Dean stayed in his place, chewing like a child until Bobby snapped at them. The look on his face made Dean swallow his food loudly, nervous at what the hell could come next. He glanced around Bobby to make sure there wasn’t a gun or a knife on the table, with the look he was giving them. He obeyed Bobby, trying to reach for Mika as she walked away, but followed her to the table and carefully sat in an empty chair, close to the countertop.

He could barely raise his eyes from the top of the table as Bobby glared at them and started to rant. Dean couldn’t help but smirk at what he took as a type of praise for his efforts, despite Bobby’s tone. But as his volume rose with every word, Dean began to flinch, closing his eyes tightly and trying to hide a smirk.

“Um. Yeah, Bobby…”, he started, not even knowing how to respond to someone he viewed as a father giving him a talk, even worse that it was Bobby’s niece he was…having fun with.

“I told her it would probably be a bad idea, but you know how she is…”, he muttered, giving a sheepish smile as he threw Mika under the bus.

Mika wished she could have interrupted Bobby as he spoke but as her uncle kept going on and on, raising his voice as he went on and on. She did notice however the way Dean was always wanting to smirk proudly at Bobby's words. She did think it did partly sounded like praise for Dean's 'talents' she had to admit to herself, but she wasn't going to say anything. Instead her apology to her uncle was the best she could muster up.

What she wasn't expecting though was Dean to throw her under the bus during his apology, making her look at him mouth dropping in shock. "Oh you...." she started saying, letting her words trail off to stop herself calling him a son of a bitch. "I don't believe you for a instance boy" Bobby replied back, "I know what you're like just as well as I know what my niece is like" He added, waving his finger at Dean. "You're both as bad as each other and you know it" he added, waving hid finger now between the two of them. "Now eat your damn breakfast before i kick ya up your backside on principle" he threatened, now pulling his chair out and sitting down.

Mika had to curl her bottom lip inward and really press down on it with her upper lip as she tried so hard to not laugh, grabbing her knife and fork as she now began to eat her breakfast. She did still give Dean a sideways glance with a look in her eyes that said 'think we got off light...considering', whilst Bobby ate his own breakfast and drank his Irish coffee, grumbling under his breath, unable to quite believe he had to give his niece and Dean one of 'those chats', even if he was genuinely glad that they were working through their recent history and being happy finally again. He knew that if anyone could live the hunter life and still be tight together, it would be them. Both of them were stubborn enough, that was one thing for sure. "In other news there's a case nearby if you two want it" he eventually said after a good five minutes of being silent.

Dean shrugged his shoulders at Mika, ready to defend himself to her with a scared look before Bobby chimed in and said that he didn’t believe him anyway. Sinking in his chair a bit, he stabbed his fork into his food and took a bite with a pout.

As he chewed, he glanced up at Mika who was looking at him and gave a small smirk, kicking her leg under the table. While he regretted upsetting Bobby, and potentially being extremely disrespectful after he took him in, he also didn’t regret anything. It was just easier to…handle these situations in a hotel, where people didn’t listen, or pretended not to hear. He took another massive bite and raised his eyebrows at Bobby when he mentioned a case.

“Oh yeah? What kind of case? I need the work out I’m sore…”, he muttered, closing his eyes tightly as he instantly regretted saying the words. He recovered and stammered, “…y-you know…from working on the cars.”

Mika smirked when Dean kicked her leg under the table gently to which she kicked his back. Granted sleeping with Dean was much easier when they were in various hotels but she had to admit, she did enjoy putting her bed through the strenuous test even if she did have it in her mind to get a bigger one if she and Dean were going to be together and around a lot more. There was only so long they could squeeze into her bed at its current size. What she did find curious was that Bobby decided to change the subject by mentioning a potential job. SHe guessed however that he only purposely looked for one to get them both out of his hair.

"It's an old mansion thats abandoned but people have been reporting that they could swear they hear noises coming from it, lights coming on and off at all weird hours in the night and screams coming below where there's an underground fresh water cavern. Kids have gone in on a dare basis and either come out absolutely frazzled or not at all. Figured you two could go take a look and deal with whatever it is in there. My guess some pissed off spirit but ya never know with these places" he explained, leaning back in his chair to grab the file of research he found off the worktop behind him then chucked it on the table in front of the two of them.

Mika took the file first, flipping it open and picking up the first piece of paper that clearly was an online news article from the local area's news site that he had printed out. "So where is this place?" She asked him, "Worthington, Minnesota" he replied.

Dean finished his breakfast as Bobby explained the job, half listening to everything. It sounded like a run of the mill ghost hunting trip, and nothing they couldn’t knock out in a couple of hours. However, he knew that those trips usually were the ones he ended up injured on. So, he took mental notes to carry extra weapons, if the took this case.

“This thing isn’t hurting anyone, so why is it our type of case?”, he muttered, as he leaned forward and glanced over the file of notes that Mika was flipping through. As he looked at the situation with the kids that had gone into the house, he saw a few occurrences of them being touched, or slightly injured which caused him to sigh, “Okay, it is our sort of thing…”

“But Minnesota? Bobby…”, he groaned, leaning back in his chair and whining at the idea of having to drive all the way to Minnesota for a ghost hunt. There was no telling which car Bobby would force them to take, or whether he and Mika could stand each other that long, locked in a car. Sure, they were sexually explosive and they loved each other…and were nice to each other…but a lot comes out in the wash when people ride in cars.

“It had to be Minnesota. Why not send us to friggin Canada…”, he complained again, his face pouty.

Bobby refused to say why it was their kind of case when Dean asked, knowing that'd take only a few moments for him to look over Mika's shoulder at the paperwork for him to work out exactly why it was their sort of case. Which was proven as Dean said exactly that it was their case as he did see more of the case information. He smirked as Deanc omplained about the long drive to Minnesota, just as he planned he thought to himself. "Quit yer whining ya idjit. Thought it'd be good for you both to do it but if you don't wanna take it...." he replied, trailing off his sentence before he said 'I'll give it to someone else'.

Mika also didn't like the fact it was such a long drive, but judging by the devious smirk on Bobby's face as she glanced up,, he knew exactly what he was doing. "You just want us out of the house for as long as possible...don't you?" she accused him, but her tone was also playful. "I don't know waht you're implying" Bobby said sarcastically. "It's not like you're short of cars to take i'll even let you choose between your car or another one that's good to go and not a customer's" he reasoned with a shrug.

"Consider it bonding time with each other and a real test of your relationship. you survive this drive and back I'll buy you a new bed" he bribed his niece. "Oh you drive a hard bargain dearest uncle of mine" SHe smirked but narrowed her eyes at him, as she shoved in the last mouthful of her breakfast to her mouth. She then looked at Dean, "whaddya say?" she asked him.

Dean continued pouting as Bobby told him to stop. He didn’t want to go to Minnesota…again. He never wanted to drive that far again. He sighed, looking up at them both as Bobby offered a choice of cars, and plenty of bribing to get them to take the case. He did like the sound of that. The bigger the car, the more space they would have if they started fighting.

He perked up a bit, after that and slapped a hand on the table, “Throw in a bottle of scotch just for me, and I’ll do it. I hate Minnesota…I’m gonna need booze.”

After he offered his side of the bargain, he looked over at Mika as she finished her food and winked at her, letting her know that he was willing to go, if she was. He then clapped his hand on the table one more time to offer another piece of bribery, “And I want to take the Impala, hers, I mean.”

Bobby smirked as his little plan seemed to be working on the two of them. Sure, he did have cases a lot closer to home but he wanted them out of his hair for as long as he could happily allow. He didn't always like sending his niece so far away but he had faith Dean would keep her safe and alive and vice versa. At Dean adding to the bribe as if it was even a negotiation just made Bobby roll his eyes but he sighed and nodded. "fine, you can have one of the bottles that's unopened in the cabinet" he replied to him.

Mika smiled as he turned and winked at her, glad that he was just as willing to go as she was before adding to the negotiations by declaring he wanted to take Mika's impala and not any other car. That declaration made Mika smile smugly that he approved of her 66 model enough to want to go in it. "if Mika is fine with going in her car then I can't deny you that" Bobby simply said, whilst Mika nodded, "as if I'd take any other car Bobby." Mika retorted back.

"then you both better get kitted up. Check what you both need to restock first please, that you got everything you both need and check in whenever you can" Bobby told them both.

Dean smiled brightly and clapped his hands, before standing up from the table finally, “YEAH! I actually got something I wanted…Today’s going to be a good day.”

He scooted over to the liquor cabinet, rummaging through the bottles carefully. His eyes finally landed on the cheap scotch Bobby always saved for the end of a good hunt. Considering Dean never seemed to be there when Bobby came back, whether with Rufus or some other hunter. He pulled the bottle out and danced back across the room with it in his hand, just as Mika confirmed they were taking the Impala.

He ran up to her with the Scotch clutched above his head and wrapped his arm around her, giving her a kiss on the top of the head, “Yeah, yeah..salt, iron, maybe some holy water just in case…”

As he confirmed what they needed to get, he waved Bobby off. Then he realized Bobby wouldn’t let them leave until they packed. So, he sighed and stepped out of the kitchen, “Fine…fine. I’ll go grab my clothes. Make sure we have salt and iron. You guys are no fun, not being happy for me…”

It was one of Dean’s babyish pouts he tended to have out of rare bouts of selfishness. He knew it got his way with Sam, but not typically with Bobby. Sighing, he threw his hands up and ran up the stairs to get his bag. By the time he got back down the stairs with the bag, his pout was gone.

As Dean acted like an utter child over being told he could have his pick of the whiskey, Mika just sniggered and shook her head. She watched him go to the drinks cabinet and rummage through whilst she mentsy asked herself who out rhe two of them were older because she felt like the mature one suddenly. "when did you become the mature one kiddo?" Bobby asked her, making her snap out of her thoughts and seeing that he was wondering the same thing as herself. "I was wondering the same thing myself" she smirked. Truth was, she loved it when Dean was in this much of a good mood but that wasnt going to stop wondering such stupid things.

As he danced back to the room with the chosen bottle in hand she had to really refrain from putting her hand up to her forehead and shake her head again which was helped by him wrapping an arm round her and kissing rhr top of her head. Yet she couldn't help but just look at Bobby for his reaction at what was going on. Before either of them could reply to Dean, he was off like a shot again heading upstairs to grab his bag. "WE NEVER SAID WE WEREN'T HAPPY FOR YOU!" Mika shouted up toward the stairs with a smirk.

"I'll put some extra stuff in your trunk whilst you go get your own bag from upstairs" Bobby told Mika to which she nodded and stood up. She remembered that she left her bag in her room by the door from the last hunt and probably did use most of what she had left of her salt rounds in particular on the last ghost. "think I'll need salt rounds mostly" she told him, as she glanced toward the hallway and saw Dean return finally not pouting. "meet me at the car. My keys are in my jacket on the coat rack if you wanna unlock it and chuck your stuff in" she told him then kissed his cheek before heading upstairs herself. She needed her boots for a start and figured she'd shove them on as she picked up her bag.

Dean nodded lightly, his bag thrown over his right shoulder as he assessed in his mind everything they needed. He assumed that since Mika was going, Bobby had probably packed her up, to make sure they didn’t forget anything. He spun on his heel after the small kiss to his cheek and walked over to the coat rack, rummaging his hands through her pockets.

Finding her keys, he twirled them on his fingers and caught them in his palm with a ‘hmph’. He turned to Bobby and held the keys up, “Keep your phone on. I’ll text you when we get there and everything. Take care of yourself, while we’re gone…”

He wanted to make sure that Bobby was thinking of himself while they were gone, but also was on call, because at times he was all they had to fall back on. He then opened the door and made the small walk to Mika’s Impala, running his hands from the hood, all the way down the side of the car and then around to the trunk before slipping the key into the lock. He opened it with a smile, at how similar it was to John’s Impala, despite being a different year. Throwing his bag in the trunk, he turned back to the house, and leaned against the side of the car, waiting for Mika.

In her room, Mika found her bag exactly where it was last left. On the floor by her door exactly in the state she left it in the other night, she walked further inside her room to grab her boots, where she did the usual routine of perching on the edge of her bed to pull them on and tie the laces whilst Dean was downstairs grabbing her car keys from her jacket.

"I know I know, and you better check in when you get there. Keep yourselves safe too" he told Dean, letting him go outside to the car that was parked round the back from the day before when Mika did the grocery shop run. He then headed to where he keeps all the salt shotgun rounds and pulled out a handful for Mika, placing them on the table. As soon as Dean made it outside, he heard Mika walking back downstairs with her duffel bag.

Downstairs, she went to Bobby and saw the rounds he left out for her, grabbing them off the table and putting them in the designated area in her bag before saying her goodbye to Bobby, hugging him and telling him to look after himself, unknowing that Dean did the same thing and headed out, seeing Dean lean against her car. She put her bag in the trunk and walked back to him. "I'm good to go when you are, you wanna drive for the first part of the journey?" she asked him with a smile.

Dean pushed off the side of the car as she approached, watching her walk toward him. He kept his eyebrows raised, but kept a scowl on his face as he stared into space, or rather, her body. He flinched a bit at the trunk slamming and turned to her, matching her smile.

“You would trust me to drive your car?”, he asked, more rhetorical than anything. Every now and then, John would let him drive his own Impala, if he was injured or it was a long drive. But he usually just camped out in the large passenger seat.

He held the keys in his hand and shrugged, “I think this car could use a little exercise, after dealing with your driving for the past several years. After I get ahold of her, she’ll never be the same.”

He waggled his eyebrows with a small laugh, and turned to open the passenger door for her, gesturing for her to get in. He wasn’t looking forward to the drive to Minnesota, or even staying in Minnesota. Nothing good happened in Minnesota, for him, and it was infested with Vampires. He sighed again, and let the smile return to his lips as he came out of his thoughts and held the door frame.

Mika was well aware of him staring at her as she walked toward him before she put her belongings in the trunk and walked back to him. She usually wouldn't let anyone drive her car, she was highly protective of it, but for once she didn't see the harm in them sharing the drive back to dreaded Minnesota. The last time she was there she was Kenzi, her and Dean had a fight and almost lost Sam in the process. Yet it seemed people really needed their help even if they didn't know it so back there they had to go, even if it break every single hunter code.

"Yeah I trust you to drive my girl." she smiled before rolling her eyes at his quip about how she drove the car. "There's nothing wrong with my driving thank you very much" she quipped back at him, "But you better be careful with her" she added with a playful warning before she walked up and got into the passenger side after he opened the door for her.

"Lets just get this over with. The less time in Minnesota we have, the better." She said to him, knowing that they would both be thinking of the place with the same amount of distain as each other. The place didn't hold good memories for either of them and if she could have taken any other job she would have done, but she knew once Bobby had put his foot down on something, then there was no changing it.

Dean nodded with a small smile, closing the door after her legs were safely in the car. He tapped the window gently, as he always used to do when putting Sam in a car, and sighed at the memories, before quickly walking around to the passenger seat and getting in, himself. Her car was slightly nicer than John’s, and much cleaner. He gripped the steering wheel, rolling his hand around it before shoving the key in the ignition and starting it up with a rumble.

“It’s a ghost hunt…and we don’t hate each other. How bad can it be?”, he joked, as they pulled out of Bobby’s place and out onto the open road.

—-

Dean was a bit quiet for most of the first part of the drive, watching the mile markers as they got closer and closer to Minnesota. The town they were headed to was closer to the border, which meant he didn’t have to be there long, if they could finish the job quickly. He turned to Mika a bit as they reached the halfway point.

“You wanna drive at some point? I’m good, if you’re good.”, he muttered, blinking his eyes from watching the road for so long. He did his best to both watch the road and also trail his eyes down to her throat as more memories flooded in from their last run in. The thought made his stomach drop a bit, and he swallowed heavily.

“I um…I can’t help but think of the last time we were here. I mean…the last two days have been spectacular, you know? But, regardless of who you were at the time, I hurt you, and I was so mad. I shouldn’t have let myself get to that place.”, he explained, sighing heavily with a shudder, “I mean, at least Sam’s not here to add to things, right?”

Mika smirked when he made the quip he did. In her experie ce when someone said 'how bad could it be+' it usually triggered for something really bad to happen, but she wasn't going to tell Dean that. "we'll be fine" she told him back, letting him set off.

-----

She didn't mind that he was quiet for the majority of the first half of the drive, she knew herself she could be quiet as well if she had passengers, and with the concentrating on the road whilst also trying to not think back on the past, it just made both of them quiet. At his question, she nodded, "sure I'll drive, find the next safe place to pull over and we'll do a switch" she told him. "unless our girl needs gas, then we can switch at the nearest gas station" she told him back.

She could see how much his eyes needed a rest from driving and looking ahead for so long and she was a lot more alert. She had spent some of the silent time of the first half of the drive zoning in and out, letting her mind think back on their last time in the place, even if it wasn't the same town.

She looked at him, resting her head in her hand, whilst propping it up on the window. It was so clear to her that he still couldn't fully let go of what happened that night. "hey, we're in a much better place than we were back then. Neither of us were fully to blame for that night, but..." she said pausing before continuing,, "I know remembering that night is going to be a big deal for you and for me. It's been constsntly on my mind too. But like I said, we're in a better place now and I trust you with my life for this case. Just a simple ghost hunt" she finished replying.

Dean thought about pulling over, and glanced for the first time in a while down at the gas hand. Considering how low the gas mileage was on these old cars, he tilted his head to the side in surrender to stopping at a gas station.

“I’ll stop up here at the next Gas n Sip. She could use a drink.”, he muttered, carefully leaning forward to stare through the windshield closer. He sighed at the thoughts of what had happened the last time they were in Minnesota. He didn’t answer her after she finished explaining that they were okay. He knew they were, but it was something he would never truly get over, when he looked at her.

Pulling into the gas station, he put the car in gear and turned to her, “I just need you to be careful. I’ve said it before, but I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you, simple hunt or not.”

He muttered the words while rubbing his eyes, and opened his door to step out. It wasn’t that he was in a bad mood, as much as he was worried that them being on a hunt together could go south super quickly. He knew he couldn’t leave her if she was in trouble, but he damn sure knew she wouldn’t leave him, if he asked her to. And the simplest hunts could end bloody.

Dean's confirmation that her car could indeed do with filling up made Mika nod. It wasn't surprising in some ways as it had been a few days since shhe last needed to and she had done a fair bit of driving. She would have been more surprised if her car didn't need filling up all things considered.

At the gas station, she sighed actually glad for the stop as it meant before she got in the driving seat, she could stretch her legs and grab a drink and snack. She listened to what he said and gav ehim a reassuring but warm smile whilst nodding, "I will I promise."she stretched her hand over and gave his a squeeze, "I'll be even more careful than I normally am and won't stray too far from you" she promised him. She knew he knew she would be very reluctant to leave him if he told her to run, just as she knew he wouldn't want to leave her either. Simple hunts may usually come up with some kind complication or curveball, but that didn't mean she was going to just up and leave Dean to fend for himself or vice versa.

Letting go of his hand, she got out of her side when he did, grabbing her wallet in the process. "I'm gonna grab some snacks and a drink, you want anything? My treat" she asked him, walking round the car to get to the store front.

When Mika squeezed his hand, Dean closed his eyes for a second, before clearing his throat and stepping out of the car completely. He leaned over the roof of the car, and made a face to let her know he was thinking about her question, of snacks. He then pointed, “Pork Rinds and Coke…”

He usually drank very little other than beer and maybe the occasional club soda. But something about fat and cola just struck him as perfect road food, and less chances of needing to make pit stops. He gave her a smile, before running around to the back of the car and lifting the fuel hatch, similarly to John’s.

As he filled up, he looked around the parking lot. He caught a glimpse of a young boy with shaggy hair, and flashes of Sam’s smile burned his brain as he sighed and watched the young boy laugh. Maybe time away from his brother wasn’t what he needed, just time away from John. He turned his head back toward the interior of the shop while the gas pumped, watching Mika’s every move as she walked around.

"Consider it done" Mika replied to him after he gave it a thought. Walking to the shop front door, she walked inside whilst he focused on filling her car up for her. Walking round the store, she grabbed Dean's pork rinds and a bottle of coke for him, whilst grabbing herself a mountain dew and some m&ms. She needed something but she also needed something that she could easily eat whilst doing the driving when they set off again. With everything in her hands that they wanted, she walked to the counter, placing everything down feeling aware of Dean watching her from the outside, proving that he really did mean his words when he said he wasn't letting her out of his sight.

Paying for the items, she thanked the cashier and grabbed everything walking out to the car again. She saw he seemed like he saw something he wasn't expecting to see at one point but decided to not say anything just yet. She opened the driver side door and placed their snacks and Dean's drink on the passenger seat for now whilst she kept ahold of her own, unscrewing the lid and taking a sip, glad for it. "She almost full?" she asked between taking another sip of her drink. "I left your drink and snack along with mine on the passenger seat by the way" she told him.

leaning against the side of the car, she waited for him to be done glancing out the corner of her eye that the cashier was staring out their window out at them, or more to the point her as she leaned against her car. It was a look she recognised all too well as it was the same every single time. The look of disbelief that she could be in any way linked to such a car. She gave a seemingly polite but was actually sarcastic wave at them to make them stop staring before sniggering to herself into her bottle.