So Many of Them

In Jericho, Mississippi the gas station clerk says, "He always look at you like that?" as she takes the crumpled bills from Dean. Her eyes follow Sam back to the Impala.

In Jericho, Mississippi the gas station clerk says, "He always look at you like that?" as she takes the crumpled bills from Dean. Her eyes follow Sam back to the Impala.

Dean is taken aback; he doesn't know what she's talking about. "Uh, I don't know what you mean."

"Mmhmm," she says, her voice all smug but somehow warm and affectionate, too. Her eyebrows shoot up into her hairline when she sees that Dean genuinely has no idea what she's alluding to. Leaning conspiratorially close against the counter, she whispers, "Can't tell me you don't see it, boy. He looks at you like you might disappear if he blinks."

Dean is sufficiently freaked out. He thanks her politely and books it back to his baby. It's Sam's turn to drive and he's already running the engine and fiddling with the radio but Dean sees him perk up and track him out of the corner of his eye until Dean is inside too.

::

Just outside Cleveland, Ohio, a younger man makes a snide comment again. He looks at Sam, hovering behind Dean as always, and he smirks. "Y'know, the world won't end if you stand a foot apart," he says through a gap-toothed smile as he pulls up some county records.

Sam clears his throat—Dean thinks he catches a blush creeping into his cheeks— and moves to sit down. Sam taps an agitated rhythm into the old wooden desk as the librarian fumbles on a pair of glasses and helps Dean find the birth certificates he needs.