Stanford College, California: Haven't seen you in a while

It had been about three hours since the incident in the Diner, during which time they had been driving solidly, Dean alternating from Led Zeppelin to Motorhead when the cassette ran out. At this point the too loud music was the only thing keeping him awake, the effects of the caffeine having worn off. The resounding bass of Motorhead stopping him from drifting off.

They had not really talked much for the last few hours, though that may partly have been due to the loud music drowning out anything that either of them said. Dean was sure that he was going to have to stop for a coffee soon, as he tried to discretely stifle a yawn. Sam had been on his laptop pretty much since the Diner, so it was unlikely he would notice that Dean was a bit tired.

6pm. They'd been travelling for another three hours that seemed to have lasted a lifetime. They should be nearly there now, and the signs saying how much further to get there were starting to appear. Sam had pretty much been on his computer the whole time and had lowered it down to the lowest power saving mode it would go - the screen was literately black, but alas, it was no use and it died.

Sam stared blankly at the screen. It had been a long time since it had died like that on him, and it was just... gone. He shut it, clearly annoyed that he had nothing to do now but wait. He glanced over at Dean who looked pretty tired.

Dean looked over at the sound of the laptop shutting. Judging by the look on Sam's face it had run out of battery, something that would not be good for either of them. Now that Sam did not have his laptop to entertain him he would undoubtedly by bored, which would lead to him nagging Dean about the music, or something like that. Now that the tiredness was setting in Dean was really not in the mood to listen to Sam. He just wanted to drive with his music on in peace.

Dean looked back to the road. It would only be a couple of hours now till they got there. He pushed his foot down on the acceleration. Hopefully faster then two hours if he could do anything about it. He tried to ignore the blurring at the edge of his vision, and the way his eyes just wanted to close. The sooner he got a coffee the better. Hopefully there would be a McDonalds up ahead for him to order one from.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive for a while?" Sam offered again, for no apparent reason. Maybe if Dean was this tired he would see sense other than buying a few gallons of coffee, much like Sam had wanted to do himself earlier. So, he came down to giving Dean the puppy dog look.

Here we go again. He wished that Sam's laptop had a longer battery life. He was already finding his voice grating, even though he had been fine with it a couple of hours ago. Sleep deprivation was obviously making him irritable, and it was surprising that the music was not yet annoying him.

"I'm sure," Dean answered, keeping his eyes on the road, firmly away from Sam and the puppy dog eyes, "I'm not having you crashing my baby." He had always been reluctant to let anyone else drive his car, since his father had passed it down to him. He probably was a little paranoid about it, but still, it would kill him if anything happened to the car, so his father had instructed him to take good care of the car. He was hardly going to disobey that order by letting his little brother drive it, who was probably a little out of practice, seeing as it was doubtful he had a car at college, and it had been so long since he and his dad had taught Sam how to drive.

He glanced over at Sam," We'll be there in a couple of hours anyay. I'll crash when we get there."

Sam made sure to keep his thoughts to himself - as long as they didn't crash before they got there. It would just make Dean lash out at him, and he was trying to keep that to a minimum now, especially with what he had said earlier. Dean would probably say something along the lines of not having him around there to drive for him anyway, which would cause even more of a silence between them.

"So hows... things?" he tried to break the awkwardness between them, hopefully get Dean out of that mood, although that was unlikely.

Dean was grateful for the few minutes he got where Sam did not speak, though even the Motorhead was started to hurt his brain, so he reached out to turn down the music. He was tempted to change the tape to something a little bit more easy going, but it was possible that if he got something more easygoing he would fall asleep, and that would hardly be good.

"Good," Dean answered shortly, doing very little to break the awkwardness. He didn't really want to talk. He sighed. He knew he was being unreasnoble. He dragged Sam with him, so it would not hurt to be civil, and make small talk with him, even if he was tired. "So, you ran out of battery?" he asked, looking from Sam to the laptop, and then back to the road again. He tapped his fingers against the worn leather of the steering wheel, to the rhythm of 'ace of spades', which was now playing quietly in the background.

Dean leaned back in his seat, and rubbed at his eyes, keeping one hand on the steering wheel. He wished that the time would pass a little bit quicker.

Sam didn't reply - it wasn't really a question. They both knew pretty well that Sam wouldn't give up trying to pass time on his computer with a few hours still to go.

At the turned down music, Sam guessed that it was making Dean itchy with tiredness so he turned it down. As horrible as the sounds were coming from the stereo, Sam quickly reached for it and turned it back up so fast that Dean wouldn't get a chance to slap his hand away. He learned fast that that happened when he got anywhere near it. "You're gunna pass out." Sam stated, watching Dean try to fight off the tiredness.

Dean blinked at Sam, a little confused, "You just turned it up? I thought you hated my music?" When Sam had reached for the stereo he had fully expected him to turn it off. Turning it up was the opposite of what he had expected. He obviously had some sort of ulterior motive. What, Dean was not so sure about.

"I'm not going to pass out," Dean answered, as he remembered what Sam had just said, shaking his head. He stopped doing that when he noticed that it was making him feel a bit queazy. "I'll be alright when I get coffee," he said after a few moments, scanning the road signs for some sort of fast food chain, or a diner. He had no luck. They really were in the middle of nowhere, several miles away from any town, and he was not about to veer off route just to get a coffee.

Dean reached over to turn the music down again. Hopefully Sam would not try and turn it up again. He really wanted to get to this town, and Sam messing about with the volume was not helping, it was simply making his head hurt.

"Sure." replied Sam, disbelievingly. Dean had had his fun in winding him up when he was tired, and now it was Sam's turn.

"I thought you liked your music loud." he mused, watching as Dean turned it back down. He definitely was tired.

"When did you last sleep before you got to Stanford again?" It was probably because of their dad being missing that Dean was in a hurry to get to Forks. If Sam drove, it would probably take longer, especially since he kept to the speed limit.

"I do like it loud," Dean argued, desperately trying to keep his eyes focused on the road, "Just not right now, and I slept the night before I got you. Just didn't get much this morning." If Sam was trying to wind him up, then he didn't notice, he was too preoccupied with trying to drive and stay awake at the same time, without caffeine in his system. It truly was a difficult task.

He continued to drive down the road, but was still having very little luck in finding somewhere that would sell coffee. This was not good at all. Surely there should be more diners then this in the area. Even if no one did really seem to live here, or drive through the place. Still, it seemed only right that there should be one somewhere. Not to mention they needed to top up on gas soon, though they had enough so that they should last at least another hour.

Dean frowned, and looked over at Sam, "Could you pass me the tapes? I'm not really in a Motorhead mood."

Sam slowly retrieved the box of tapes, prepared to argue if Dean was tempted to put something softer on... which would be very weird to be in the box. Something... down beat.

His mind wondered to Jess. She would probably be having dinner alone. Maybe take out... or just something from the fridge. Watching TV... or just sitting around. She didn't even know when he was coming back. It wouldn't be for at least a few days. A few days too many...

"Thanks," Dean muttered, taking the tapes from Sam, and rifling through them, keeping one hand on the wheel, and trying to look through and watch the road at the same time. It wasn't an easy task, doing both at once. He settled on a Kansas tape, of one of their old albums. He ejected the Motorhead, and put in the other tape, then handed the box back to Sam.

It was not long before the heavy metal sound of Motorhead was replaced with the slightly softer sounds of Kansas, guitar and synths a little less intrusive. Dean smiled tiredly, leaning back in his seat. The change was welcome, and was making his head hurt slightly less.

Finally... he saw a big yellow 'M' in the not too distant distance. Finally, he could get his caffeine fix.

Despite Sam not liking the fast food trash-restaurant, at least Dean would be getting coffee and would actually be able to stay awake for a long time. Sam wasn't tired at all, although he was hungry and it looked like it would be a tasteless dry salad for him.

He did appreciate the music change though. It was much more bearable.

Dean pulled in when they got to the turning to the fast food chain. He wasn't particularely hungary, but he was in need of coffee, without a shadow of a doubt. The cue for the drive through was non existant. He ordered the usual food, a big mac for himself, not bothering with the fries this time, and a salad for Sam, seeing as it was the only thing he'd probably consider eating. He also ordered a couple of coffees, one for both of them.

He collected the order within a few minutes of paying, and handed Sam his half, taking a long drink from his coffee. The effect was instantaneous. The caffeine driving away the tiredness, replacing it with artificial energy. It was a good feeling.

"That alright for you?" he asked Sam, as he pulled out of McDonalds, joining back onto the main road. The salad didn't look good to him, but it was the sort of thing that was more up Sam's street.

Sam tried some of the salad but wasn't happy with it. "I think they cover this with the puke they clean up." he exclaimed, disgusted with the salad. He looked over towards Dean, who had ordered the usual.

"God, they'd better have more restaurants than this in Forks. The name kind of sounds like it should, anyway."

Dean smirked at him as he finished his coffee, checking the rear view mirror before chucking it out of the window, "You should of let me get you a burger." Dean eyed his own up. It looked good to him, despite whatever processed crap they put in it.

"Yeah, they do have some decent places to eat there," Dean confirmed, as he took a bite out of his burger, "No idea if they'll be up to your standards though."

Sam kept his mouth shut about Dean just littering on the side of the road. He remembered how their dad used to do just the same.

"My standards, aren't that high." protested Sam. "It's just I would prefer to keep away from that crap." He glanced across at Dean's burger, oozing with fat and whatever stuff they put in there. McDonald's clearly wasn't his kind of restaurant, and it wasn't good that they seemed to be multiplying. "I'll eat something edible when we get there."

Not going to eat until they got there? Considering that Sam had barely aten since they had set off, only having had a salad when they got to the diner several hours ago, he was going to be starving by the time they got to Forks. Still, that wasn't going to stop him from eating normally till they got there.

Dean looked over at Sam's salad, rolling his eyes, "and what sort of crap are they going to put in a salad?" He shook his head, "Dude, your standards are way too high."

Opening the packaging on the burger, Dean took a bite out of it. He could feel the tomato ketchup oozing out of it.

Even though Sam was certain he wasn't going to put any of that stuff down his throat, as he watched Dean eat the burger he started to grow hungrier. The smell of it was strong in the car and he started to taste some of it, quickly regretting the salad.

But no, he wasn't going to eat any of that. You didn't need to have good standards to see that eating it wouldn't be good. Pizza was much better than that.

He looked down at the salad, preparing himself to force it down.

Jesus... this burger tasted good. The beef was juicy and tender, melted cheese giving it that heavenly taste. The aroma of it was obviously getting to Sam, as he watched Dean eat it, judging by the look of longing on his face. Dean took another bite out of it, savoring the taste.

Dean couldn't help but laugh at the look on Sam's face as he looked down on his salad. Yeah, he definitely needed to get Sam onto better food. He had obviously highered his standards since going to college. Still, judging by the look on his face it would not be long till Dean got him back on diner food. Greasy and unhealthy - just how Dean liked it.

Dean finished it off, wiping his fingers on the napkin that had came with their food.

About two bites. That's how big the salad was. Sam knew he should probably have got more to eat, even if it was a load of crap, because he'd had all that asprin, and the headache was still there. He decided against having any more, saving it for later if it was going to come back on full force.

He screwed up the bag, unable to even taste the salad any more.

"Dude, you got any m&ms?"

Dean couldn't help but feel sorry for Sam - the salad was miniscule, and did not look particularly tasty. Still, it was Sam's fault for refusing to eat anything other then that healthy food crap.

Dean grinned at Sam's mention of m&ms. Definitely still hungary, and he obviously had not forgotten about Dean's habit of eating them when on the road. "There might be some left down there," Dean gestured towards the glovebox, inside which, if he remembered correctly, would be a half eaten packet of the chocolates.

Dean glanced at the time of the cassette player. It had gone half seven now. It should only be an hour or so till they got there. Dean pushed down on the acceleration. The prospect of a warm bed and sleep pushing him on.

Sam found the m&ms - they were probably not going to be very filling, and would probably make him sick of them, but it was better than nothing till they got there.

"Sure." said Sam sarcastically. "Don't worry, speed cameras are only a bedtime story."

The M&Ms were quickly retrieved by Sam, which was a relief as he looked starving. It was a good job that Dean had the hindsight to get them on the way to Stanford yesterday, though if he knew that Sam was going to be so picky he would have bought him a sandwhich or something from the gas station.

Dean rolled his eyes, "Do you want to get there or not?" There were probably no speed cameras around here, seeing as they were miles away from anywhere, and it was definitely not a busy, highly policed road. Not to mention that Dean was in a hurry, and there was no point drawing out the journey. Getting there as fast as possible was in both of their interests, especially if they wanted to get there before it got late.

They had just gone past Neilton about twenty minutes ago, and Dean could already see the signposts coming up for Forks, which was about fifty miles away, getting ever closer.