A Trickster's Daughter

Chapter 48: Was This Heaven?

January-ish 2009, Santa Rosa, New Mexico, United States

(been a while for an ish month)

Reasonable Rose Mirta Inn

It'd been a couple weeks since the whole...Alastair Catastrophe. They've had one simple ghost hunt about a week ago that went off without a hitch for once (highly pointed stares in Maya's direction). However, without another case Dean was—well—he was acting a bit mopey.

With nothing to focus on he would get a shadowed look on his face and he'd seem to shrink in on him self—just a little. He'd try to hide it from Sam and Maya, but they could see it. Albeit a bit differently from each other.

For Sam it was affirmation that his brother was not as strong as he was before Hell and any progress he'd made when he came back was shattered by Alastair's revelation. That Dean had broken the first seal and kick started the Apocalypse. Neither Maya nor Sam blamed him of course. He was in Hell, and none of them knew that this whole thing was, well, a thing.

When Maya looked at Dean, she saw her big brother that needed some cheering up. Some proof that not everything was doom and gloom.

So, when Sam went to grab some food from a nearby diner/bar Maya tagged along and went to the drugstore next door getting some...supplies. When she was done, she had gone back to the diner to find Sam missing. It had been odd since both Sam and Dean were annoyingly vigilant when it came to keeping an eye one her.

It was frustrating and endearing all at once.

Sam had appeared 10 mins later looking a little disheveled. Maya had sent him a bland look and told him she expected that kind of bathroom-polo behavior from Dean, but not him. Sam's face turned beat red as he spluttered out his denial, grabbing the take-out bag and slamming some money on the counter a little too forcefully.

'Me thinks, the boy doth protest too much,' Maya had thought gleefully with silent but obvious laughter as she followed him out of the diner.

Sam avoided Puck's intense and knowing glare as he walked out of the diner/bar heeding the low warning growl the small dog had been sending his way every time he got close to Maya for the last couple of weeks.

Sam's ears and the back of his neck burn red with embarrassment when Maya then commented that whatever happened mustn't have been very good if he was still acting this uptight afterwards.

After a car ride of teasing, Sam swung the door to the inn open and loudly declared to Dean that he blamed him for being a bad influence on Maya.

Maya explained and earned a rare and loud snort of laughter from Dean—completely unapologetic—and earned Sam some more good-natured ribbing. Sam grumbled under his breath, giving half-hearted bitch faces to them both.

Hard to be mad when Dean hadn't laughed like that in weeks.

Maya sent Sam a giant and pleased toothy grin. She almost considered not doing the prank she concocted for Dean the following morning.

The key words being almost.

..........................................................

Next day...

Early morning

Maya frowned in intense concentration. She had to be gentle and precise to get this right. Sweat beaded a little on her forehead and adrenaline pumped through her veins better than any cup of coffee.