat of the Impala. Everything else should be inside, but I couldn't find one of your socks. My bad."

"What happened last night?" She put a hand to her head.

"You were wasted."

"Oh god what did I do?"

He sat up. "Well you tried to seduce Sammy and told him Amare could join in. He turned you down. Then you started taking your clothes off and we took you home. Then you said I was pretty and told me to stay black."

Dex groaned. "Shit Dean I must've been a pain in the ass. I'm so sorry. How long were we at the bar?"

"A couple hours."

She groaned louder and threw herself back on the pillows. "I'm the epitome of embarrassment right now please excuse me while I lay in bed all day."

"Nope, we're going to the East coast to tell your parents you're alive."

"Sorry Jimmy I think I'm dead. Not my problem." She rolled over.

"Come on, Dex don't be a baby."

"I'm not a baby. I'm a high functioning sociopath." Her voice was muffled by the pillows.

"I don't understand your nerd references." He stood and walked to the door. "Put some clothes on. I'm gonna go check on Sammy and then we're leaving."

"Fuck you Jimmy."

"Maybe later, Sweetheart."

Dean knocked on Sam's door and Amare answered. A tap on the back of the door told him she was holding a gun, but her arm fell slack when she saw who it was. She motioned behind her and let Sam take her place. Sam and Dean hadn't really had many moments to talk since they got Amare back, so they took the opportunity.

"Hey," Sam said, closing the door behind him and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"They good in there?" he asked.

"Yeah, uhm, might take Perenna a while to get over it, but they'll be okay. I'm just having a hard time, ah, looking ahead."

Dean frowned. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't know." He let out a short, breathy laugh. "I don't know what's gonna happen with those two."

"Perenna's pissed?"

"No, it's not that-"

Dean pointed a finger at his brother. "If that girl leaves you again I'll kill her," he growled.

Sam shook his head. "No nothing like that. I mean, she's not leaving again."

Dean frowned harder, dissatisfied with his brothers response. He shook his head and switched gears saying, "I'm taking Dex east. I told her I would when we were done here and now we are. You wanna come with or meet up later?"

"Imna stick with those two, if you don't mind. Why are you going east?"

"I'm making her see her family. She ran out on them and I'm taking her to tell 'em she's alive."

Sam's eyebrows shot up and he smirked. "Wow, Dean. That's very noble of you."

"Yeah shut up."

Sam and Dean parted days shortly after. Since Dean assumed it would only take him a few days to finish what he had to do with Dex, he told Sam he would call him later to decide where to meet up. He could tell Sam was a little anxious about how Amare and Perenna were going to work out, so Dean iterated a couple times that his phone was always on if he needed him, though not in as many words. He got back to the room and Dex was wasting time doing her hair, the first time he'd ever seen her do such a thing besides her ritualistic post-shower braid.

The rest of their trip was similar. A trip that had taken Sam and Dean just two days to complete turned into four because Dex was stalling. He'd tried to ask her what her problem was, why she was so adamantly against going to see her family, but he soon found out that she was a master at the subject change. Not only that, but it was unnoticeable, so he only realized the subject had been changed when he went back later to think about her answer.

Her demeanor changed tangibly when they pulled up in front of a big white house with forest green shutters. The building was on a lush green lawn enclosed by a white picket fence. Horribly mundane, in Dean's opinion. In the seat next to him, Dex seemed to be having a mild panic attack. Her eyebrows were knitted together and her nostrils were flaring. She chewed on her lip and didn't make a move to go inside. Dean watched her watch the house for a second before he spoke.

"You want me to come with you?"

Dex shook her head rapidly. She took a deep breath and got out of the Impala. She walked around the front and into the street, then turned around. "Get me out of here," she said, aiming to walk around the front of the car again. Dean got out and reached out to her upper arm. She spun around and he thought she was going to slap him. "Dex, you have to go in there." He battled briefly with whether or not he wanted to approach this humorously or authoritatively, and ultimately decided on the latter. His brows lowered along with the pitch of his voice as he said, "Those people are your family whether you like it or not, dammit. I know better than anyone that blood can be annoying, but even if they're the biggest batch of assholes ever thought up, they deserve to know you're alive and if you don't tell 'em I'll drag you in there myself."

She looked at him with an odd look on her face. Then she patted his cheek sadly and walked up to the house, visibly loosing confidence as she neared the door. Her shoulders were hunched as she reached up to knock on the green wooden door. She paused, her hand hovering just over the wood, before she simply turned the handle and let herself in.

The door didn't open again for a little over five minutes; Dean was counting. When it did, it flew open wide before a red-faced Dex hurtled out. The door rebounded off a barrier he couldn't see and slammed shut behind her. She slid into the passenger seat, tears gathering in her eyes, and Dean took off without a word. She lost it then, but quietly. Quiet enough that Dean only noticed she had lost it when she sniffed and searched for a spare napkin in the glove compartment. He handed her one from the tiny open compartment on his door.

"You wanna tell me what happened?" he asked. He meant it sincerely, but somehow whenever he said anything like that it either came out gruff and awkward or condescending.

"My family is the biggest batch of assholes ever thought up," she replied, dabbing at her eyes.

Dean nodded and didn't press the issue. He parked the car about halfway between a liquor store and a bar and let her silently decide which one to go to. He was pleasantly surprised when he ended up in a booth in the corner of the bar. Dean let the silence linger for a moment, basking in the familiarity of the bar scene; the overwhelming scent of cigarette smoke, liquor, and sweat, the dim lighting and clash of billiard balls. Men in denim and leather, girls in pieces of fabric barely even substantial enough to pass as clothing. It was as close to home to him as the front seat of the Impala.

"Wanna talk about it now?" he asked.

Dex stared at the beer in her hand, her lips turned down at the corners. "I walked in and my mom saw me and she said, 'Oh, it's you.' and then she called my dad in the room but he didn't even want to get off his damn phone to look at me for half a second and so I went to see him and he still wouldn't get off so I went back in the front room and my mom asked me what I was doing there and I told her and she made a noise at me and I got pissed and left and will you please get me something harder than this--"

She was interrupted by a man calling her name. "Dextra?" He approached the table and Dean's eyebrows raised and lips pouted. This man was the spitting image of Dex, down to the cold grey eyes. She stood up and saw they were the same height.

"Fabian," she choked. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you storm out of the house? What did mom do to you? Are you okay? I knew this was going to happen if you came home-- god, I'm so glad to see you." He wrapped her in a secure hug that she returned without hesitation.

"Mom was being mom. But she doesn't have to worry; I'm not coming back."

Fabian's face fell. "Dex, you're my sister. I can't live without you any more." He checked his watch and his eyebrows knotted on his smooth white forehead. "Listen, I gotta go pick up my kid. But I wanna talk to you some more..." They swapped phone numbers and he introduced himself to Dean and then left.

Dex sat back down and Dean smirked at her. "Dextra?"

She smirked back. "Shut up, Jimmy."