En route to the airport {IM rp with Li}

[ZZZ - Dean - RETIRED]

((This was done in IM, written by myself and Annali and takes place between the diner thread and arriving at the airport in the 'Leaving On A Jetplane' thread.))

Dean was unusually quiet on the drive out to the airport, distractedly chewing on his lower lip as he worried about the upcoming flight he did not want to get on.

Annali sat in the passenger seat, nervously fidgeting with the cuff of her jacket and casting an occasional uneasy glance at Dean. Something was wrong... "So um... "

Her voice jerked him out of his thoughts and he glanced her way trying to piece together whether or not he'd missed a chunk of conversation. "Huh?" He asked, brow all furrowed in worry.

She quickly looked the other way, staring out the window at the nondescript scenery. "Italy. Pretty exciting huh?" she asked in a feeble attempt at small talk.

"Oh...uh, yeah." He replied unenthusiastically, turning his own attention back to the road ahead. Ever since the mention of having to to Italy had come up, Li had seemed excited about it, clearly eager to go explore a new country. Dean would have been too if it didn't involve travelling by air. "You ever been to Europe before?"

She looked back to him and there was a twinkle in her eyes as she shook her head. "I've barely been out of Kansas before now, Dean..."

"Really? You never went anywhere with your Dad?"

Annali frowned suddenly and went quiet, turning to stare at the road. "Of course not..." she said with a sigh.

"Sorry...I just thought...with him travelling around so much, he might have taken you with him once or twice."

"Honestly... from what I've learned over the past few days... I'm starting to feel like you know him as well as I do."

That sounded strangely familiar. All the secrets that Dean's own father had kept from him over the years that were now starting to become apparent, Dean was thinking that he didn't really know his Dad as well as he thought either. There was a moment of silence between them, Dean not knowing what to say in response, so he slightly changed the subject away from family. "So you never been on a plane before?"

"Once," she said. "Kelli and I flew to Maui a few years ago for Spring Break." There was a sudden vacant look in her eyes. With everything that had been happening she had actually pushed her sister's absence from her mind, and now her stomach turned with guilt.

Dean flicked his gaze across to her, sensing a shift in her emotions. "You okay?"

She sighed, looking down at the sleeve she was messing with and then let her hands rest in her lap. "Yeah just... so much is happening is all. It's kind of scary."

"Don't worry, okay." He said, wanting to comfort her when she looked so lost. "We'll figure this all out, get this stupid curse broken before you know it and find your sister." He took one hand off the steering wheel and took hold of hers, giving it a little squeeze of reassurance.

Annali looked down to where he held her small hand in his and felt butterflies in her stomach for a whole different reason. She shifted her hand slightly, curling her fingers around his to let him know that she didn't want him to move. "I just wish I hadn't dragged you and Sam into this mess."

That made Dean smile a little. "You didn't drag us into this, you needed help and that's what we do." He chuckled a little to himself before adding, "Anyway, if it wasn't this mess, it'd just be some other mess elsewhere that we'd be knee deep in."

Annali looked over at him, hearing the chuckle but not really finding any humor in it. "Why do you do it? I mean... what's in it for you?"

"What? The job?" He thought for a second, wondering what the real reason was too. In the old days, it had been because that's what John had trained him to do. He was daddy's little soldier, it was his life and that was just it. But now.... "Because no-one else will." Another pause. "And I gotta save as many people as I can...."

Annali stared at him a moment, keeping a steady hold of his hand, and she reached up to gently rub his upper arm with her free hand. "Wow..." she muttered.

Suddenly Dean felt a little self-conscious and it showed in his smile. "Yeah well....I'm just not the type to take an office job, that's all."

"There aren't many people who would do what you do, Dean. I don't think I could."

"You'd be surprised what you can do when you have to." ...Like get on a plane when you're terrified....

"Don't you ever get scared?"

Every damn day... He swallowed, thought about admitting it and decided against instead. She really didn't need to know he was weak and pathetic under all his bravado. "Nah...you get used to it."

She frowned a bit, wondering how in the world anyone could ever get used to something like that, but decided not to press. "Well, it's a good thing damsels in distress like me have brave knights in shining armor like you huh?" she said with a shy smile as she looked out the side window again.

Dean smirked proudly this time, amused by the mental image he now had in his head. "Good thing damsels like you are so pretty, else I might go for that office job after all."

She looked over at him suddenly, her eyes wide with surprise and her cheeks pink. "You think I'm pretty?.."

"Yeah." His brows pulled into a tiny frown of confusion. "That surprises you?"

"Well..." She shyly tucked her hair behind her ear and looked down at her lap. "A little..."

"I thought we'd cleared it up...I'm not gay y'know..."

She looked over at him, her brow furrowed in confusion. She really didn't understand what this conversation had to do with whether or not he was gay. "I... know?"

"Oh, okay then. Good." A pause. "So why you so surprised that I think you're pretty? I bet you get loads of people telling you that all the time...."

She smiled shyly, and looked out the passenger window. "If Kelli were here you wouldn't even know I exist."

"I don't think that's true at all." Annali seemed genuinely unaware of how beautiful she was, an endearing trait to have. A lot of really gorgeous women that Dean had been with over the years knew they were hot stuff and it made their personality a major turn off. With Li however, her shyness and naivety was part of the reason Dean was so attracted to her.

Annali smirked a little but couldn't find the courage to look at him. The butterflies in her stomach were going into overdrive. "No, believe me it is. Kelli has a very... commanding presence. Everybody notices her."

"Well I'm not everybody." He winked, taking his hand from her grip momentarily to make a turn, then returning it again as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Annali smiled to herself when he took her hand again, and she took a moment to shift her hand in his so that their fingers were interlaced. She hoped he wouldn't mind. "It's easy to say that when you haven't even met her," she said with a soft laugh. "Anyway, have YOU ever been out of the country?"

"Me? Uh...not so much. Driven up to Canada and down to Mexico a couple of times." And now he was back to thinking about getting on a plane again, slightly ruining the more relaxed feeling he'd lulled himself into.

Annali looked over at him and grinned excitedly. "First time for us both then. I've always wanted to go to Italy."

"I suppose." Dean replied flatly, unable to muster any enthusiasm for the flight. "Shame we couldn't take a cruise though...."

Annali noticed that his tone was suddenly drasticly different than it had been moments before. Time and time again over the past few days she had stuck her nose where it didn't belong and she knew she should mind her own business, but it was in her nature to be worried someone that she cared about. And she was realizing that she was honestly starting to genuinely care about him, and that only scratched the surface really. "Dean, is something wrong?"

Dilema time. Did he a, pretend like nothing was the matter and try and cover up the fact he was internally freaking the hell out over this, or b, confess the truth, admit his phobia and make himself look like a total loser for being a scaredy cat...

"I, uh...have this problem...."

He figured she wasn't stupid, she'd figure it out as soon as they got onboard the plane, so might as well come clean right now.

Annali looked at him, confused. "Problem?"

He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry and tight. "With the whole...." He let go of her hand and made a take off gesture with his own. Saying it out loud was just too embarassing.

It was odd seeing Dean so flustered. She watched his hand gestures, noting how difficult of a time he was having explaining himself. “Flying?"

"Yes." Oh yeah, the ground could just swallow him up right now and save him this humiliation.

"I had a bad experience a couple of years ago..."

Annali stared at him for a moment in silence. "You act like you were afraid to tell me..."

"I was." He admitted, putting his hand back on the steering wheel, resisting the urge to hit it in the process. "Only Sam knows and he thinks it's ridiculous too."

Annali frowned. "Pull over?" she asked politely.

"What?" Dean asked. "Why?"

She gave him a gentle pleading look. "Please?"

With an uncertain look on his face, Dean did as he was asked and pulled over to the side of the road, put the car into neutral and gave her a questioning frown.

Immediately she unbuckled her seat belt and then moved over next to him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him close. "I don't think it's ridiculous..."

For a few moments, Dean was so stunned he just sat there, arms not quite touching Annali as she hugged him. Then relief that she wasn't going to pull back and laugh in his face began to sink in and he hugged back too.

"What's this for?" He asked softly, distracted by the scent of her hair under his nose.

For a moment, Annali was a bit worried that maybe she had crossed the line. That was, until she felt his arms go around her, and then she relaxed visibly, letting out a content sigh. Usually when she would up in his arms it was by accident, such as first thing in the morning after they had gotten entangled in their sleep. "You seemed to need it."

"Thanks." He replied sincerely, wondering if now might be the right time to make the move he'd been trying to all day. He pulled back a little, moved one hand up to the side of her face and gazed deeply into her eyes. "You have no idea how much I needed that then." He smiled, unconciously running his tongue along his bottom lip to moisten it ready for a kiss. She was so close to him now and there was no-one else around to distract them. It was perfect.....

Annali felt him pull back and as their eyes met she felt his hand move to the side of her face in an affectionate gesture. She swallowed nervously. She had seen that look in his eyes three times now and both times previously someone had interrupted. Annali felt like her insides were doing the hula, and her heartbeat quickened to a thundering drumbeat, and she held her breath in anticipation. Finally...

NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR *is sound of very large truck horn*

Annali jumped suddenly at the blaring of a semi truck's horn and smacked her forehead hard against Dean's. "Ow!" she yelled, rubbing her forehead. Damn it... What the heck did a girl have to do in order to get one simple kiss?...

The loud horn blaring and the heavy truck passing shook the Impala as it went by, startling Dean a little, but not nearly as much as the headbutt he recieved just when he thought he was going to get lucky. "Ah!...son of a..." His curse trailed off as he rubbed the sore spot and blinked the stars from his eyes. looking up at Annali, seeing her apparently thinking the same thing he was, he did the only thing he could do under the circumstances. He began to laugh.

Annali was rubbing her forehead, feeling quite embarrassed for committing the ultimate faux pas when going for a kiss. She was afraid that Dean was angry, particularly judging by his initial reaction, but when he started to laugh, she looked at him hesitantly and realized with surprise that he wasn't upset at all. "Sorry..." she said with a sheepish smile.

"Nah, it's fine." He replied, still chuckling to himself at the situation. "You okay? I think staying here probably isn't the best idea, we should get moving again."

"Yeah," she said with a sigh, trying not to let her disappointment show too much. She couldn't believe another moment had gotten ruined. But maybe it was some higher power's way of telling her that getting involved with Dean was a bad idea. After all, he was just going to leave when this thing was all over with. The only reason he was still with her now was because of a curse.

Dean pulled back out into traffic again, careful to avoid any speeding semi's like the last one, settling into the correct lane for the airport terminal.

Annali kept her gaze focused on her own lap, once again playing with the cuff of her jacket.

The closer they got, the more anxious he became again, his grip on the steering wheel tightening gradually until he was almost white knuckled by the time they got there. "How long was this flight again?"

"Um... about thirteen hours..."

Dean sighed heavily and clenched his jaw. "Why couldn't the original owners of this thing have lived somewhere a little closer? Like say, Denver or something." He moaned as they searched for a place to park in the long stay lot.

Annali hesitantly reached over and took his hand. "Hey..."

His eyes went to their hands first, then he glanced up at her, hating the way that his fear was getting to him.

"It's okay," she said meaningfully, looking into his eyes. "It's kind of nice to know that even you have your own personal kryptonite," she smiled.

"And I always thought I was more Batman than Superman." He answered, his expression giving away how grateful he was that she understood.

Annali smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "You may be right. And anyway, thirteen hours will give us plenty of time to get to know each other better," she said, blushing a little.

"At least we won't have to worry about getting split up." The spot on his cheek where her lips had just touched felt significantly warmer than the rest of him, a slight tingle went down his spine.

"I hope not," she said, sounding a bit worried as she climbed out of the car after Dean. The realization of crowded airports hit her like a ton of bricks... it would be so easy to get separated, and the idea made her anxious.

Dean rounded the car to get her suitcase and his duffel bag out of the trunk, pausing with his hand on the top of the hidden compartment as he wondered what he might be able to get through customs. Double checking no-one was around, he flipped it up, propping it open with a shotgun and rummaging through the contents in search of his flask of holy water.
"Here, hold this." A large bottle of holy water got thrust into Li's hands while Dean searched for random talisman's and his father's thick journal. There was no way he was getting on board the plane without some defence against demons. Not after last time.

Annali stood beside him, taking the bottle and staring down at the contents of the trunk in amazement.

"Um... you know I don't think you're gonna get any of this past security, Dean..."

"I know.." Dean said, head still buried under the trunk lid, sounding disappointed about the fact too. "I'm just looking for something....." Finally, he stood up and held out a small, flat and rounded charm to her bearing a significant resemblance to the tattoo on his chest. "Just in case, while we're on this plane."

Annali looked at him, puzzled as she took the amulet. "What's this?"

"Anti-possesion talisman. Stops demons from being able to get inside you." He said matter of factly, taking a moment to close up the hidden compartment and then the trunk before hauling his duffel over his shoulder.

"You need to keep that with you all the time, especially when we're in the air."

She just stood there staring at him blankly. "Anti...posess...." she trailed off. "Does that... actually happen?"

"Unfortunately, all too often. The bad experience I had last time I was on a plane? Demon possessed the co-pilot and tried to crash it." He shuddered at the memory.

Her eyes widened and she quickly slipped the amulet around her neck. "No wonder you're anxious about this flight..."

"If I'm honest..I'd be anxious even without that experience." He cringed a little, embarassed.

Annali just smiled at him, taking the handle of her suitcase. "Don't worry. You'll be safe with me."

That made Dean smile and as they walked into the terminal to meet up with Sam, Layla and Greg, he moved a little closer to her so their shoulders brushed as they walked.