Dean didn’t want to say it out loud. That he thought it was hilarious Mikael was apparently prone to air sickness, but he was certainly thinking it. It had come as a surprise to Dean on the first flight. Now that they were on their third one, Dean was fighting to hide his smile. It was mostly due to the dramatic way Mikael was acting. When he wasn’t trying not to throw up, he was muttering under his breath, mostly a string of words Dean didn’t hear him use very often.

“Stupid human travel,” he groused for what Dean believed was close to the hundredth time.

“It was the quickest way we had and the cheapest. Have you seen gas prices lately?” Dean told Mikael, still fighting to hide his smile.

“No Dean, I didn’t notice, what with the big ass truck I drive.”

Dean reached over and patted Mikael’s knee in what he hoped was a consoling gesture. Somewhere between their flights, they had set their argument aside in favor of Dean attempting to comfort Mikael. He knew they weren’t over the argument yet; but it was on standby for now. Mikael was a bit too preoccupied with his upset stomach to really hold onto his anger. Privately, Dean was just happy to have a conversation that wasn’t either short or somewhat curt.

“Is it stubbornness that’s kept you from throwing up or just a really strong stomach?”

Mikael squinted at him. “You’re enjoying this.”

Dean shook his head, even as he continued to still fight off a smile. “It’s more like, I never get to see you like this.”

“Sick?”

“I was going to say cranky and complaining. I think I’m getting a good idea of what you would be like as a patient, if you ever do catch something. Wait, do you guys actually get sick?”

“Obviously.”

Dean poked Mikael’s thigh. “You know what I mean.”

Mikael shuddered as he rubbed his stomach. “We can, yeah. Doesn’t happen all that much, but yeah.”

“No wonder you’re a little…uh, off about being a bit airsick.”

“A bit?”

“You haven’t actually puked yet, so I would say a bit, yeah. But I guess that’s just me.”

“You wait until you get sick and watch me remind you of this moment.”

“I’m actually really surprised you haven’t had to deal with it yet. I usually get sick at least once a year, maybe it’s the whole druid thing.”

Mikael shrugged, looking like he was afraid to open his mouth as the cabin rocked once more. It wouldn’t have been from fear of being overheard. Save for their group, there wasn’t one person on the small plane that spoke the slightest bit of English. The advantage to that was they could speak freely without fear of saying the wrong thing. The disadvantage was that communicating with people was a slow and painful process that involved checking the phone for translations.

“Should have just bought a fancy app or something,” he mumbled to himself.

Mikael’s silent struggle with airsickness continued for the remainder of the flight. Dean was genuinely pleased to see that Mikael had managed to keep his stomach contents down. He wasn’t about to tell him, though, and risk getting another dirty look. Mikael didn’t make it easy on Dean when he all but ran out of the plane, looking as if he wanted to kiss the ground in relief.

“Can we please run or drive on the way back?” Mikael asked, the color in his face returning now that they were on solid ground.

“I’m not running back home Mikael,” Dean told him as he glanced around to see where the others had wandered off to. They had been closer to the door of the plane, and it wasn’t like the building they were in was all that large. The whole plot could only be called an airport because it had a runway and a building for people to exit out into.

“They go outside already?” Mikael asked.

“I don’t see them, so let’s go find out. Maybe one of them has figured out a way to get us transportation.”

That ended up being the one detail Dean hadn’t been able to figure out himself. If they had been dealing with a major airport, it would have been a different story. They were about as far out in the middle of nowhere as they could reach by plane, so a rental was out of the question. Dean had brought some of his savings from the previous season, having already exchanged it by the time they reached the final landing strip. That was in case they could manage to find someone willing to sell their vehicle, but he wasn’t too sure how that would pan out.

They stepped into the sticky heat outside the building, spotting the rest of their group standing in what looked like it served as the airport parking lot. A glance at them had him immediately concerned that someone might want to just take a vehicle instead of buying one. He didn’t know if any of them knew how to hotwire one, but he didn’t doubt that they would if they had to. His little trip with Apollo showed just how willing they were to bend or break the law. Then again, Dean had been on board with that as well, so he probably didn’t have much room to judge.

“I didn’t know it was possible for it to be this hot outside without there being a large fire somewhere around,” Katarina grumped as they approached. From the looks of it, she was tolerating the weather about as well as Mikael had tolerated the trip on the plane. Dante seemed to be faring better, but him and Apollo were used to toughing out the elements. Silun appeared to be about where Dean was, as miserable as Katarina, but attempting to hide it.

“Welcome to jungle weather,” Dean told her brightly, unwilling to pass up the chance to tease her. It earned him the glare he expected, but that was about it. Katarina probably wouldn’t move more than was absolutely necessary. Not only was it hot, but the air was thick enough that he would swear you could see it.

Dean glanced around, noticing someone was missing. “And where’s Apollo?”

“Probably off trying to find us a ride. Here’s hoping he just steals a van with some AC in it,” Dante grumbled.

“Oh God, yes please. This is the worst,” Katarina said.

Dean glanced at Mikael, who was watching in quiet amusement. “You guys do know it’s probably going to be worse out in the middle of the jungle, right? And we can’t just take the AC with us after we set out on foot.”

“Yeah, but this way, I can say I know what air conditioning felt like after being in this heat. That’ll make up for it,” Katarina said.

Dean raised a brow slowly. “I don’t think that’s how that works, but sure.”

“Makes sense to me, that’s all that matters,” Katarina bit back, irritation simmering beneath her attempt at being jovial.

Dean wanted to make a teasing comment about “female logic” but decided against it after a quick glance at her face. She was doing a good job of keeping her mood in check, better than the men of the group usually did anyway. He didn’t relish the idea of poking the bear, or werewolf, and risk having her snap at him. They had a long and rough journey ahead of them and he didn’t want to start off by having Katarina and him getting into it over a silly joke.

Within a half hour, a large, beat-up van rumbled up beside where they stood, still in abject discomfort. Apollo sat behind the wheel, looking about as pleased with himself as the stoic man could without giving anything away. Dean stepped up to the driver’s side window as Apollo rolled it down, and sighed as the welcome feel of cool air rushed out of the cab to brush across his face.

“Well, you’ll have made Kat’s day,” Dean told him, grinning.

“It’s what I live for,” Apollo replied quietly.

“Thought it was to make me happy and worship the ground I walked on,” Dante teased as he opened the side door and disappeared from Dean’s view.

Apollo rolled his eyes, rolling up his window in response rather than saying anything. He wasn’t fooling Dean however, who saw the corner of Apollo’s mouth twitch as he fought a smile. Only people who had seen the man beneath the expressionless mask were comfortable enough to tease Apollo. They were also the only people who got any sort of reaction out of him that he didn’t first give himself permission to show. Of course, Dean didn’t think he had ever seen anyone get Apollo to watch them with the same shadow of a smile as he was giving Dante right now.

“Ya getting in?” Kat asked from somewhere in the shadows of the van’s interior.

Mikael leaned forward so he was in Dean’s sight, a knowing smirk on his face, “When he comes back from whatever thoughts he’s lost himself in.”

Dean turned and swatted Mikael’s broad chest playfully. “I was thinking ahead was all.”

The look on his mate’s face told Dean he didn’t believe a word of it, but Mikael said nothing. There was only a lingering, knowing look before he crawled into the van, amidst protests of “long legs” and him being “all elbows.” Dean couldn’t help but glance at Apollo one more time, the scout looking back at him with a wry expression. He didn’t say it, but he was pretty sure Apollo was thinking along the same lines as he was. What had started off as a mission to possibly help the world was quickly turning into a family road trip, complete with the squabbling and teasing that came with it.

Filing that little curiosity away for later, he peered into the open door of the van, seeing no room for him, “What, am I gonna be sitting on someone’s lap now?”

Kat popped her head out from the far back row of seats, “I’m betting you’re on his lap enough times anyway. You’re up front, Mom.”

“Mom?” Dean asked, trying to sound huffy but coming off like he was trying not to laugh instead.

“Apollo’s too quiet to be Mom, plus he’s driving. Doesn’t Dad always do the driving?”

Apparently he wasn’t the only one who had the family road trip comparison spring to mind. It was also dawning on him that she wasn’t kidding about him being up front. Just as with their rescue mission into the mountains, the group was leaving leadership of this particular trip up to Dean. She might have phrased it like she was teasing him, but she was really just telling him he was still the boss man.

He shot a worried glance toward Mikael, but shrugged at the rest of them as he made his way around the van. It didn’t surprise him, since this had been his idea and he was the one who had the most information to work with, little as that was. The last mission he had been in charge of had disintegrated rapidly within no time, after entering the mountains. Yes, they had ended the war, killed Damian, and they’d all left with their lives and limbs intact. It still felt like a disaster to him, or at least something he wouldn’t want to throw on his resume. Yet here he was, in charge again, with the others looking to him for guidance, when he barely knew a damn thing himself.

“Where to?” Apollo asked quietly from beside him as he made himself comfortable in the cool air of the van.

Dean shrugged, pulling out the map he’d cobbled together and starting to comb over it. No one said anything to him as he began to trace the route they were going to be taking, or hopefully taking. He had felt so confident about this trip while he had been safely back in the Grove and now doubt filled him. The maps, once deemed the closest he was going to get to accuracy, looked like the haphazard work of a child. They were working with so very little information, based on human who barely knew his head from his ass when it came to this sort of knowledge.

Why the hell had they put him in charge again?

“Dean?”

Mikael’s voice was soft behind him. Immediately, Dean felt the tension that had been building in his shoulders ease. His mate’s strong hand wrapped around his elbow and held there. He said nothing else, and the others chatted away restlessly in the back, oblivious to what passed between the two of them. Only Apollo seemed to be privy to this private moment, but he was doing a fine job of pretending to pay attention to something else.

Smiling, more to himself than anyone else, since Mikael couldn’t see his face, he reached back to stroke Mikael’s long fingers. He was grateful for Mikael’s almost instant insight into the contents of his heart. Whether it was due to their bond through the mating, or simply through Mikael knowing Dean that well, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that Mikael knew his feelings, but more importantly, he knew the best and most direct way to address them. His name, and a light touch, that was all it took to quell the storm of panic that had been threatening to build within him.

He took a deep breath, “The best we’re going to do is to get to a place a few hours north of here. It’s not going to be a precise location, but so long as we’re decently close, it will work.”

“Flying by the seat of our pants, then?” Silun asked from his seat.

Now there was a phrase Dean hadn’t heard since he was a kid, and it made him smile. “That’s about the gist of it, yeah.”

“Well, your last plan like that worked out pretty good for me, so let’s get to it,” Dean could hear the smile in Silun’s voice.

Dean glanced at Apollo, who was now looking back expectantly. He jammed his thumb in the direction that they would have to take. Apollo hummed softly, glancing in the rearview mirror one more time before gunning the engine and pulling out of the lot.