Not a problem. As if Dean was just an obstacle to deal with. Not that Sam was surprised Ruby was looking at it this way; he knew full well what Dean represented to her. But it bothered him that he was starting to do the same thing. He'd never meant for it to get this out of hand. As much as he knew it wasn't spiraling as far out of control as it could've—the shadow spilling the truth, the slip of details here and there—he still felt as if he'd let it fall too far to the wayside. Whatever it was. Was it his relationship with Dean or the fact that he'd never wanted to disappoint his brother when it came to this?
He bit back a sigh. Never mind.
His gaze traveled back to Ruby. He didn't return her smile, but he relaxed slightly. It wasn't that he looked to her for reassurance—the thought of that was...it felt wrong, even to him, even after all this time—but he couldn't deny that it put him at ease, knowing that he at least had her to fall back on. Because while he could handle this alone, he knew, too, that having someone at your back wasn't something to turn down.
Not that Dean wasn't there, as well. He knew his brother would always back him when it came down to it. But it was...different, that was all.
He nodded, pausing for a moment to consider if there was anything else he needed to bring it up. The conversation felt pretty much done—he'd agreed to what she wanted. Beyond that, there wasn't a lot in terms of strategy aside from keep Dean from finding out and God knew he already had that part down.
So what else was there...all that angel crap, maybe? Though he had to admit, he wanted to leave that alone for now. Too frigging complicated and messy. He wasn't sure what to make of it yet, even now, and he'd always preferred to sort a situation out for himself before he brought it up as a topic of conversation. Growing up in a household with Dean and Dad had taught him the importance of figuring out exactly where he stood—or at least where he wanted to stand—before tangling himself in a damn yelling match about it.
Oh, right. She had mentioned running into a creature last night. From the way she termed it, it was apparently an oversized gorilla. Sam had seen oversized cats, but he'd yet to run into any oversized apes. Just imagining it made him feel crazy. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that important, but he wanted to know regardless. He didn't like having blank spots of information when he could fill them in.
"What was that thing you ran into last night, anyway? You said...King Kong?"
He really, really hoped that that was just an analogy.
no subject
He bit back a sigh. Never mind.
His gaze traveled back to Ruby. He didn't return her smile, but he relaxed slightly. It wasn't that he looked to her for reassurance—the thought of that was...it felt wrong, even to him, even after all this time—but he couldn't deny that it put him at ease, knowing that he at least had her to fall back on. Because while he could handle this alone, he knew, too, that having someone at your back wasn't something to turn down.
Not that Dean wasn't there, as well. He knew his brother would always back him when it came down to it. But it was...different, that was all.
He nodded, pausing for a moment to consider if there was anything else he needed to bring it up. The conversation felt pretty much done—he'd agreed to what she wanted. Beyond that, there wasn't a lot in terms of strategy aside from keep Dean from finding out and God knew he already had that part down.
So what else was there...all that angel crap, maybe? Though he had to admit, he wanted to leave that alone for now. Too frigging complicated and messy. He wasn't sure what to make of it yet, even now, and he'd always preferred to sort a situation out for himself before he brought it up as a topic of conversation. Growing up in a household with Dean and Dad had taught him the importance of figuring out exactly where he stood—or at least where he wanted to stand—before tangling himself in a damn yelling match about it.
Oh, right. She had mentioned running into a creature last night. From the way she termed it, it was apparently an oversized gorilla. Sam had seen oversized cats, but he'd yet to run into any oversized apes. Just imagining it made him feel crazy. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that important, but he wanted to know regardless. He didn't like having blank spots of information when he could fill them in.
"What was that thing you ran into last night, anyway? You said...King Kong?"
He really, really hoped that that was just an analogy.