[AU] down to the Gulf

[feel_human]

Recuperating is a long, wearisome process, but she steadily refuses Bill's offers of his blood. "With everythin' that's been happenin', I just need to feel human for a while," she tells him, and he accepts it, if reluctantly.

Sam and Dean keep her swaddled in blankets, ply her with ice cream and soup and oatmeal and eggs, food soft enough not to hurt her bruised throat, and sternly keep her from doing pretty much anything at all but resting, eating, and healing. It feels like ages before her throat has healed well enough for her to eat solid food, but after that point, she gets better faster and faster. After a couple of weeks, she's nearly back to her old self, and the bruises have mostly faded away. She celebrates by baking Dean the long-promised apple pie and by telling Sam Merlotte that she's taking another week off.

There's no chance her little Honda could make it all the way down to the Gulf, even after Dean fixes what René had broken. Jason surprises her by offering his truck – she doesn't take him up on it, but she's touched – but a rental's a lot easier to manage when she's not the only one paying for it.

She leaves the house in Dean's care, warns him that Tara will be stopping by to make sure the place is still in one piece and asks him not to stake the neighbors, then slips into the passenger seat, her bag in the back with Sam's backpack. And then they're gone, gone, cruising southwards away from Bon Temps and vampires and everything that's happened. It's perfect, and that's even before they get to the Gulf.

She's not prepared for the crystalline water, the massive arcing expanse of sky, the soft white sand. It's the most beautiful place she's ever seen.

Comments

[feel_human]

"You could fly out," she tells him. "I can help with that."

She's not sure if he's planning to be in the dorms or somewhere else. Somewhere else, she supposes, if he's asking her to come with him.

[gavemea_45]

"Hard to take the bike on the plane," he points out, with a quick, mischievous grin. "I don't fly much, anyway. Dean, even less."

[feel_human]

"I just don't want you to have to rush around when you get there," she murmurs. "Do you already have a place to stay?"

[gavemea_45]

Sam lets out a quiet sigh and admits the truth. "No," he says. "I'd been planning on getting there and setting up in a motel like usual while I got the lay of the land and started looking for an apartment. If I had to stay in a motel for a bit, it's not like it'd bother me. Now... it's a little different."

[feel_human]

She lies back down, propping her head on her hand, and studies him. "It'll be okay if you go right after we get back," she tells him, soft.

"Bon Temps is safe now. I'll be okay."

[gavemea_45]

That answers that, he figures. Sam does his best to not let his expression change in any way, and shakes his head at her.

"There's time. Don't worry about it."

[feel_human]

"Sam," she murmurs, watching him. "It's not that I don't want to come. I just don't think I can right away."

[gavemea_45]

He must not have done as good of a job at hiding his thoughts as he'd meant, or else she just knows him that well. It doesn't even occur to him that she might have picked up something telepathically.

Sam reaches to take her hand in his and squeezes gently. "It's okay," he promises, softly. "I know it's a big decision. And there's a lot involved."

[feel_human]

"I was thinkin'..."

She hadn't meant to start them down this path, but now that they're on it, she may as well tell him what's been on her mind. "Maybe you go out alone now, and then come back here for Christmas. Give me some time to organize things and save up some money. And then... maybe I could come back with you in the new year. What do you think?"

[gavemea_45]

He blinks, having not expected that. "Really?" Surprise blossoms into delighted hope. "You mean it?"

[feel_human]

"Well, yeah," she teases, grinning at him. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

[gavemea_45]

Sam's answering grin is as bright as the sunlight around them, and he pushes up on his elbow so that he can lean over and kiss her.

[feel_human]

She giggles and curves her hand at the back of his head to kiss him back, then gives him a shake of the head, mock-scolding. "Don't get ahead of yourself," she says. "You might decide you like bein' out there alone. Or meet some other girl you like better than me."

[gavemea_45]

"I doubt it," he says, cheerful now. "And that'll give me time to find a good apartment for us. I don't think it'll be as nice as your house, and I'm sorry about that."

[feel_human]

"Well, I'm keepin' my house," she says, practical. "We can come back and be there for holidays or in the summer. And that way Dean can stop in and use it whenever he needs, too."

[gavemea_45]

"Of course you're keeping your house. It's a great house." Something softens about his smile.

"Dean'll be over the moon to know you're thinking about him, too."

[feel_human]

"Well, of course. He's your brother."

And it's already going to be hard enough for him, with Sam going away. "Besides, I bet y'all haven't had a place to be for Christmas since before you were even born."

[gavemea_45]

“Still.”

Sam shrugs, setting that aside. “Christmas hasn’t been a big deal for us since I was eight.”

[feel_human]

"All the more reason to make it nice now," she points out.

The fact that he's pleased with her plan unwinds a knot she hadn't even known was growing in her gut, and she smiles at him. "You'll have to do some scountin' for me. See if there's a bar or restaurant somewhere near there where I can find some work."

[gavemea_45]

“I will,” he promises. “I’m sure there’ll be something. It’s a nice city.”

[feel_human]

"It sounds like it."

She shifts to pillow her head on her arm, looking over at him. "So... that's what I think. But what were you thinkin'"?

[gavemea_45]

"It's going to sound silly," he warns. What he sounds is rueful. "But I was afraid to think about it too much."

[feel_human]

"Sam," she says, her smile a mix of amused and reproachful. "It was your idea."

[gavemea_45]

"I told you it was going to sound silly." He shrugs, very slightly.

"I knew I wanted you to come. I knew I was asking you to make one of the biggest changes in your life. And then with everything else... I was afraid to want it too much, so I figured once I knew what you wanted, I'd figure out how to make everything happen from there."

[feel_human]

"Well, as long as you want it, that's good enough for me."

Her smile isn't going anywhere. This whole thing feels like a dream. "So... should that be the plan? For now?"