Dec 26, Supernatural, Dean/Castiel, Enter Sandman Title: Enter Sandman Fandom: Supernatural Pairing/Characters: Dean/Castiel, Sam, OCs Rating/Warnings: All ages Disclaimer:here Prompt:this picture Summary: Was it too much to ask for a damn cheeseburger? Apparently so. A/N: Title is from this Metallica song.
~*~
“Dude, can we just go back to the motel already? I'm exhausted,” Sam complained.
“So am I,” Dean retorted, “but I'm also starving. And considering how long it took us to drive our asses down here, only to find out the so-called ghost was really some frickin' college prank, I'm thinking we deserve a break today.”
Seriously, even in Miami, why would anyone stick around at college during the holidays? And could they find nothing better to do with their time?
“It appears you are not the only one with this idea,” Cas said pointing at the line of cars wrapped around the fast food restaurant's drive-through lane.
“Son of a bitch.” Dean pulled the Impala into a parking spot and cut the engine. “Fine, then we go in.”
“You go in,” Sam said with a pout. “I'm gonna catch a nap.”
“Then you're getting the greasiest thing on the menu, because like hell I'm ordering you some kind of salad.”
That got Sam up and moving.
For a second, Dean was worried this was going to be one of those places that only kept the drive-through open late, considering there was nobody sitting at the tables inside, but the door was open. Trouble was, there also wasn't anybody at the counter. He was about to call out when Cas put a hand on his shoulder.
“Something is wrong here,” Cas said softly.
“Yeah,” Sam agreed under his breath. “I'm thinking those fries are a little over-done.”
Kid had a point. There were blackened fries floating in the grease like they'd just been forgotten. Smelled like there were burgers getting overdone too. At least, Dean hoped they were burgers.
Dean drew his gun and nodded to Sam to do the same, then turned to Cas who pointed to the right. As they prepared to go down the narrow hall leading to the office, the door opened. The brothers pulled back out of the line of sight instinctively, but Dean had to press Cas back behind him. Not that the dude wasn't the least vulnerable of the lot of them, but considering he couldn't actually use his angel mojo right now, there was no point asking for trouble.
Two sets of footsteps hurried towards them, and then two dudes in ski masks ran out of the hallway.
“Seriously?” Dean demanded. “Who the hell even owns a ski mask in Miami?”
Dude number one turned to the sound of his voice, but just in time to get the butt of Dean's pistol across his jaw. Sam quickly caught the other one on the back of the head, then ran down the hall. Once he had taken their guns and was sure the two dickwads were a) still out and b) zip-tied together at the wrists, Dean joined him, Cas by his side.
In the office, he found Sam squatting next to a teenage girl with a nose ring who was shaking like she was about to fall apart. Her name tag said “Renee.” Behind them, a safe door hung open.
“... almost couldn't even open it,” she was saying.
“But you did, and you're okay,” Sam said.
“You can't be working alone,” Dean pointed out. “Where's everyone else?”
“They made me lock them in the fridge so nobody could call the police,” Renee said, voice shaking. She pulled a set of keys out of her pocket and dropped them.
“It's all right.” Sam picked them up and set them on the desk. “Safest place for them, okay?”
Cas picked the keys up, clearly intending to go let the other workers out.
“We've got to get out of here,” Dean muttered. “Somebody out there must've called by now. C'mon, Cas, the cops'll let 'em out. They're not gonna freeze.”
“You gonna be okay?” Sam asked the girl who looked like she was trying not to cry.
She nodded, and Dean herded the others back out of the small office. He tried to think of some kind of words of wisdom for the kid, but if she was working the overnight like this, she needed the job, and he knew as well as anyone and better than most what it was to have to do shit jobs to help out your family. So instead he just pulled the robbers' guns out of his waistband, removed their clips, and set them on the desk next to the kid. Armed robbery would send the jerks away longer, and the guns were too crappy to keep anyway.
“How am I supposed to tell the cops I got those?” she asked, eyes wide.
“Long as you don't remember what we looked like, I don't care,” he said. With that, he ran out, checked that the robbers were still out cold, which they were, and joined the others in the Impala. Several other cars were leaving, having decided they weren't exactly going to get their midnight snacks anytime soon either, and so it was easy enough to blend in and not draw attention as three cop cars came tearing into the parking lot.
“Fuckin' humans, man!” Dean grumbled. “Now I've lost my appetite.”
“At least we accomplished something of value,” Cas said.
Dean rolled his eyes. “It's not like they weren't already leaving.”
“No, but the police might not have caught them. I believe that young lady will sleep better at night knowing that at least those two hooligans are behind bars.”
Dean grunted. He couldn't deny knocking that jerk out had felt good, but there were always more just like them, and that was just the humans.
“Can we please go get some sleep now?” Sam whined.
“Yeah, okay, bitch.” Dean was already heading back to their motel anyway.
“Jerk.”
~*~
If there was one good thing about coming to Miami in December, it was that they weren't in Kansas for a couple of days. They could spend a day on the beach before heading back, Dean figured, and he was thoroughly enjoying catching a few rays. It was nice not to have to be in layers upon layers of clothes and still be warm. Now he needed to convince Cas of the same thing. At least he'd ditched the suit, but he was still wearing a t-shirt with the fluorescent orange trunks they'd picked up at the thrift store.
“Seriously, dudes? We're in Florida and you've got to build a snowman?”
“Technically it's a sandman,” Sam pointed out as he slapped sunglasses on it.
“A sand-snowman,” Cas added.
“Yeah, okay. You guys really miss the cold and snow that much?”
“Do you realize that just as each snowflake has a unique crystalline structure, so too does sand?” Cas asked. “And it does seem to make an equally useful medium for building such things, without the propensity to melt.”
“Yeah, it'll just get washed out by the tide,” Dean said, though he couldn't help smiling. Watching Cas discover the world through almost-human eyes was, well, awesome.
Just then, a little blonde blur ran past Dean and threw her arms around Cas and Sam's creation, shouting, “Snowman, snowman, snowman!”
Its head fell off and the little girl began to sniffle.
“I'm sorry. She's only three,” said a rather taller girl who came chasing after the little one. She took the little girl's hand and started to lead her away. “Come on, you can build one of your own, Weezy.”
“Hey,” Sam said, “aren't you ...”
Dean propped himself up on one elbow and took a closer look. The chick looked different with her hair down, not to mention the bathing suit and cover-up, but it was the same nose ring in the same face.
“Oh my gosh, it's you guys!” Renee swung the still-sniffling toddler up onto her hip.
“The good guys made the bad guys go away?” the little girl asked.
“Made them stay away,” the teenager corrected.
“She yours?” Dean asked.
“My sister,” Renee said. “I just watch her while our mom's at work. Saves on daycare.”
“Do you think Weezy might feel better if she helped me fix the sand-snowman?” Cas asked.
Dean was about to point out what a bad idea that was, but then the little girl stuck her fingers in her mouth and nodded.
“Just for a few minutes,” Renee gave in, setting the little one down. She knelt in the sand about halfway between Dean and the sand-snowman, watching as Cas helped her sister pick up the ball of sand and gently lifted her to place it back on the sandman's body as Sam guided it into position. “Why didn't you guys want me to tell the cops who you were? There's a reward for catching those two and everything. They've hit a lot of places since Christmas.”
Dean shrugged and gave her one of his grins. “Not into the limelight. You and your mom'll probably make better use of the reward than we would anyway.”
Renee didn't say anything. They both watched as her little sister picked up little white shells and stuck them into the sandman like buttons. When she'd decided he had enough, she stepped back and announced, “All better!”
“Okay, we should get back then,” Renee said. She turned to Dean. “I don't think I even said thank you to you guys. So, thank you. All of you.”
“People usually don't,” Dean said. He sat up and shook the hand she offered. “You're welcome.”
Sam mussed up the toddler's hair, adding, “Any time.”
Cas, Dean noticed, was rummaging in the pocket of his discarded trench coat, then stood and approached Renee. “Yes. Should you find yourself in need of assistance, particularly anything you feel the police would find … difficult to believe … call this number.”
Renee took the card he handed her and looked at him oddly. “Who are you guys?”
“The good guys that make the bad guys stay away,” Dean answered, and the toddler giggled.
Renee shook her head and tucked the card into her beach bag, then took the little girl's hand and with another round of thanks, walked away.
“What the hell, Cas?” Dean asked.
“Just a feeling. What you would call a hunch.” Cas shrugged. “It may be of no import.”
Dean stretched out a hand to him and pulled him down to sit next to him. “Nah, if you've got a hunch, I'm willing to go with it. Just hope she doesn't pass that along to the police to try and 'reward' us or something.”
“I'm sure Jimmy Page would decline in any case,” Cas replied with a grin.
Dean gave him a quick kiss. “Good point. Well, unless your hunch includes us sticking around for another potential case, it's probably time we pack it up.”
“Why, Dean?” Sam asked. “You missing the cold and snow that much?”
“Shut up, bitch.”
“Jerk.”
Cas shook his head as he stood, a bemused smile on his face. “I do not believe we will be needed here anytime soon. Let's go home.”
“Yeah, I like the sound of that,” Dean said as he let Cas pull him to his feet. “Let's go home.”