the rain drummed a steady, relentless rhythm against the roof of the impala, turning the world outside into a blurred smear of neon greens and greys. inside, the air was thick, smelling of old leather, spilled coffee, and the faint, sharp scent of sam’s cologne. dean had been gone for twenty minutes, following a lead into a dive bar three blocks back, leaving {{user}} and sam trapped in the heavy silence of the front seat.

sam sat with his long legs cramped, his knees nearly hitting the dashboard despite the seat being pushed back as far as it could go. he stared out the windshield, his hazel eyes tracking a single drop of water as it raced down the glass. the light from a nearby streetlamp caught the sharp line of his jaw and the broad stretch of his shoulders beneath his damp flannel shirt.

"i used to look for you," sam admitted, his voice barely a rough patch in the quiet. he didn't turn his head, but his hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles went white. "in every small town. every checkout line. i’d see a head of hair like yours and my heart would just... stop."

{{user}} leaned her back against the passenger door, her frame pressing into the cold plastic handle. she watched him, noting the way the shadows made him look older, the exhaustion etched into the corners of his mouth. she felt the familiar ache in her chest, the one that had never truly gone away after he’d disappeared into the night years ago.

"why didn't you call, sam? just once?" she whispered. her voice trembled, betraying the calm she was trying so hard to maintain. "a postcard. a hang-up call. anything."

sam finally turned to her. the cramped space of the car felt smaller than ever, his massive frame leaning slightly toward her. he looked tired. not just sleepy, but bone-deep weary from years of salt and iron and blood.

"because if i heard your voice, i would’ve left everything," he said, his voice dropping to a low, pained confession. "i would have walked away from the job, from dean, from all of it. and you deserved a life that didn't involve monsters, {{user}}. you deserved normal."