Back to Stanford

"Thanks, Dean." he smiled, before turning to the laptops. However, it wouldn't be as simple as Dean said it would... pick one. Yeah - like that would take two minutes. Operating System, memory, screen size.. it went on forever, and he tried to work out how he could get the best without irritating Dean at the cost. But it looked like that after a while it wouldn't matter if was anything but the cheapest computer there... because he was taking his time...

Dean waited for Sam to pick out a laptop, resisting the temptation to make a snide comment. But seriously, could Sam go any slower? All of the laptop's looked exactly the same to him, and the specs listed next to them meant absolutely nothing to him.

"You chosen yet, Sammy?" Dean asked after a while when the boredom of waiting got to him. Walking over to his brother, he glanced at the laptop's nearest, wondering if Sam was any nearer to picking one.

"If I had," replied Sam, who was reading down a list of specs on one of the laptops. "You would know." Obviously. Like Sam would hang around after he had picked one. Well, it wasn't surprising Dean was getting impatient after... He glanced at his watch. Okay then... he had taken a while. Fifteen minutes. But this laptop was going to last him a while! It needed to be decent...

Dean nodded, watching Sam impatiently, not trusting himself to speak. They still needed to go shopping for clothes, though he hoped that doing that would be quicker then this.

After another five minutes had passed, Dean looked up at Sam, feeling increasingly irritated. They were never going to get anywhere at this rate, and Sam looked no closer to picking on.

"Seriously, dude, could you get a move on?" he asked, poking Sam's arm.

Sam gave him an unamused look. "What's the rush?" he asked.

Seriously, what was the rush? Was Dean afraid he was going to get all 'geeked' out or something? Crazy...

Now Sam was giving him the bitchface. Great. To think that he thought that getting Sam a new laptop to replace the one that had been burned in the fire would not take longer then ten minutes. How wrong he had been.

What was the rush? He was getting bored. Not that that would wash down well with Sam. But seriously, how long did it take for someone to get a god damned laptop?

"We got other things to be getting on with," Dean said, meeting Sam's look with an equally unamused one of his own, "they're all the same anyway. Can't you just pick one so we can get out of here?"

Sam glanced at the laptops and sighed. It wasn't as simple as that...

"Why don't you go find a better motel? I'll probably be done by then." he suggested. It was kind of logical. Dean could come back later and then he wouldn't have to hang around.

Funny. He'd bought a laptop with Jessica once. Evidently, it hadn't lasted long.

"Because I'm paying for the laptop, dumbass," Dean said, irritation creeping into his voice. He was reluctant to leave Sam anyway, so soon after the murder. For all they knew, the demon could still be lurking about. Okay, so it was kind of unlikely that the monster that killed their mother and Sam's girlfriend would be lurking about in an IT store, but Dean wasn't taking any chances. Not that he was going to mention any of that to Sam, no need for his brother to think he was paranoid.

He couldn't help but wonder how long they were going to be in here for. Sam really didn't sound like he'd be done any time soon, and Dean was getting fed up of waiting. He sincerely hoped that Sam wouldn't take this long shopping for clothes.

Jesus, his brother was such a girl.

"I meant you come back and then I'll-," he groaned, cutting off. He really couldn't be bothered to fight with Dean over a stupid computer anyway.

Sam turned back to the laptops and grabbed the one he had liked the sound of earlier. Wow, Dean was going to be happy now. Yeah, for now, because later he would probably start complaining about it.

"Operating system: Windows Vista?" the guy at the desk asked him.

Sam paled. "Oh god, no. Can't I just get XP?"

"Windows what?" Dean muttered under his breath, utterly perplexed by what Sam was going on about. The guy at the desk payed him no attention.

"We've stopped shipping in the laptops with XP," The guy explained to Sam, and it sounded like his tone was a little apologetic, "Vista's all we got."

"Oh my god..." Sam stared at him wide eyed, doing the puppy look. If Dean knew nothing - which was what he seemed to know - he was gunna think something was up with him.

"Please... tell me you have mac books or something?!"

"We don't sell those either," the man said, shaking his head, "But we do have a lovely selection of Vista laptops for you to choose from."

What the hell was Vista anyway? Dean really had no idea what they were talking about. How hard could it be to choose a laptop?

"Dude, just get one of those vista things," Dean said, elbowing Sam in the side.

Sam frowned, utterly horrified. "Unless you want to see the laptop out the window, then I am definitely not getting vista!" he shuddered, unable to believe that all they sold was vista.

"Come on." he said, walking towards the exit. The store next door probably sold XP, and they would have reasonable prices as well...

Dean flashed the guy behind the counter an apologetic smile, before following after Sam.

"What was up with that?" he asked, as they got out of the shop, his voice betraying his confusion at Sam's hissy fit over the laptop he got. He had no idea what vista was, but surely it couldn't be that bad?

Sam shuddered. "Vista is the worst..." He stopped. There wasn't really much point in him explaining this to his brother, who one, wouldn't care, and two, didn't really understand anything about computers anyway.

It had always been that way. Ever since Sam had first got a laptop when he was eleven he would go on about it to Dean a lot who didn't really care that much, probably thinking that Sam should get more into the action than the research... well, he was probably right. But he liked asking questions first and shooting later... unlike Dean who preferred it the other way around.

"Don't worry about it." muttered Sam as they walked into the store next door, which had a sign saying they sold Windows XP, making Sam's mood lighten. It wouldn't take long for him to find something in there... the best thing they sold would probably do.

It looked like they were going to the cheaper looking store, which Dean had no problem with. He just hoped that Sam would be quicker in choosing a laptop this time, though he was starting to think it unlikely. He walked in, following after Sam.

At least the prices here seemed cheaper, which was an improvement on the other place, though Sam probably wouldn't agree. But then, he wasn't the one paying.

Sam walked straight to where the most expensive laptop sat - which was about the same price as some of the cheaper ones next door. It looked like it would be okay, though, probably lasting a while. He hoped that Dean wouldn't start getting irritated with him again. It was bad enough before. He guess the tech. talk probably freaked him out a little.

"Windows XP." he said shortly to the guy behind the counter.

The guy raised an eyebrow. "Vista not your style, huh?"

Dean didn't comment when Sam picked up the most expensive laptop there. Compared to the place next door it seemed pretty cheap. It was silver, labelled Dell, which Dean assumed to be the make, not that he really knew anything about different computer makes. That was Sam's forte.

It seemed to be that XP thing that Sam wanted as well, which Dean was guessing was a good thing. Dean leaned back against the wall as Sam talked to the guy selling it, looking through his pockets for a credit card that would be suitable for paying for the laptop. He found one after a few seconds of looking through his wallet, and waited for Sam to finish talking to the guy so he could get on and pay.

The computer seemed pretty good, and Sam worked out it would probably last him a while if he just kept to the important things and not weighing it down with heavy emailing (which he was certainty going to do...). He would just have to be more cautious than he was with the other laptop.

Like not leave it in a fire.

No. He wasn't going to focus on those thoughts. He had already decided that. Or maybe he should talk about it. He looked over at Dean when he was done talking. Hopefully he wouldn't be too annoyed at the cost...

He was surprised at how quickly Sam had chosen a laptop this time round. They'd barely been in the shop five minutes, and he had already decided.

Dean stepped forward, putting his credit card into the machine, and tapping in the PIN number. The price seemed high to him, but he decided against commenting on it. It was hardly like it was his money anyway, they could always run more credit card scams to replace the money lost, and it would probably be easier to do them now that Sam had a laptop.

He looked over at Sam, smiling in spite of the cost. "That alright for you?" he asked, hoping that now they had the laptop Sam would be in a better mood, or at least that it would serve as a distraction from thinking about Jess, seeing as Sam didn't appear to want to talk about it yet.

"Sure." Sam answered. He was still trying to work out when was the best time to actually start talking about Jess to Dean. Just randomly? No, that wouldn't be right. Go somewhere and just think about her for so long he would just start talking, even if the person he was talking to wasn't even Dean? He wasn't sure...

The sooner he talked about it, though, the better.

The guy placed the laptop in a box and handed it to Sam, who held it easily. It was just a laptop... it wasn't going to be heavy.

Dean watched at the man gave the laptop to Sam, all packaged up, before turning round to leave the store. Now all they had to do was get the clothes shopping out the way, then find a new motel and then they would be done. Though once they had done all that there would be little to take Sam's mind off Jess, and they could potentially be in town for a week or so, which was a long time not doing anything. Dean wasn't really looking forward to it.

"You ready to go get some clothes?" he asked Sam as they came out of the shop, his lips curved in amusement. He disliked shopping greatly, but it was a necessary evil, even if doing it was going to make them look gayer then usual.

Clothes... Sam couldn't help it. Everything was just relating back to Jessica now. He hadn't thought much of it before, but he could vaguely remember some bags in the corner of the bedroom. New bags... she must have been shopping that weekend he'd left her. The one where he hadn't been there when she'd needed him to be there most. Damn it.

It kind of annoyed him sometimes, but she would do it anyway. She would show him random clothes she bought sometimes. If she was still there he would never get annoyed at her again... He remembered sometimes she liked to drag him round stores... and then she would most likely see someone she knew and they'd just end up spending endless hours at the mall. That was when they had time, of course.

"You should be asking yourself that." he replied, knowing that Dean loathed shopping.

Dean snorted, shaking his head, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be." So not at all.

Was it that obvious that he didn't want to go? Seemed like Sam hadn't forgot Dean's distaste for shopping. Still, it had to be done. Hopefully Sam would be alright with it, he could not remember it ever bothering Sam when they were kids.

Dean could see the Impala coming up, just down the road. It was parked by the diner, and wasn't far off.

Oh god, why did they have to go shopping in Stanford of all places? Though how could he just ask Dean to drive out somewhere else just because he didn't think he could handle the memories hitting him hard?

Should he start talking about Jess now? No... not yet... later... But he knew he had to sometime. Oh god...

He focused on walking. Everything was normal. Yeah. And the Impala was right there...