Author: DMartinez
Email:
Disclaimer: Characters portrayed in the following work belong to Kripke, Singer, Metz, Katims, WB, UPN, CW. No infringement intended.
Summary: Supernatural/Roswell Crossover: AU without Aliens: Sam and Dean are mourning their father's death when they learn that Pastor Jim passed away over a year ago and Liz has been on her own. Sam sets out to find her and Dean tries to lose himself in the bottle... what Sam finds will alter the plans that John and Dean had made when they left her to live her own life.
Rating: Mature
Pairing: John/Liz, Dean/Liz

Book III – Chapter 1

Sam flipped through the book. His father's replacement journal. No personal thoughts or old photographs in this one. Just facts. Hunts. Contacts. It's cover not nearly as worn as its predecessor, which resided in the bottom of Dean's duffle like he'd put their father on timeout since he'd died. He glanced over at Dean, who was working steadily on cleaning every gun in their collection and finishing the bottle of whiskey they had opened the week before when they were coming down the high of the last hunt with their father. The last hunt that John Winchester ever led. Ever fought. Ever won. Then something caught Sam's eye.

"Dean," he croaked out.

"Told you. Not going to cry my eyes out over that man."

"Save 'em for someone who deserves them." Sam cleared his throat. "Pastor Jim is dead. He died last year. Dad never told us."

Dean froze and turned to his brother. "Last year?"

"I guess that's when yo--- when we weren't talking to Dad." Sam stared at his brother, silently begging him to say something. He didn't. Finally, Sam closed the journal and began packing.

"Where are you going?"

"To Blue Earth."

"No." Dean shook his head.

"We have to go and see if she's doing alright."

"Then go alone."

Sam all but threw his bag down. "Dean!"

"Look, we got enough on our plate without going back there." Dean tossed down his rod and rag. "She's fine. She's always fine."

"This time is different and you know it."

Dean took a long pull and finished off his bottle. "Fine. Go alone. We'll meet up later."

"Where?"

"I don't know."

--

Sam watched the scenery blow by through the window of the bus. He had never quite understood the rift between Dean and their father. He had known it was about her but neither had been willing to explain the extent of it. The last couple of years had been busy. Had been hard. It was over now. Dad was dead. Dean had killed the demon who had killed their mother. He felt like there were pieces of his brother missing all this time. He had hoped that with the demon gone, it would resolve itself but the death of their father had only seemed to deepen the pit that Dean lived in.

He had two days on the bus to figure out just why their father had never mentioned that Pastor Jim had died. Who had killed him? Did anyone kill him? Was it a stroke? A heart attack? Why did no one know the man had passed?

--

Dean stared at the door. He couldn't believe Sam had left him. To go look for her. They had all agreed it was for the best to leave her alone. Barging in two years later would be pretty lame. Nothing good could come of contacting Liz after all she'd been through. After all that had happened in Blue Earth and certainly not after the way they had abandoned her. Dean didn't think he could handle seeing her after losing his dad. He tried, tried hard, to hate him but he couldn't and it was ripping his brain apart. Opening his new bottle of whiskey, Dean ruefully thought about how much he'd tried to be like his father his whole life… and as he swallowed down the first few inches, he knew he'd succeeded far greater than he'd ever imagined.

TBC