I'll stand by you
The phone rang as I was turning onto the freeway and I pressed the button for the speakerphone. "Hello?"
"Hi. This is Sam Winchester here. I thought of another story for your book," Sam's voice filled the car as I sped along on my way to meet with Jo and Ellen Harvelle.
"Alright what is this one about?" I pulled over, so I could start my tape recorder.
"It's about my dad and the days after his death." Sam took a breath before continuing. I pulled back into traffic, letting the tape roll, as Sam talked "I couldn't help but be jealous of the bond between Roo and Dean while I was growing up. Dad moved us around so much that I never got that many opportunities to form friendships, and those I did form, didn't exactly last." I let him speak as I could hear the pain in his voice and knew that interrupting might mean he would clam up. "It took my dad dying for me to finally realise that I had had a bond with her too." He paused again "It all became clear the night of his funeral,"
"What do you mean?"
"Well…um I'll send it to you via email. It's a bit…" Sam stopped.
"We've got a case Sammy. Hang up on the reporter chick, we've gotta shag ass." Dean's voice was audible in the background and then the dial tone resounded in my ear. I switched off the tape recorder, sighing in disappointment. Seconds later my Blackberry beeped, indicating I had an email.
Flames licked at the wood surrounding my dad's shrouded body, the orangey red light brought our faces out of the shadows. "Before…Before he…" I stop, trying to recover myself even as tears streak my cheeks. "Did he say anything to you?"
I glanced over at my stoic brother. "No nothing," Dean replied, not taking his gaze away from dad's body. I glanced down to see that Roo had taken his hand, and was unsurprised to see that her touch had actually removed a little of the anguish from his face.
I was sitting alone in the motel room, waiting for Roo to come back with dinner. Dean was in the bathroom, cleaning up. I had just started to think about my dad, when the door opened and Roo entered, weighed down with several bags. "Hey there Sammy, got you a salad shake and a couple of oranges to keep your vit c levels up." She threw the fruit across as she spoke, producing them from inside the clean brown paper bag.
"Thanks Roo," she crossed over to me, carrying a greasy brown bag in one hand and my salad shake in the other. I didn't quite see how she stayed so slim, as she squirted some mayo onto her turkey burger.
"What are you going to do now?" she threw the sachet away.
"I don't…I don't know," I hadn't even thought about it. The last twenty four hours, hell the last week had been a whirlwind of emotions and I had hardly had time to draw breath.
"You can come and stay with me while you figure it out if you want." She took a big bite of burger while she waited for my response.
"I don't know if I…" Part of me wanted to just run back to Palo Alto and try to get back into Stanford, while part of me wanted to carry on dad's work.
"Just think about it. The offer is always there," she said calmly.
I looked right at her, blown away by how forgiving she was "Thanks Roo. I thought you'd want us far away. After what dad did." I said awkwardly, I couldn't bring myself to think about her, covered in blood after dad had…
The unfinished sentence intrigued me as I continued reading
"Oh Sammy, it wasn't your dad's fault." Roo turned to face me directly. "You and Dean will always be part of my family okay? No matter what," she squeezed my hand, nothing but honesty and love in those amazing eyes.
Dean entered the room then, drawn by the smell of the food. "Hey Dean," I pulled my hand from hers, when I saw him standing there. The look on his face when he looked at Roo was unlike any I'd ever seen him direct at a woman before, a softer smile than attractive women usually received.
"Didya get me a burger?" he sat down on Roo's other side.
"Yeah I got you a double bacon cheese, fries and a six pack." Roo dug in the greasy bag, tossing Dean the Styrofoam container.
"Where's the pie?" I was well aware of my brother's penchant for pie.
"Right here," she produced an apple pie, setting it down on the table between the beds. "I wanted him to at least get one of his five a day," Dean laughed for the first time in nearly a week. He dug into his burger, and we all sat in comfortable silence before Roo said "Is there anything on the telly?" her voice was muffled as she spoke around her food, reaching out for the remote.
Dean snatched it from her grasp, "We're not watching a chat show Roo," he flicked it on, channel surfing until he found a Knicks game's highlights. "Perfect."
"I'm gonna go for a walk," I announced as I finished my salad. "You know I can't stand basketball and I got a lot to think about,"
"See ya later Sammy," I grabbed my jacket, and cast a grateful smile at Roo before leaving the motel room.