Lost Boys aka You Can Only Run So Far Before You Catch Up With Yourself
Pairing: Dean/Sam
Rating: NC-17 (overall series rating)
Warning/genres: consensual incest, angst, au, bad language, allusions to underage
Spoilers: Pilot, In My Time of Dying, Everybody Loves A Clown
Summary: Sam never joined Dean on the hunt for their dad in the Pilot instead he married Jess while Dean hunted. Now they are united by a case and Sam has to deal with his much changed brother and his feelings which are still the same.
You Can Only Run So Far Before You Catch Up With Yourself
Sam's Story
Sam Winchester stared at the cell phone, his brother's name highlighted in the phone book as he considered what he was about to do. It had been nearly two years since Sam had seen Dean, the older brother who had pretty much raised him in-between hunting demons with their dad. Dean had taught him everything he knew including how to shoot a gun, how to love a mother, and how to have sex with your brother without feeling guilty. Yes, Sam had become an expert in the last lesson, so much that he had run away to college desperate to be Joe Average. To have what the people they saved had, a family, a wife, friends, an education... He had kept in contact for the first few years but eventually he met Jess and he could no longer stand to be torn in two by the constant reminder of who and what he had left behind so he stopped calling Dean and Dean eventually got the hint. Two years later and Dean shows up in the middle of the night, spinning some story about dad disappearing. Sam knew his brother was telling the truth but one look into Dean's too beautiful green eyes and Sam knew that if he left with Dean he wouldn't be able to come back to Jess, not whole. So he said no. He had an interview on Monday and he was with Jess now.
But now he needed his brother. There was a case in Palo Alto and Sam couldn't do it and he couldn't ignore it; not when people were dying. Jess was pregnant and he needed to protect his family.
Even if that meant calling Dean.
He pressed the button on his cell that would connect him to his brother's voice and waited with bated breath listening to the ringing.
"Hey." Dean's voice greeted him unceremoniously and Sam could tell he had no idea who was on the other line. But this was a new phone so he wouldn't know. This was his last chance to back out, Sam realised, an then his vocal cords froze.
"Listen who ever y'are, I aint got time t' listen t' ya breathe and I'm not gettin any younger so if you got somethin t' say t' me I suggest you do so before hang up. No? OK, five-four-three-two-"
"It's me." Sam's said quickly, thinking about how much his brother's voice was exactly as he remembered it, if a little more heavy with the southern accent. Now it was time for Dean to be silent and Sam wondered if he had made a mistake and made a move to hang up when Dean spoke again, his tone deceptively light.
"Sorry, man. You gotta do better than that. Do you know how many 'me's' there are out there? 'cause I'm telling you, it's a lot."
"Sam. It's Sam, Dean."
"What you doing calling me, Sam?" Dean said without a pause which told Sam that his brother had known all along who was on the other end of the phone.
"I have a case for you." Sam told his brother haltingly.
"You do. Huh. That's odd. I haven't heard about anything strange going on in the Palo Alto area. You are in Palo Alto, right, Sam?" Dean asked in a way that indicated he really didn't know if Sam was still in California or not. That hurt, that Dean hadn't even checked on him these last two years. It hurt almost as much as Dean's pointed use of his name, 'Sam' not 'Sammy' as Dean had insisted on calling him ever since he could remember. Unless Dean was pissed with him which was a strong possibility. But he must be really pissed because Dean wasn't the 'holding a grudge' type of guy, he left that kind of childishness to Sam and their dad; John Winchester.
"Yeah, Dean. We still live in Palo Alto. But actually the trouble is over in Atherton." Sam revealed.
"Atherton?" Dean let out a wolf whistle. "Isn't that one of the wealthiest cities in the US? And you say they got Supernatural troubles? Sure they aint got it coming?" Dean half joked. Sam knew his brother wasn't a fan of rich people, Dean thought they were selfish Sons of Bitches and useless too.
"People are dying Dean, and I don't know why but it reeks of a hunt." Sam said, ignoring his brother's half assed attempt at humour.
"Well why don't you go hunt it?" Dean said, all lightness having left his voice.
"I can't. I have school - and Jess. Look, if you can't make it then I can always call Bobby, or Caleb or Pastor Jim." Sam said.
"You could try." Dean's voice snorted out quietly. "It's not too far. I'll be there tomorrow morning."
"Is that the soonest you can make it?" Sam asked. The clock in his apartment told him that it was ten-thirty which meant it would take Dean all day to get here from where he was.
"Twenty-one hours fifty six minutes." Was Dean's cryptic response.
"Huh?"
"That's how long it would take if I could drive in a straight line from here to where you are." Dean answered.
"Okay... So what, are you like a thousand miles from California?" Sam asked.
Sam heard his brother yell at someone in the background, asking them how far they were from California. When he had an answer he replied to Sam. "1,206 miles, College Boy."
"Right. So... that's in Nebraska, right?" Sam asked.
"I'll see you tomorrow, geek." Dean said and he rung off leaving Sam staring at his cell wondering if he had done the right thing, even knowing he couldn't take it back and would have to live with the consequences now, whatever they may be.
Lost Boys
Dean's Story
Dean put his cell phone down on the table after saving Sam's new number in his phone book. He took a long swig of the beer he had opened nearly half an hour ago and put it down on the bar, chucking down a couple of notes next to it and grabbing his leather jacket from the bar stool next to him. e could feel Jo Harvelle's eyes burning into his back as he went to leave, but, in typical Jo fashion, she wasn't going to make it easy.
"So, that was about Sam, wasn't it." She said. She hadn't been close enough to hear the first part of their conversation and Dean had made sure not to use his brother's name after drawing Jo's attention when asking her how far it was to California. He had hoped to avoid uncomfortable personal questions like this.
"No. A hooker I still owe cash to. She's getting a bit testy, talking about lawyers and interest. Figure the sooner I get there the less interest I gotta pay." He joked with a wink in her general direction. No way was he going to meet her dark 'oh so understanding' eyes. She didn't quite have the puppy-dog innocent I-love-everything eyes of his brother, Jo's eyes always held a lingering hardness that hid the pain of losing her father, but she was the next best thing at making him feeling tied up inside like lying to her was a sin.
"Come on, Dean. I'm not that stupid. California is where Sam goes to college, right, Stanford? I mean, that's why you avoid the area at all costs. I mean just last month Ash told you about a gig down in Modesto and you refused it, said Johnson could take it." Jo pointed out and it occurred to Dean that Jo was way too observant for his own good.
"I was trying to be nice," Dean said.
"Bull." Jo said. "Now, are you gonna let me come with you or are you gonna make me tell my mother? Hell, she'll probably insist on making it a family outing since we are the closest thing to family you got. Except for Sam."
Dean looked at Jo, letting the full extent of his pain show in his green eyes. Her face softened with pity but she remained stubborn. He nodded and she wrote a note for Ellen before they made their way to the Impala parked outside the saloon; Harvelle's Roadhouse.
They were about an hour in when Dean decided to ask The Question. "This isn't about... about what your mother was implying is it?"
"What was that?" Jo asked, playing the role of innocent and oblivious. Dean would have glared at her if he wasn't so scared of her answer.
"That, you know... you're," he coughed, "sweetonme." He finished quickly and Jo burst out laughing in such a way that slightly offended him.
"Oh Dean," she began when her laughter had subsided. "I may have had a thing for you when we first met but then I grew out of it. I only flirt with you now because it makes mom so mad. Besides, when I first met you, you were a lot more pretty." She mused aloud, touching his cheek and the livid red scar that he had gotten from the Hookman about a year and a half ago now.
"Good. Because I think Ellen would kill me otherwise." Dean said, only half kidding as he turned up the Black Sabbath tape.
"You still scared of my mother?" Jo said, amusement evident in her voice.
"I'm sorry - have you actually met your mom? She is one scary lady. Hell, I bet demons stay away from the Roadhouse just by hearing about Ellen Harvelle." Dean said, exaggerating only slightly.
"Demons and spirits stay away from the Roadhouse because they aren't stupid and we have a lot of salt lying around. Also, my mom loves you. She wouldn't kill you - even for defiling me." she said mock suggestively.
Dean barked out a laugh of disbelief. "Ha! Jo, if I thought you were a virgin I'd turn this car around without a second thought."
"Nice," Jo said dryly. "Now, tell me about your brother."
The abruptness of the question startled Dean and the intimacy of the words 'your brother'. Dean licked his lips and kept his eyes on the long dusty road ahead of them "He's twenty-five, six foot four, married, and a law student at Stanford."
"Uh huh. Now, tell me about your brother." Jo said with meaning.
Dean shrugged uncomfortably. "He wanted different things from life. College and a wife and two point fricking five kids. And a dog. Sammy always wanted a dog. Our dad, he wouldn't let Sammy have one, no matter how much he begged..." Dean's voice drifted off.
"Does he know? About your dad?" Jo asked, perceptively guessing why he had stopped talking.
It was almost a year since John Winchester had made a deal with the Yellow Eyed Demon, who had killed their mother, in order to save Dean's life after a fatal car crash. It had been just over six months ago that Dean had finally tracked down the demon and killed the sucker using the Colt he and his dad had recovered from the possession of vampires. It had felt good to ice that bastard and in celebration Dean had gone on a three week bender of chicks and booze. When he sobered up he had realised there was still other bastards left to kill and he had found his way to the Roadhouse where he had been greeted with warmth and he had realised that Jo and Ellen and Ash were his friends, his surrogate family, and that felt good. Every time he finished a hunt he would come 'home' to the Roadhouse.
"No." Dean answered shortly and they fell into a comfortable silence as Dean let the lyrics of Black Sabbath's 'Looking for Today' wash over him as they drove.
END OF PART ONE.
