Traveling home, Dean instantly felt better once he crossed back into the reserve; the city wasn't meant for him.
Greeting a couple of new wolves patrolling.
(Sam back?) asked Dean.
(No Sir!) shouted an overexuberant fellow at meeting him for the first time.
(No need to shout,) grumbled Dean.
(Sorry Sir!) he shouted yet again, much to the chagrin of his companion.
(Keep up the good work, I'll be going now,) said Dean, not knowing what else to say but feeling it would be more awkward to just walk away without saying anything.
(Thank you, Sir! We will Sir!) he shouted with his tail wagging at his fading back.
(God, could you be any more cringe?) asked his companion when Dean was no longer in sight, forgetting how far their connections went.
(What? He said we were doing a good job, come on, we're falling behind schedule, let's go,) said the first, taking off, forcing his companion to keep up.
Dean held his chuckle as he headed home.
Crossing into his private threshold, he was disheartened to find no Leah to greet him and went to the bedroom to crash.
He was woken up hours later by a happy Leah jumping on him and kissing him when she discovered he was there. "When did you get back?"
"Not long, a few hours at most," said Dean, checking the time. Hugging her close, he felt rejuvenated being back where he belonged.
"How did it go?" she asked.
"I'm here, aren't I?" Dean said, avoiding the question, but she knew him better than that.
"We both know it's never so simple when it comes to you. I did check the news, so you did good at not getting caught, but I'd bet anything that something happened," said Leah, looking him in the eyes.
He sighed and told her everything, and they ended up talking about it more than he would have liked. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind as much as he thought she would after their last parting was less than amicable.
"So, another gifted with evasion, was hoping not to have to deal with that again, I guess there can only be so many out there," said Leah thoughtfully.
"It's been the most annoying so far, well, not counting the squid vamp," said Dean, stifling a yawn.
"Squid vamp?" asked Leah.
"Uh, did I not tell you about that?" asked Dean, somewhat surprised she hadn't heard it.
"No, you certainly did not," said Leah, eyes narrowing.
Suddenly, he remembered why he wouldn't have told her something like that, cursing his slip in memory.
Brushing over the finer details, he retells the story, and this time she doesn't hold back, pointing out how stupid he was, though still understanding, since this was back when he was by himself.
"Have you heard from Sam or anyone?" asked Dean.
"No, and they took Seth with them," said Leah, less than pleased.
"How are the new wolves holding up?" asked Dean.
"Funny enough, Emily and Kim were put in charge of them. Sam felt it prudent to go out in as strong a force as possible, with a fully-fledged pack, taking the original group with him and leaving the new ones to the girls to manage when they're not around," said Leah.
"That's not right, I'll have to talk to him about that, and now that I'm back, I'll be issuing new orders. We need the new ones trained, and to readjust and expand our patrols to the Seattle airport and docks," said Dean.
"Then let's go meet with Kim and Emily for now and get things started," said Leah, climbing off him.
Entering Emily and Sam's house, they found her in the kitchen working with trays of treats spread out, cooking pots and pans.
Grabbing a couple of cookies, he passed one to Leah and called out, "Hey Emily."
Emily jumped in fright, "Dean, Lee-Lee, you scared me. Glad to see you're back, Sam's gone all broody since taking the lead, and it'll be good to have him back to normal."
"Yeah, I hear he's been slacking with the new wolves," said Dean.
"I wouldn't say slacking, but he's definitely more focused on the sweep than training them. He still does train them though, when he's not out raiding. I think he was just waiting for you to come back and figured he'd take the pack out for a bit of a trial run until you got back," Emily defended.
"Trail run?" inquired Dean.
"That's right, for when you're both split up, he expects to be in charge of the 2nd group," said Emily, delicately, hoping she wasn't making some sort of mistake.
"Makes sense," said Dean, finishing his cookie, much to Emily's relief.
"Where's Kim? I thought she'd be here," asked Leah, nibbling.
"She just left; I gave her the rest of the day off. She has been working hard to keep everything going smoothly, and if it wasn't for her, I don't think I could have handled it all myself. Good thing Leah came back when she did to help put the new wolves in place or I don't know what we would of done... sometimes they can be a little... feisty let's say," said Emily, giving it some thought, "And hungry, way too hungry," shaking her head, going back to her cooking.
Leah snorted, "Working hard, she says, and you haven't? Jesus, Emily, look at all this food, and you're pregnant for spirit's sake."
Emily gave her a wry smile, resting her hand on her enlarged belly while stirring a pot, "It's fine, it's what I'm good at."
"You're not exactly painting Sam in the best light here," said Dean.
Emily cringed, jumping when the beeper went off.
"Oh, hush you," Leah said, nudging Dean. "Ignore him, you're doing great, and I'm sure Sam's under a lot of pressure as well," she comforted Emily.
Giving an appreciative nod, Emily pulls out trays of muffins, meat, and vegetables. "Are you guys staying? It's almost time for everyone to show up for food and snacks."
"Not this time," said Dean, thinking of one particular wolf he wasn't interested in meeting again today.
"This wouldn't happen to be because of that new wolf you met?" Leah giggled knowingly.
"Oh, do tell," said Emily, intrigued.
Ignoring them, Dean scarfed down some more cookies before taking a handful and grabbing some muffins for the road.