A/N:
It's only Wincest if you want it to be. I'm not writing it as Wincest, but if you squint hard enough at any Supernatural fic, you can find it, so read this one however you'd like.
(If you do crave some Sam/Dean, check out my other story 'Angels & Devils.')
I'll probably be continuing this story, but may not update it as often as other stories.
Title comes from Jason Michael Carroll song, "I Can't Hug You On the Phone, So Hurry Home."
Don't own, so don't sue.
ENJOY. :)
This is Dean. I either can't get to the phone right now, or I'm just avoiding your call. Either way, I'm not answering, so wait for the beep. You know what to do with it.
Beeeeep.
That was the usual greeting that awaited those who called Dean Winchester's cell phone and got no answer. Dean's philosophy regarding the message was this: Why bother being friendly when life was currently crap? Besides, all of the usual callers, besides Bobby and Cas, whose calls Dean almost always answered, were bearers of bad news. Any lucky bastard that happened to have good news had found that news far away from the Winchesters' path of apocalyptic warfare, Dean was willing to bet, and had no reason to call. Unless they wanted to rub it in Dean's face, in which case they deserved the greeting they got.
It was the fifth day of Dean's second week without Sam. Dean didn't know where Sam was, but he knew why he was there, wherever there happened to be, and that was why Dean didn't bother searching for his brother. Sam knew what Sam needed, or so Bobby kept telling Dean. Dean was beginning to think Bobby was full of crap; Sammy didn't know a damn thing about what Sammy needed. But, Dean was honestly beginning to think that he too was absolutely full of crap. After all, it was his fault that he was without Sam now.
Sam had decided to take a much needed break from Devil-hunting and angel-chasing and Dean agreed that it was probably for the best. So, in the spirit of absence making the heart grow fonder, or some emo crap like that, Sam took off for a while, and did whatever it is that he did best. Besides demon-hunting. The plan was for Sam to stay away until he was certain that he couldn't be enticed by a 'bitch-blood' cocktail, or the blood of any damned demon for that matter. The hiatus lasted a few weeks, until Sam realized that his destiny was going to find him, no matter how far or wide he ran. He would just have to endure the temptation as he did his job, because hunting was in his blood, and he never had had any choice in the matter. Realizing this, Sam asked Dean to let him back into the family business. Dean, as stubborn and hard-assed as his father John Winchester, said no, and still couldn't tell himself why. He just let Sam walk once more out of his life.
Dean was beginning to doubt his choice now. He would gladly have given anything to have Sam back. Dean said as much to Bobby, who stuck with his own theory that Sam should be left the hell alone. Dean heeded his advice, but reluctantly. It wasn't like Dean had a whole hell of a lot of free time to go searching for Sam, anyway, and Sam wasn't answering his phone. At first, Dean couldn't figure out why, besides the obvious: Sam was avoiding him. When Dean found Sam's phone charger in his baby's back floorboard days later, he felt a small surge of relief; there was a possibility Sam was not purposely ignoring him. At the same time, though, Dean feared that something bad would happen to Sam, who would be without a way to call for help. Sam would be without a way to call anyone, period, unless he found a payphone, but these days, payphones were few and far between. Dean sighed as he placed the cell charger into his duffel bag. He had no choice but to let Sam find his own way home and in his own time.
Dean had been a dick, though; Sam had every right to stay far away for a long time. Dean was actually worried that he might. It would be like the echo of an incident years old, which also involved Sam butting heads with an older Winchester that didn't know the meaning of the word 'compromise.' Dean did not want his story with Sam to end the same way John's had, tense until the bitter end. Dean hoped that he would get a second chance that, unlike their father, he would seize in a heartbeat.
