#42 Blueberry Hill: Early Evening Thursday [9-6-07]

[dark_innocence]

Lana went out for a run early on in the day, then came home and did all those necessary housework type things. Then she stretched out in a lounge chair in the front yard to do a little sunbathing. She figured she was far enough off the road that she wouldn't be easily seen and would hear anyone coming. Of course, she hadn't actually planned on

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[givemethehunt]

Dean in the driveway when he spotted Lana, and just leaned one shoulder against a tree and watched her silently for a long moment.

There were too many different thoughts chasing themselves around in his head for him to make sense of any single one of them. Certainly too many for the one that might have identified the odd feelings in his stomach and chest to make itself known.

So he just leaned and watched.

[dark_innocence]

Lana shifted in her sleep, curling up a little more on the chair, her face open and vulnerable.

[givemethehunt]

Something clenched deep in his chest and Dean wondered idly for a moment if he was going to throw up.

God, she was beautiful. . . .

He shook his head, wondered if maybe Sam had slipped him something in his coffee, after all.

But he still didn't move from his spot, watching her.

[dark_innocence]

She began the slow path to waking up, eyes fluttering open slowly, taking a moment to remember where she was.

[givemethehunt]

And that little wrench, there, that couldn't be disappointment. "Hey," he said softly, prepared to have a gun aimed at him again for interrupting the waking process. But he still didn't want to straighten up from his lean. "Good morning,"

[dark_innocence]

She was upright, shaking, hand searching for the gun she'd set beside her, still fuzzy, still not quite sure where she was.

She let out a long breath as she saw Dean and sank back down onto the chair. "Hi," she said, a little shakily. Then, "Morning? God, did I sleep through the night out here?"

She rubbed at her face, trying to orient herself.

[givemethehunt]

"Nope." Dean shrugged, not bothering to explain his stupid joke. "You looked comfy."

[dark_innocence]

"Yeah," she said, running a hand through her hair and trying to push it back out of her face. "I didn't plan on napping. Guess I was more tired than I thought."

[givemethehunt]

He didn't swallow, didn't think about why he was tempted to. "You been having more nightmares?" If she had, they were quiet ones.

[dark_innocence]

She ducked her head. "Some, yeah. Doing a lot of reading into the wee hours to try and keep them away."

[givemethehunt]

"Gotta be a better way to deal with those." But that's what John had always done about nightmares, too, just stayed awake until he couldn't any more, and it was what Dean and Sam usually ended up doing, too.

Didn't mean it didn't suck to watch someone else do it.

[dark_innocence]

"I'm open to any suggestions," she said as lightly as she could manage. "They've pretty much been a staple of my life in one form or another since my parents died."

Only one thing had ever helped lessen them.

[givemethehunt]

Dean frowned. He'd been lucky, he supposed. Never had too many, at least, not that he could remember. "And you never figured out how to stop 'em? Lessen them at least?"

[dark_innocence]

Oh God. Yeah... not really a place she should be going. Not with him. Not now. But damn... she just had the hardest time not being truthful with him.

"Twice when I was at that high school," she said slowly. "When I was spending the night regularly with the guy I was dating... Guess I felt safer. Or they'd start and someone I trusted was there and they weren't as bad."

[givemethehunt]

There was no way Dean could possibly begin to identify the various things that what she just told him was doing to him.

No way.

Time to lighten the mood. He could totally do that. "What if we got you a really big stuffed monkey?"

[dark_innocence]

"A monkey?" she asked, a grin spreading over her face. "Why a monkey?"